Big Cats Should Not be Bred in Little Cages

I was watching the episodes of Snow Leopards of Leafy London, about the National Cat Trust, with Dr. Terry Moore in the UK. Although its great to see someone taking in cats who have no where else to go. In the end, they are living in captivity for however long they live. Not able to have space, hunt, and live a feral life. He also breeds them. It wasn’t clear if he also lets the domestic cats breed too. The Trust takes in domestic homeless cats as well as the big cats. I hope the Trust works on some version of the neuter and release idea.

The series was made awhile ago and I wondered what became of the cats, especially the snow leopards which were featured, and the Trust. I found the website, not really updated since 2013 it seems to me. I didn’t see any updates about the snow leopard release project with India which was talked about often in the films. There is some project based in Argentina.

Also, interesting, was to find that his wife was part of things, one of the trustees for the organization. But, she was never mentioned in the films. If she were there, she wasn’t given credit for her work.

I found reviews on the TripAdvisor site, which made the Trust seem overwhelmed. Not enough volunteers to look after the place. Also, no visitors due to restrictions. That may be changed now, but it was only for sponsors/ members of the Trust. Not a bad thing, no doubt they need the funds. Feeding big cats would be expensive.

I posted this as a comment on Facebook:

I don’t think any of these kept cats can go back to the wild. Even if a habitat could be found for them. These cats have had an indolent lifestyle. They will have hunting instincts but no practice. So they will not have the skills or the muscles built up to take care of themselves without someone feeding them dead carcasses. So they will look for humans to feed them, leaving the wild areas and likely end up being shot by people who are afraid of big cats approaching them. It’s really sad to see these cats being bred in captivity to live their lives in small spaces, never having space to roam and be wild.

I love cats of all sizes. But, I think it is very misled to breed them in cat farms like this. Without a sure place to release them into the wild and a lifestyle which keeps them fit and skilled (and not relying on humans to feed them) there isn’t real hope for these cats to live anywhere but in concrete with a little patch of grass. Cats need to wander and roam and hunt. Even domestic cats will have a territory (unless they are kept indoors all their lives).

It would be very hard, if not impossible, to have these kept cats able to adapt and live in their natural home now. They’ve adapted to our environment, our culture, pollution, schedule, etc. Like being a tourist in another country, they would not know the local culture, the language and the ways of the other big cats who were born to the wild life in that area. They would not know what to eat when seasons change and prey migrate or change their habits. They won’t know or have natural defenses from other animals, insects, and diseases.

Their ancestors could be from that area but it would be culture shock for them to be dropped into a new place and left to learn how to survive. Having eaten dead meat all their lives, is it possible they would only look along roadways and other places they could smell roadkill and dead animals. Are their bodies able to live that way, deal with the parasites and such which they would pick up from dead meat versus the freshly killed animals they would eat naturally.

I wish the Cat Trust well but I think the project is really Terry Moore and volunteers making friends and pets out of these cats. Cats can be great pets, but not every cat should be kept as a pet.

Trying to give them a better life is a great ambition, but breeding them is selfish not selfless. There is no natural selection when females are forced to be bred/ pregnant every few months or every year with whatever male is closed in with them.

Not every female will want to be having batches of kittens constantly. I’ve seen domestic cats abandon new born kittens because they did not want them. I’m sure that must happen with big cats too.

Kept big cats do not live a natural, healthy, active life. Are they physically strong enough to have kittens? Being pampered and inactive means these big cats may not have the strength and stamina for pregnancy and birth. They are not exposed to conditions which toughen wild big cats, including bacteria, which they build immunity to. They just don’t make pet happy documentaries about any of these things.

I don’t think this will end well. Other places like this have failed, had to close. The cats are left homeless when shelters can’t be found for all of them. When there are reports about big cats wandering and hunting in rural and suburban areas, its likely true. How many of them are cats which grew up in zoos/farms which had to close and let the cats out of their cages rather than euthanizing them. It is not a kindness to breed cats, or any animal, just to hoard them in captivity.

Posted to Ontario Barn Preservation – Tree Stump Fences

This is the post I wrote about tree stump fences for the Ontario Barn Preservation newsletter, June 2022.

Thinking About Tree Stumps Today

I seldom see those old tree stump fences now. They used to be all over rural Ontario. Do you know the fences I mean? They were tree stumps pulled up (after the tree was cut down, of course) and lined up in rows as a border at the edge of the land or field. They don’t seem to have a fancy name. I haven’t found one.

