The article in the Daily News about the killing of birds and cats at the University of Idaho is not only alarming, but disgraceful.
I have been involved in raising livestock since I was 12 years old and a livestock leader in 4-H for 40 years.
Birds have never been a problem with proper feeding methods.
Animals that are fed at regular times and a number of hours apart will be hungry and nothing will be left for the birds to feast on. However, some people prefer to give just one large feeding a day, so feed is left over to the birds to enjoy. Livestock lose their appetite for feed that birds and other rodents have soiled.
Good management practices should be used and the animals will gain better and be more productive. This was a lesson I learned as a 12-year-old by having to buy all my own feed, and I have used it ever since when feeding livestock. Another trick is to feed after dark or before dawn when the birds are resting.
The program resulting in the euthanizing of feral cats is even more troubling. Feral cats are not a serious problem. I have never heard of a feral cat that killed anyone. Many rural people find them very beneficial as they keep the rodent population under control.
We never had to shop for a cat in the 50 years that we lived in rural Whitman County. They always found us and only a few cats at a time. We supplemented their diet of birds and rodents and had them neutered so as not to increase their numbers.
Somehow, I thought that gas chambers were a thing of the past until I read to my dismay about their use at the University of Idaho. Euthanizing will not solve the problem as more will come and replace those that have been killed unless the real causes are addressed.
The cruelty to animals by the university must stop immediately. Does the University of Idaho want to be known for its gas chamber or for its educational excellence?
— Jan Kent
Moscow