Stadium needs cats and a clean sweep

Re “Take them out of the ballgame, city says,” Aug. 7

I see a perfect confluence of events here -- the city shelters are full of unwanted cats. Anaheim has rats. Get the picture? Farmers and ship captains used cats for this purpose for most of man’s known history.

All Angel Stadium needs to do is import a handful of cats, let them loose to live there and voila! No more rats! No strong chemicals, no traps, no fuss, no muss.

Cats like to retreat to quiet corners during parties and chaos -- they would just hide when patrons were in the stadium and chase rats at night. Why can’t we learn from our own history, or have we completely lost our sense of humor about our predicaments?

Carol Vogelman

Los Angeles

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The story about rats at Angel Stadium contained the interesting observation that half-eaten food and discarded wrappers are “a byproduct of any large gathering of people.” You should have added “in the U.S.” During the 2002 World Cup, I went to several games in and around Tokyo and was astounded to watch the Japanese families and individuals in my section pick up every scrap of trash around them as they got up to leave -- even that of other (no doubt visiting) spectators -- leaving the stadium after the game as clean as it was when we arrived.

I’m sure there are other places in the world where citizens are proud of their public buildings and spaces and would never think to do as we Americans do: drop our garbage at our feet and walk away, assuming someone else will clean up after us. Something to think about the next time you’re at a game or a movie or, for heaven’s sake, the beach.

Mark Ryan

Sunland