In defence of cats

I am not one who feels he has to write in and comment at every occasion but there are limits to everything. The unbridled cruelty and hate towards animals, particularly stray cats, that some people unashamedly express in letters to the media is far, far too much. It leaves me and others like me no choice but to respond!

While we daily hear of cruel acts blatantly committed against animals, a finer cruelty is expressed with the pen and in this case, sadly, often by the mature generation, Christian and Catholic church goers who should be setting an example. Instead they express a most shameful hatred towards our feline friends who only give us love and loyalty and make us better people and the world a better place.

A public garden without cats, indeed a world, a life without cats would be much the less for it. There is much to be learnt from beasts and the people writing against these innocent creatures, whose only defence are people like me, should be the first to learn, instead of hiding behind hypocritical concerns which conceal a cruelty towards animals.

So what are the usual concerns of these people? The accusations are always the same. They accuse cats of making noise. I beg to differ, for comparing cat sounds to the loud shouting and swearing of people, the horns and screeching of tyres and the disco music coming out of homes and cars... well the comparison holds no water.

Another accusation is about dirt and again it is groundless. Cats are among the cleanest animals, burying what they produce. Compare this to the dirt left behind by people who treat public gardens and the whole world like their dustbin, incapable of disposing of their rubbish in the right way, at the right time.

All living creatures must eat. Complaining about the food left for cats is baseless too, as starving cats eat the food immediately. And if a cat seeks shelter than what in God's name is wrong with that? Thank God there are a few people who offer cats the love, food and shelter they deserve as much as any person, for are we not all God's creatures?

To the charge that cats present a danger to children, I say that cats are the most playful and loving of creatures. We are talking about cats here, not wild tigers!

A final point for people who attack our stray feline friends and complain they are all over the place: If there were more people who gave cats a home, more people who helped out with the admirable cat groups who neuter, care for and feed our feline friends and fewer cruel people who threw cats out of their homes, then there would be fewer strays around.