Tweets, Meows Heard at Park Debate
Feral cats who prowl around Golden Gate Park are taking the rap for what bird lovers say is the park’s dwindling songbird population.
A crowd of 50, split evenly between bird and cat enthusiasts, addressed the city Animal Control and Welfare Commission on Thursday. The issue: whether wild felines should be rounded up and removed from the venerable park.
Audubon Society member Alan Hopkins said that a single cat who lives on a one-bird-a-day diet can consume hundreds of birds in a decade.
Richard Avanzino, local president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, countered that bird backers are “just picking on the pussy cats.”
Bird lovers want the city to require cat owners to keep their kitties indoors, forbid people to feed strays and increase trapping of abandoned animals.
The commission will make recommendations to the city Board of Supervisors after several more sessions and a review of the matter.
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