News + Views
Re the January 7 feature “Creature Comfort”: Beautiful story about an amazingly beautiful place. I was a serious animal lover before I visited the sanctuary, but my love and sense of relationship deepened profoundly there. Thank you for conveying so much of the feeling, the humanity, at Leilani Farm.
Amber, via mauitime.com
Re the January 7 News & Views story “(Don’t) Bring it On)”: Don’t forget a sense of humor is also banned from flights. Apparently cracking jokes at TSA officers means you get “extra screening.”
S., via mauitime.com In the same vein, check out banstronghands. com, which not only explores the obvious deadly items that are allowed, but some non-obvious ones such as strong hands and shoelaces.
Scott Owens, via e-mail What a delight to read this article and envision myself Re the January 7 there, on the Eh Brah!: You went farm, with all the going publish wonderful creatures. every personal Thank you, Anu, conversation we have for sharing this on Eh Brah! or what, inspiring story so cuz? Why you went beautifully, and thank E RAG ’T YOUR AVE MALS CTUARY ISN make any kine? I no I FARM SAN T ASK THE ANI LAN JUS LEI R— LTE you Lauralee and ANIMAL SHE like give you da kine Barry for being such guidance anymore awesome stewards! den. You call me Janeson Rayne, via one liar, den dis guy mauitime.com from da paper calls me one asshat. Just Having experienced ’cause my name has first-hand the joy some of the same of walking Animal letters, you like make Alley with a loving one play on words. QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Another out-of-control SUV came through her bedroom wall and re-broke the leg...” variety of four It’s Asshant’e not legged friends, I urge asshat, yeah. You anyone visiting Maui to t make k the th ffarm a wentt askk me why h I callll you “pot hands.” “must visit.” The love, dedication and sweet I toll you senneny-nine times already. It’s stories are astounding. ’cause you have six or sennen good ideas, but you never went implement ’um. Now Sandy & Steve from California, via I stay going take all your ideas for myself mauitime.com and become more rich than King Kong’s balls. Maybe I write one Eh Brah! too. Why Re the January 7 Rob Report “View From baddah you? You lucky you even have Above”: Thanks for updating us on the hands, nomatta what they made of. activism of Julia Butterfly Hill. I remember her tree-sit, but didn’t know what had Anonymous, via e-mail become of her since. Good to hear she’s kept up—and deepened—her efforts to Ed. Note: The following commentary was spread awareness and environmental and submitted in response to the November 15 social justice. I hope she does “manifest a feature “Invasive Species,” which focused on home” on Maui—we need more like her! Maui’s feral cat population in general, and specifically on an informational meeting Tree Hugger, via e-mail held by Friends of Haleakala National Park. One of the presenters at the meeting, state Someone speaking naturally might have wildlife biologist Fern Duvall, discussed the said, “I think I would like to settle down impact cats have on endemic, endangered by the ocean.” Someone who wants to use birds. language to set herself apart, perhaps as a more spiritual or enlightened person, uses As an observer at a presentation of unnatural language like, “I am trying to Friends of Haleakala regarding cats as an manifest...” It sounds like putting up a false invasive species and the follow-up article front. Is it that hard to just be genuine? I’m in MauiTime, I would like to make a few sorry, this article just does not paint the comments, but first I would like to introduce butterfly as an attractive personality or a myself as a lover of all animals who has great good role model. Maybe it is hard to just be respect for all creatures great and small. In a regular person after two years on a 200fact, some 30 years ago, I was front page foot pedestal with worshippers bringing news as “The Bird Lady of the Conejo” in daily offerings to pass up to you. California, but that’s another story. As inhabitants of an island, I would hope Good luck with your healing, via we are all aware of how Maui came to be. mauitime.com Volcanic undersea eruptions eventually broke through the ocean’s surface and hot lava January 7,, 2 2010 010 ✚ Volume Vol olume um 13 ✚ Issue ume e 29 ✚ FREE
.com .co .c c
PG.12
pg.9
10 January 14, 2010