This photo was taken by William Gibson and posted to his Flickr account. Location Tay Township, Ontario.

I posted a drawing of a tree stump fence to the social media accounts for Ontario Barn Preservation (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). It’s from a book about Goodwood, Ontario. “Burrs and Blackberries from Goodwood”, by Eleanor Todd. (It’s not a great image. I didn’t want to rip the page out of the book to scan it. So I took a photo of it instead).

The Mennonite Archival Information Database has a photo from Rockton, Ontario, showing how huge the tree stumps could be. Consider, this was after it was pulled out of the ground. Like an iceberg, most of the tree roots are beneath the surface. There’s something to think about.

I found a post about stump fences, in Michigan, with several photos. Have a look at In Forest and Field, site by Woody Meristem.

Stumping, or removing the stumps from land that had been logged, was extremely difficult work. They occupied roughly one eighth of the field, so the first crops were usually planted between them. The presence of stumps not only wasted space but proved a disadvantage to the crude agricultural methods of the day. Many softwood trees stumps rotted away after a year or two, but hardwood stumps persisted eight to ten years, and resinous stumps of pine trees even longer. Stumps, particularly of resin trees like pine, resisted burning and peppered the landscape for many years.

In early York streets, stumps were prevalent and hampered comfortable travel until the Stump Act was enforced. Any person found intoxicated might be sentenced to the task of extracting a prescribed number of stumps. The law so effectively reduced the number of problematic stumps and public drunkenness in York, that other localities imitated it.

Quoted from Gwen Tuinman‘s website. The post is about how the land was cleared, mentioning the tree stump fences at the end. Gwen is a writer from rural Ontario.

Learning more about tree stumps has me thinking about all the trees cut down to make way for farms and then towns and cities. My Dad used to say most of the best farm land has been paved over for cities. I think he was right. People would have started building on the best land. As they gathered and formed towns the land would be used for more houses, shops, schools… you know the history. Trees (and barns) lose their ground to shopping malls and condominiums. You can’t save everything, but it would be nice to see a better balance.

If you want to read more about Ontario’s forests take a look at Forests Ontario.

Posted to Ontario Barn Preservation – Wind Farms

This is my post for the Ontario Barn Preservation newsletter for April, 2022. My first couple of newsletter posts were a bit bland. But, I’ve started thinking of more interesting topics, I think. So I’m going to re-post them for myself here at my own site.

Spring has me thinking about wind farms.

Ontario has wind farms (wind turbines and wind power farms). To me they seem to be a good way to have the land pay for itself, especially if it is no longer being farmed in other ways. But, others don’t like the wind farms at all. Some claim they are noisy. But, we parked beside one on a country road, turned off the car and listened to it turning. There seemed very little noise. I think the main concern are birds flying into them. People are coming up with solutions for this but nothing works 100%, so far.

If you have thought about having a wind farm, there are a few things to consider:

Average wind speeds. The location needs enough wind, year round. You can use an anemometer to measure wind energy. Keep track of the wind over the year and see if you have a good location.
Location regarding access to roads for maintenance, transmission lines (if you plan to sell energy back to the power company), bird migration patterns, air traffic and radar signals (check with the government offices), water in the area (a tall structure needs a solid base to build on).
Even if this is a DIY project you need to get permits. You will need to know all the above for getting a permit.
Construction of a turbine requires, among other things, an electrician to set it up. They also require regular maintenance. They may not be trouble free but once a wind turbine is up and working it does seem practical for generating power and income if you sell it back to the power company.

Canadian Renewable Energy Association – Wind Energy

David Suzuki Foundation – A post about Gunn’s Hill Wind Farm, Ontario’s first wind community. Located in Oxford County.

Henvey Inlet – the largest single-phase wind project in Ontario. Generates enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 100,000 Ontario homes.

Wind Concerns Ontario is a province-wide advocacy organization whose mission is to provide information on the potential impact of industrial-scale wind power generation on the economy, human health, and the natural environment.

Wikipedia – List of Wind Farms in Canada

The Wind Power – See more about wind power from around the world.

Image from Forest History Society of Ontario.

Individual Bloggers Need Their Own Niche

Top 5 Ways to Master Online Content

1. Optimize, Not Compromise

Content farms are so obsessed with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that they prioritize search terms within content over logical narrative. Worry less about how Google indexes, and focus on delivering great information about potential keywords.

