It is not often I am compelled to write about something in the morning news but now and again I feel that the world is going slowly mad. This morning on BBC Breakfast show they had a segment on should cats be put on curfew for attacking wildlife.
I have often been told I am mad for my interests in alternative healing or my views on recycling or my taste in art or music. If I am mad I am glad because if sane people think that putting curfews on cats is something that people in prominent positions should be spending their time worrying about and trying to implement, then sane people have lost touch with reality.
I love nature and wildlife. I write about it, I am passionate about the way in which I garden to protect the eco balance of our planet as a whole but am I worried about what cats get up to at night, it is a definite no.
Wildlife is termed as such because it is "wild", we the humans, especially in the UK have an obsession with controlling (or policing) even wildlife. Purpose built nesting boxes, hedgehog homes, ladybird houses, need I go on - feeders with various types of seeds for birds but with guards on to keep out the squirrels.
Plant some bushes with berries, they feed the birds what they need at the time they need it.
My garden here in Tenerife is adjoined to a neighbouring garden with a large tree that is home to several bird families with no intervention from the various cats around as it is an old tall tree with plenty of cover so as to offer protection from all sorts of predators, including hawks. It also provides berries.
The cats here seem to prefer lizrds and the lizards prefer the plants and so on.
neighbours cat with lunch
We have various untidied areas in the garden for insects to home and we have added a pond, as fresh water is a treat for the wildlife here and the cats, all sharing the area happily. We too have trees that birds nest in and feed on, although not as large as next doors yet.
There are spiders webs across the pond at the moment so I ask myself, do I remove these incase they catch a dragonfly? Of course not. Where does this control end?
Farmers are creating wildlife areas within their farms and by creating biodiversity, less harmful spraying is required - they receive subsidies to do this but this is going to be fazed out, why?
Drivers kill hedgehogs, are we going to fine these drivers? Of course not.
We recycle here because we want to, we have to take our recycling to communal bins just like the big ones at supermarkets so why does the government in the UK spend money on these individual bins for every householder? They get stolen, vandalised, set on fire, are unsightly and people resent recycling in this way and fear putting the wrong things in the bins so don´t bother. Everyone with a garden or a plot of ground should be given a tree to plant, not all the same type and people should be educated on why recycling matters.
Share your views, I would love to hear what you think. This is not a question whether you like cats or not, whether you like wildlife or not it is more important than that and we all have to do our bit because we want to, not because we have to or because it is fashionable.
Dragonfly on Aloe plant and Wild Canary at pond
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