cooled to form a land mass. So initially, Maui was a mass of molten and hardened lava. Every animal, every insect, every bird, every tree that ever came to this lovely island was an invasive species. That includes man. As for who is the largest destroyer of unique ecosystems, we can once again point to man—not feral dogs, not snakes, not pigs, not cats. This leads to a bigger question: do we destroy one species to supposedly save another? Because if that is true, we would have to start with human beings. Now, on to the cats and the near hysteria they seem to inspire in people who are fond of stating, “they are killing the birds.” What about the loss of specialized habit to development, roads, condos, hotels and homes as man continues to turn pristine areas into concrete, bricks and mortar? Yes, cats do kill birds, though studies have also shown that many of the birds killed are old, injured, sick and/ or left the nest too early to survive on their own. But hey, cats are also killing and—studies have shown—in far larger numbers, mice, rats, roaches, centipedes and many bugs that drive most humans into a fearful state. Can you really imagine Maui without any community (loose, roaming, undomesticated) cats? Studies have shown that when the majority of cats were removed from islands, these islands were overrun with rodents and insects. Wow, what a paradise we would have without the cats. Spread of disease was mentioned at the Friends of Haleakala presentation, so I think it is very important to note that the bubonic plague was spread throughout Europe by fleas on rats. The hantavirus is also spread by rodents. Nowhere in the studies or literature does it state that these dreaded diseases were spread by cats. Other diseases mentioned at the Friends of Haleakala meeting included typhus, E. coli, Bartonella, toxoplasmosis. Fern Duvall said that toxoplasmosis has been detected in nene geese, spinner dolphins and monk seals, so I guess that means we should stay out of the ocean. E. coli has been detected in many of the foods we eat including various meats and vegetables. Guess that means we should stop eating those foods. Typhus is spread by fleas and lice. Bartonella is spread by infected fleas. If you have been paying attention, you will note that many of these diseases are spread by fleas, which are found on rats and mice. So take away the freeroaming cats (many of which are treated for fleas) that prey on rats and mice and you have a rampant explosion of fleas on rats and mice who can and do jump off their main prey and bite humans. Viola, you have an epidemic. The now-proven method of dealing with and curtailing the population of freeroaming, un-owned, community cats in cat colonies is through Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR), along with constant monitoring by a caretaker or caretakers who provide food, water, medical treatment and sterilization to any new colony member. Studies have shown that over time, these colonies do decrease in size, although there will always be people who dump new cats. As a lover of all animals, I believe cat lovers and bird lovers can work together to insure
that endangered species are protected. Cats can be relocated from extremely sensitive areas. Fencing can be placed around ground-nesting bird sites. Here’s a recent example of cat and bird lovers cooperating: Cimmeron Morrissey identified an explosion of neglected homeless and feral cats living along the bay trail in Foster City, California and was inspired to take action. There were 174 cats living along the trail at the time. She began trapping the cats to have them sterilized. Kittens and friendly adult cats were adopted out. Foster City officials had also noticed the cats, as had the Sequoia Audubon Society, which wanted to protect local birds. In 2004, a collaboration between the Foster City, Homeless Cat Network and the Sequoia Audubon Society was formed to create Project Bay Cat, which was developed to curb the cat population’s growth through aggressive spay/neuter and adoption programs, as well as protect bird habitat and keep the path’s landscape debris-free. Thanks to these efforts, the colony has shrunk by 35 percent due to spay/neuter, vaccination and adoption efforts, 72 cats/kittens now have loving homes, 95 percent of the cats have been altered, the cats are healthy and cared for and the local bird population is thriving. Please note that not one cat was killed to save the birds. Here was a successful plan that did not involve murdering cats. Heck, they’ve been killing cats on Maui for 50-plus years. Has it worked? Intelligent, caring people on both sides can work together to provide solutions that do not involve destroying one species to save another. In the interests of keeping this commentary short and readable, I have not included the names of the studies from which I got my data, however I would be happy to provide this information; contact me at 9thlifehawaii@earthlink.net. In summation, as a person who cares what happens to cats and birds, I believe the solution lies in working together to reduce the cat population through sterilization and in finding ways to keep the cats out of areas where there are endangered species. We need the cats to control the rodent population on Maui. If they were not around, we would see a huge influx of rodent flea-borne illnesses and more human infections caused by spider and centipede bites and the diseases spread by roaches. These free-roaming cats actually provide a wondrous benefit for humans.
Phyllis Tavares, Executive Director, 9th Life Hawaii
Send your FEEDBACK to the editor via e-mail (editor@mauitime.com), or post (Editor’s Inbox, MauiTime, 33 N. Market St., Ste. 201, Wailuku, HI 96793), or check us out on Twitter (twitter.com/mauitime) and Facebook (facebook. com, search “MauiTime”). We reserve the right to edit feedback. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of MauiTime.