5. Find Your Niche

Being an expert at one thing is better than being knowledgeable on many things. Do research on a specific area of interest. Find what is under-represented and fill the void.

via Too long. Didn’t read. – The Writer.

I think finding your niche (actually, creating your niche) is the real way for individual writers online these days. We can’t compete with the amount of general content on the content farm sites. Even as a writer on one of the content farm sites we seldom stand out enough to make enough money. So, the key is to stand out on your own in some way. Find your niche, something you can sustain, and then get into promoting it so people will begin to find you out here in the vast online wilderness.

The Spirit of the Wind

I’m writing with the wind today for Blog Action Day.

This year the theme is climate change. When I think about the climate I think about the wind and weather in general. The wind is part of every kind of weather. When it rains there is wind, not always gale force winds, something little wind to help blow the rain around. When it snows there is almost always wind. I can’t think of a snowy day that didn’t feel that much colder cause the wind was blowing the cold air around. On a sunny day the wind makes the heat a little easier to take. (So does ice cream!). I’ve seen photos of sand being blown by the wind, making gentle waving patterns like a Japanese garden nature made.

I love walking in the wind (if there’s rain too that just makes it better). There is so much power in the wind. No wonder wind farms are popping up all over Ontario, my province. Some people complain about the wind farms saying they make a lot of noise. We have parked right beside an actively spinning wind turbine and could hardly hear a sound. We had to turn off the car cause it was making far more noise than the turbine. Is turbine the right word? I’m mostly guessing on that.

One of the old sayings I picked up from someone, probably my Aunt Emma who lived in British Columbia, was about getting outside and having the cobwebs blown off of you. Wind has been a big part of our lives from the first creatures to drag themselves out of the water, before that even. The fish and underwater creatures feel the power of the wind at times too. I can watch the fish in our backyard pond for an hour. The fish themselves, the water plants, the bugs skimming the surface, the light bouncing on the water and the wind that comes along and moves them all.

Let the spirit of the wind move you!

Did you write for Blog Action Day? Leave your link in the comments and I will visit you too.

Need Ideas for Writing about Climate Change for Blog Action Day?

Do you need ideas for writing about climate change for Blog Action Day tomorrow? (Blog Action Day on Twitter).

Everyone isn’t perfectly politically minded or caught up on all the environmental issues. Also, you may think about the idea of climate change personally versus globally.

That’s how I intend to write about it. So, here are some ideas that have come to my mind. I hope they help inspire you if you’ve been feeling stuck for just the right idea.

The seasons, what do you appreciate about having 4 seasons in the year?
What are your favourite winter and summer activities?
What do you think of those wind farms popping up?
What do you know about other alternative sources of energy?
Could you (or have you) chosen not to drive your car for the day?
Do you love the rain? What is your favourite memory from a rainy day?
How are winters different now than they were when you were a kid? Do you remember more snow or does it seem about the same?
Have you done things to reduce your carbon footprint?
Have you experienced any extreme weather, like tornadoes?
Do you use solar power for anything?
Do you think climate change could lead to an ice age in the far future?
Have you ever seen an iceberg?
Have you head about polar bears drowning due to habitat changes when the ice melts sooner than it used to?
Write about a day far in the future, when climate change and global warming are a reality.
Write about a day in the future when the south is cold and the north is warm as the climate changes.
Do you still think about the ozone hole now and then?
Have you ever traveled to a place where there is an extreme climate like the Arctic, the Sahara Desert or the Rain Forest?
What’s your favourite natural disaster movie?
Have you ever been stuck in the snow somewhere?
Have you ever seen a flood, even if it was just a ditch outside your home?
Do you conserve water?
Have you tried a water garden (like a pond), terrarium or xeriscaping (a garden designed to need little water)?
Do you ride a bike, could you ride instead of driving to work?
Have you gotten into the local food trend, shopping for food grown within 100 miles of your home?
Have you tried a hybrid car or any kind of alternative fuels?
What kind of weather do you most look forward to each year?
Which season costs the most when it comes to buying new clothes for yourself and your family?
Which season has the most family holidays and why do you think that is?
Are your home appliances energy savers? Do you like them?
Are ebooks energy savers versus reading old fashioned paperback books?
If you ruled the world what would you change to help the climate?