Letter to the editor: Spay, neuter only way to control pet population

Bravo to Joe McAdoo for his column about abandoned pets. (Nov. 11-17)

As new transplants to the country, my husband and I inherited several barn cats. After reading up on feral cat colonies, I convinced my husband that to trap and transport the cats to the Humane Society would only mean that new cats would move in.

We have had seven barn cats neutered or spayed since April of this year. One more to go, or so we thought until we found two new kittens on the front porch last week. Four adult cats were given away prior to reproductive alteration.

I'm realistic that my Christmas present this year is the good feeling I'm getting from making sure these cats will never have an unwanted litter of kittens, or starve in the woods behind our house, or be eaten by the coyotes or possums, or be run over on Highway 160.

What I cannot fathom is the common conception in the country that to get rid of a pet, you take it to the woods.

And only if it's a female, of course.

The male cats seem to escape this fate.

Since April, I've begun my very own rural campaign to educate seemingly educated people that without surgical alteration, male and female animals reproduce.

Trudy L. Pischer

Springfield