Passionate Potpourri

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Cats; Tweety Bird was right

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  • Rosanne Boyett
    Rosanne Boyett
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Halloween looms on the horizon and this is a good time to consider one of its iconic figures – cats.

Humans have cohabitated with felines for 12,000 year and maybe longer. All domestic cats are descended from a Middle Eastern wildcat, Felis sylvestris, which literally means "cat of the woods." Felines were first domesticated in the Near East, according to Science magazine researchers who based their conclusions on genetic analysis.

Bastet, an Egyptian goddess of love, had the head of a cat, which illustrates the Egyptians’ veneration for the species. Legal consequences for killing a cat often resulted in the death sentence for convicted offenders. Ancient Egyptians’ reverence for felines included cat cemeteries; scientists found a site in Beni-Hassan, Egypt, that held 300,000 feline mummies.

Cats were valued by people in the Far East for centuries because the animals were predators for rodents that damaged and destroyed treasured manuscripts.

Ancient Romans revered felines as a symbol of liberty but by the Middle Ages in Europe cats were “demonized.” Many people believed cats were affiliated with witches and the devil.

These beliefs led to the killing of cats to ward off evil. Scholars now think that slaughtering the felines helped spread the plague, which was transmitted to humans by fleas living on infected rodents.

The public “image” of felines slowly began to change in the West during the 17th century.

And now in the 21st century attitudes have been altered by social behaviors and marketing blitzes. Other cultures tend to view the American fanaticism about household pets as odd behavior. Approximately 68 percent of American households owned one or more pets in 2017 compared to a 56 percent pet-ownership rate in 1988. U.S. consumer spending on pets has gradually increased year-on-year; it grew by 560 percent between 1994 and 2019.

Pet industry expenditures in this country during 2020 are forecast to reach approximately $99 billion, according to statista.com/statistics. The data includes dogs and cats; market analysts expect the sale of dog food to be the highest category followed by dry and wet cat food.

Puts modern Americans on par with Ancient Egyptians when it comes to cats.

There is a hidden cost to domesticated felines – wildlife often falls victim to cat predators. Feral and domesticated cats share specific genetic instincts including preying on small animals and birds.

Some people believe felines are the best method for eliminating mice and other pests that damage livestock feed supplies. There is no scientific evidence that barn cats and other cats are effective in controlling rodent populations.

The data shows that hunting by cats has contributed to the extinction of at least 20 native mammals in Australia and felines continue to threaten at least 124 more species on that continent. The introduction of cats has resulted in the extinction of at least 33 endemic species on islands around the world.

A recently published study estimated that cats are responsible for killing billions of birds and mammals in the continental U.S. every year. The estimate is 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion bird victims and 6.9 billion to 20.7 billion mammals. Peter Marra, the senior author of the study, called the results "stunning."

"For the last 20, 30, 40 years," he said, "the number that has been batted around as a max was about 500 million."

Obviously, the reality is much more grim than zoologists had previously suspected.

And there are a lot of potential feline killers. More than 80 million pet cats reside in American homes and as many as 80 million more stray and feral cats survive outside, according to a study published in Nature Communications, January edition.

Director Cheri Baisden, Animal Care Center, reported that 41 cats were brought in during August. Only 16 were adopted,

21 were transported and four were euthanized. There is no adoption fee for feral cats and the animals are neutered if adopted by Grants residents, according to the director.

Milan officials have responded to numerous complaints about feral cats; the animal control officer took 17 cats to the ACC in Grants during a recent four-week period.

John Hadidian, a senior scientist with the Humane Society of the United States, acknowledged that Trap-Neuter-Release programs only reach about two million cats.

Cats are viewed as both a conservation threat and as human companions.

"Both the bird people and the cat people want the same thing," Hadidian said, "fewer cats outdoors."

“I did, I did taw a putty tat!” said Tweety Bird - again and again.

Friz Freleng created the “Tweetie Pie” cartoon in 1947. Tweety was a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated series. Freleng had no idea that the dynamic duo, Sylvester The Cat and Tweety Bird, would appear in more than 40 animated shorts by 1962. The series earned the studio a special Academy Award in 1957.