For them, the Green Scare has always existed.


Imagine rural Pennsylvania, a scary place, if you come from the suburbs of DC. I'll still remember the fear, my ex had when she came up the mountain road, with visions of serial killers and people afraid of black helicopters. When made to house, she found herself strangely calmed. This is the place where you can see the stars at 7 pm. All of those available to the naked eye, unhampered by city lights. This is the place where you are more likely to hear the sounds of wind blowing through the leaf fallen trees, than automobiles. It's also the haven of re-feralization.

I had a roommate, who had pets, who was completely clueless as to how to take care of them. We rarely saw them as she kept them in her room; her den was a pit of feces, trash and one day a cat with close to death. She came running up stairs, "My cat is bleeding and I don't know why, someone must have kicked it." The cat died, from giving birth leaving behind a litter of 8 kittens. The kitten survived, with some help from a local vet, and then the roommate left, in the middle of the night, putting the kittens outside, to fend for themselves. This was as winter was just setting in.

So the obvious thought is: they all died, right? No. One day, during spring, I was sitting outside and five kittens appeared. They were all part of the litter. Who fed them? Good question. There was an answer that I already knew from an experience as a child.

When I first moved to Southern Pennsylvania, we rented a house on a cattle farm. The previous tenant left behind 20 cats. On 70 acres of pasture, the cats found an abundance of field mice. You could watch them hunt and feast on them, which apparently they liked more than the Purina cat food. They never cried at our door, they lived their lives free, until one day the previous tenant came to pick them up for transport to the local SPCA. They did not pick up the cows. Sure, the cats were living life as they were meant to, no cruelty was taking place against them, but we are told they are a menace. It was a mirror of the farm, where the cows were being raised only to be taken to slaughter.

For many people this was the perfect example of when pets are not spayed or neutered and breeding goes out of control. This a strange thought, considering we react to pests such as mice, with fear. After you take out all the natural predators, the prey will become pests.

Time moved on at the farm, free of feral cats, new tenants moved in and I befriended them. After we moved closer to town I'd still visit and sleep over. The house was infested with wild mice. They were in the walls, in floors and I woke up one night to two mice having some spat inside the couch I was sleeping on. To top it off, I found I had contracted lice.

So, when those kittens appeared in spring, after the neo-pagan roommate abandoned them, I wasn't surprised. They hung around for another year, until a new roommate tried to exterminate them with a .22 rifle.

There's no prey horror story ending to that incident, but it does show, that felines are resilient and have no problem becoming natural predators. Their skill is impeccable. With most of the natural predators gone, feral cats and dogs fill in where coyotes and mountain lions were. There are still citing of the older natural predators but they a too far and in between. The response to natural animals still evokes fear. That is, unless you are a North American White-tailed Deer. The only respected wild animal in the area. And respect is probably a far-fetched description.

The local apple farm erects tall fences, to keep the deer inside, not for safety reasons, but for his own benefit. During hunting season, the deer flock to the orchards. Here, they are considered pests, like mice in homes, because the deer create crop damage. Often you'll find local government allowing the purging of deer for crop loss purposes, or because they are an eyesore, like they were at the Eisenhower farm. At the Eisenhower farm a few years ago they purged 100 deer and buried them.

It's so strange. The livestock farmers need to kill natural predators to protect their property, the soil based farmers need to kill the prey to protect their crops. It's a horrible circle that could be stopped with a simple respect for the land. We know there are deer here, so many that even though poaching is common, the population still remains vibrant. The only serious concern is the population of bucks with more than 4 spikes.

So, when it comes to feral pets, we have to eliminate them? Even in developed areas, the question of feral cats is answered with the presumption that they are a nuisance, they will dig into the trash, tearing plastic bags apart, and sometimes they get hit by a car. What's ironic is the reaction that comes from spay-friendly factions. This has nothing to do with people creating trash, or driving cars, the responsibility is on the supposed pet's owner. Is it possible to have an overpopulation of alley cats? Yes. Why? Because of they've lost their natural predators. It's an amazing thought, that even in some of the roughest neighborhoods in America; natural predators have to be purged. The occasional coyote becomes a danger, meanwhile, the city has yet to grapple with the economic inequalities that cause robberies, drug related shoot-outs, and police brutality. In the same fashion, animal control, attempts to keep the feral pet population in check.

Is it really that hard to have a compost heap instead food waste for feral cats? Wouldn't it be better for the cats to eat their natural prey (mice) which is a staple of urban living? The solutions may be obvious if it wasn't for our inclination to accept the status quo at face value.

In our colonial periods, we used to allow hogs to roam freely, to eat our waste. It sounds dirty, but we've managed to learn to eat them after being in pens on farms anyway.

On the mountain, where woods hide feral un-pets, they live joyfully doing exactly what they are supposed to do. Sure, I've had friends warn their kids about feral dogs and seen neurotic friends carry pistols "for protection". On the next mountain over, there are still sightings of mountain lions and the same fears exist. The strangest part of all is that I've hiked on both those mountain, off the beaten path, naked and never once have I ever feared, let alone seen any of these "pests". What I do see is dead opossums, raccoons and rabbits on the side of the road, which live with a limited number of natural predators, because of our irresponsible fear of wild animals.

Urban or rural, I guess we fear what is supposed to be, because if we don't, our picture perfect lifestyles won't exist. I'm not sure why it's considered cruel to free some of natures best hunters, and keep them as pets, meanwhile their natural prey find themselves infesting our couches, roadsides, and trash cans desperately looking for scraps from the cruel invention we call civilization.

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