| Dear
EarthTalk: Please help settle the debate about
whether or not my cats should stay in or go out. My neighborhood
is relatively safe for cats, vis-à-vis car traffic,
and I think it is more natural for them to be outside and
not always inside. They do kill wildlife, including birds,
but aren’t they just taking the place of natural predators
that once did the same?
-- Bill Thomson, Bangor, ME
Most
environmental advocates believe that keeping cats indoors
is better for both the health of the felines themselves
and for their prey. Scientists estimate that the typical
free-roaming housecat kills some 100 small animals each
year. This means that the 90 million domestic housecats
living in the U.S. alone are killing hundreds of millions
if not billions of birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians
every year. And while housecats on the prowl may serve to
replace the natural predators long ago extirpated by humans,
their popularity as pets puts their population density far
ahead of those that came before them.
“Cat
predation is an added stress to wildlife populations already
struggling to survive habitat loss, pollution, pesticides
and other human impacts,” says the American Bird Conservancy
(ABC), which in 1997 launched its controversial Cats Indoors!
campaign to educate animal lovers about the benefits of
keeping Tabby inside. ABC also points out that free-roaming
cats are exposed to injury, disease, parasites and collisions
with cars, and can get lost, stolen or poisoned. Cats can
also transmit diseases and parasites such as rabies, cat-scratch
fever and toxoplasmosis to other cats, wildlife or people.
To help drive its point home, ABC produces a wide range
of educational materials (including a brochure, “Keeping
Cats Indoors Isn’t Just For The Birds”) and
public service announcements in the service of their ongoing
campaign.
Nonetheless,
many cat lovers believe that it is inhumane to confine felines
indoors, since they have evolved as hunters and thrive on
the natural stimulation only available outside. To help
soften the blow and wean your cat off of the outdoors slowly,
ABC suggests gradually curtailing your cat’s out-of-doors
time over the course of a few months until it is eventually
not let out at all. In doing so, you will need to provide
your cat with a lot of attention and play indoors. New scratching
posts and toys are a good bet as they may entertain cats
that ordinarily occupy themselves chasing birds and rodents.
ABC suggests hiding various toys around the house so cats
can sniff them and not miss so much the thrill of the hunt
outdoors.
One
last bit of important advice: Many fear that confining their
cats indoors will lead to more shredded upholstery. But
de-clawing your cat should never be an option. According
to Veterinarian Dr. Christianne Schelling, cats’ claws
are a vital part of their anatomy. De-clawing is not simply
fingernail trimming but the removal of the last joint in
a cat’s “toes.” It is a painful procedure
and can lead to serious physical, emotional and behavioral
complications.
Alternatives
to de-clawing include providing scratching posts in various
locations around the home, and trimming your cats nails
occasionally. This involves trimming only the clear tip
of the nail (never the pink or dark fleshy parts, which
are skin) and should be done only upon first consulting
with a veterinarian. Another option is a product called
Soft Paws, lightweight vinyl caps that you apply over your
cat’s own claws. They have rounded edges, so your
cat's scratching doesn’t damage your home and furnishings.
CONTACTS:
Cats
Indoors!; Declawing
Cats: More Than Just a Manicure; Soft
Paws.
Dear
EarthTalk: The hospital I work at doesn’t
recycle at all, not even plastic bottles and cans or food
service trays. I was wondering how to get the facility to
start up some kind of recycling system?
-- Adrianna Schultz, via e-mail
Getting a large
institution or corporation on board with recycling is no
easy job, especially when you are starting from scratch.
A good place to begin is to get permission from higher-ups
to solicit bids from waste haulers and recyclers interested
in new business. Such service providers can provide you
with both the supplies needed to gather recyclables as well
as regular weekly or daily pick-ups, depending on needs.
If convincing
your employer to look into recycling in the first place
is a stumbling block, there are many resources available
to help turn that tide. The Rhode Island Resource Recovery
Corporation (RIRRC), a state agency dedicated to helping
Ocean State businesses manage solid waste in environmentally
sound ways, publishes “In the Workplace,” a
print and online pamphlet that outlines the steps for setting
up a workplace recycling and reduction program. According
to RIRRC, wannabe workplace recyclers need to start by securing
organizational support and commitment and educating fellow
employees about the importance of recycling. The pamphlet
also includes useful tips about reducing waste altogether.
The Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection’s “Recycling
Works” program offers a similar set of guidelines
specifically for recycling at hospitals and health care
institutions. Additionally, New York State’s Department
of Environmental Conservation publishes a free guide showing
health care facilities how to evaluate their performance
in preventing waste and pollution and identify opportunities
for recycling and for cutting back resource use.
Another good
resource for information on hospital recycling is the website
of the nonprofit Waste Reduction Resource Center, which
offers case studies detailing how several small and large
health care facilities coast-to-coast have launched successful
and money-saving recycling and waste reduction programs.
Examples include a Vermont hospital with no budget for recycling
that set up a self-sustaining, money-saving system for organics
collection and composting, and a Pennsylvania hospital that
now saves $150,000 a year due to the implementation of its
recycling program.
Those looking
to reduce waste in hospitals should be sure to consult the
“Plan-Do-Check-Act” section of the Sustainable
Hospitals website. The summary provides useful tools for
getting management approvals and enlisting the support of
employees in both recycling and lowering disposable product
consumption. It also has a section on how to reduce energy
usage.
Implementing
recycling and waste reduction programs at hospitals makes
sense not only for local ecology and for institutional bottom
line, but also for the examples that can be set for the
millions of patients and workers that pass through the health
care system every day.
CONTACTS:
Waste
Reduction Resource Center; RIRRC
“In the Workplace,”; “Recycling
Works,”; Sustainable
Hospitals. |
