Fix Our Ferrels should be contacted. They work with people to get ferrel cats fixed and vaccinated. The cats that have been fixed get re released and have feeders assigned to them. This lady may be part of this group. Would you rather have the cats starve? There are way worse urban blight problems in this city that a lady putting food out for cats. Don't be so heartless.

I'd rather have them pick up the cat s**t. It is disgusting to pick up and when just left to wash away down the street drains pollutes the waterways with toxic products. Cat food left out attracts rats also. And pretty darn heartless if you have any care for the wild native birds being killed by the Millions by outdoor cats.

Hi All,

Someone just forwarded this to me. I am writing this as a longtime community cat volunteer, not representing any organization.

No one wants cat _ _ _ _ around, or a big mess. I would ask however, that people please be patient here- please understand, first and foremost the cats do have to eat. They should not be blamed or suffer, and they must be protected. I will post on the Fix our Ferals site and see if anyone can check this out. It may be the cats were abandoned, or someone is not working with an organization. Volunteers can help here! There is a collaboration of people with Fix Our Ferals and other groups, working to Trap/neuter/return, "TNR" un-socialized cats in Oakland. These cats are sterilized, vaccinated, and microchipped. Tame ones and kittens are removed as possible for adoption. We work to establish responsible feeding. If there is a problem with the feeding/and or location, people will work with neighbors to address this.

Community volunteers are the only ones addressing this issue. There are so many irresponsible pet owners, who let their cats (and dogs) breed. Cats who aren't spayed/neutered reproduce quickly, and so many people just let them go, and leave them when they move.. then you have colonies. And, despite what some people think- cats are very territorial. They don't just move to another location to find food. They stick around their "home".

Let's please work to help these cats, and work with the people feeding the cats, to address the issues. This is the only way to make it work. The City of Oakland Animal Shelter has a page on feral cats: www.oaklandanimalservices.org and will explain more. They work with Fix our Ferals.

Re the comment about millions of birds being killed by cats. We can go back and forth with studies about this. The majority of birds are killed by pesticides and pollution, and human causes- more birds fly into window panes. Cats are hunters and will kill birds when possible, but they are far better at getting mice and rats, and whenever cats are "removed" from an area, the rodent population grows.

We all love birds. There has been no indication of bird decimation in Oakland due to cats. There is plenty of indication of mice and rats kept under control. Hopefully, we can all agree that spay/neuter i is the way to go. The City has no money for this, so volunteers contribute and ask the community to help with the cost. Fix our Ferals has the only true low cost clinic in the area: $25/cat for the works. This is subsidized through grants. Please support spay and neuter. Thanks. And, please be patient as we try to assess what is happening at this location, so we can address it and improve the situation for the cats and neighbors. Thank you.