Alas, poor feral cats.. I knew thee well..

Well.. I hated to do it but I had to get rid of some feral cats. There were nine of them in and around my yard. They were entertaining as a barrel of monkeys but the damage they were causing outweighed the entertainment value.

I live in Texas.. It's hot here in case you didn't know. It's also humid. Humidity, heat and cat poop do not a lovely aroma make. If you have ever lived downwind from any type of livestock or maybe a family of hippies, you know how bad it can become in the summertime, which in the state of Texas, starts in December and ends the next October. We get a whole month to enjoy a cool breeze... and when I say "cool breeze" I mean it's a little less stifling than being shoved into a barbecue pit during a cook off.

Anyway.. the poop was getting to be a problem. I wasn't sure if it was the cats or the hippies but I had to do something quickly because when I mowed the yard.. It would fling fresh poo into the open windows of cars passing by. The drivers had the windows open because in Texas, car A/C pretty much gives up after a year or two from sheer exhaustion and probably a bit of depression.

So I went to Home Depot to get an animal trap. I had trouble with that because I never realized how many different types of animal traps were out there. There are traps for squirrels, raccoons, possums and just about any type of animal that may be pooping in your yard. I didn't however, find one for hippies. One thing that surprised me was that NONE of them would say they were for trapping cats. I figured animal activist had complained to the trap manufacturer and thought that if it didn't say it was for trapping wild cats, people wouldn't catch on and leave the cute fluffy things alone.

I live on a very busy street. The cats have a huge propensity for chasing each other out into the street. I'm not sure if it's because they dare each other to run out there or the kitty mafia has a hit out on them for non payment of their ever increasing kibble habit. I'm really tired of seeing them get run over.

They are also under assault from larger wild animals that live in the near by cemetery.

Bottom line is.. its not fair to them to have to live with that danger. I have gotten a couple of them trained where they are receptive to humans but some have been wild for way too long and prefer to stay that way. It's for the best even though my heart tells me differently.

Now if I could just find a place that will take wild hippies...