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Letters: Savage acts; Road woes; Disappointing narrative; Extreme sarcasm; Parade a joke

Savage acts As someone who has worked in two wildlife recovery centres, I want to commend Murray Dobbin for his thoughtful piece ["Counterpoint: Keep your cats indoors,” July 19], which will no doubt draw defensiveness from some people, who need to s

Savage acts

As someone who has worked in two wildlife recovery centres, I want to commend Murray Dobbin for his thoughtful piece ["Counterpoint: Keep your cats indoors,” July 19], which will no doubt draw defensiveness from some people, who need to stop living in denial.

It has been known for a long time that cats do not need to be let outdoors to lead happy, healthy lives. Freedom from fleas, parasites, cars and dogs (or other predators, including humans) lead to longer and healthier lifespans. Veterinarians, BC SPCA, humane societies and others have repeated this again and again. It is equally certain, as Dobbin points out, that outdoor cats are the number-one driver toward extinction of bird species.

Birds are not the only animals preyed upon by cats. In wildlife recovery, I cannot count the number of animals brought in after being savaged by someone's cat or dog. One of the hardest sights I encountered was a handful of tiny, day-old baby rabbits whose mother was torn apart right after giving birth. The woman who brought them in witnessed her neighbour’s dog in the act. Sadly, there was nothing to be done for such young creatures and the entire litter was euthanized. What a sad waste.

Dobbin is correct: pet cats and dogs do not rely on their kills for food; they kill for fun.

I have lived with cats all my life and know for a fact they adapt extremely well to a life indoors if given attention and the proper environment. It is pretty tiresome to clean up dead birds and cat (or dog) feces in my yard because other people let their pets run loose for no legitimate reason.

These people are really just projecting their own needs and preferences onto their animal companions and have no idea (or do not care) what they are up to. Many of these same people claim to care about animals. This is simply untrue, since they give no thought to the welfare of birds and other species being preyed upon by their free-ranging pets.

Marusha Taylor
Courtenay, BC

 

Road woes

As someone who drives the local forest service roads daily and deals with the serious dust and pothole issues, I was baffled at the controversy over Nootka Street [“Residents rally for road upgrade,” July 19] when I recently drove that stretch of road to visit a friend.

The road was in excellent condition compared to many others I use. My friend who lives up there commented that perhaps it would help if his fellow Nootka residents slowed down a little.

I have attempted to walk my granddaughter along there and was appalled at the high speeds of some of the drivers.

I can suggest a simple solution: perhaps the residents should petition the provincial government to expand the boundary of the city to include their enclave. That way their property taxes would come to the city to help pay for such things as Powell River Recreation Complex and the many city parks they use. It would also help us to cover the $1-million-plus we city residents provide to the Powell River Regional District every year as a contribution toward their administration and regional parks.

Asking city residents to cover additional costs for the benefit of those who do not live in the city is rubbing salt in the wound of taxpayers whose property taxes were just increased this year.

If Nootka area residents became city residents they might elicit more sympathy.

Wayne Brewer
Westview Avenue

 

Disappointing narrative

I was extremely disappointed to read last week’s cover article [“Visiting hikers conquer route,” July 19].

It’s not surprising to see the local paper trumpeting the Austrian hikers’ false braggadocio about “conquering” Canada’s “last frontier” without consulting with the local mountaineering community to see if indeed the group’s two-helicopter-drop journey warranted such acclaim.
The real sadness comes from reading such triumphal colonialist language repeated after the paper expressed such a different opinion a little under a month ago in publisher/editor Jason Schreurs’ article [“Editorial: Colonization 150,” June 28].

In the piece, Schreurs wonders what 150 acts of reconciliation would look like? Well, a real start would be the Peak not continuing to replicate the colonial narrative.
As part of traditional Squamish territory, the mountains that lie within the Third Crossing route are places to be respected, not frontiers to be conquered.

Mel Edgar
Kamloops Street


Extreme sarcasm


There has been some discussion regarding tree cutting lately [“Committee continues tree bylaw discussion,” July 12]. I say let’s not worry about it. Let’s remove all the trees and do our part to speed up global warming. The sooner we get rid of the human race, the sooner the planet can do a reboot.

In the interim, let’s make sure we have new housing for people who want to move here. Don’t mention to people that want to move here that there is a shortage of doctors, though. We want to make sure that the people that move here, mainly those who are well-off, can compete with the existing citizens of Powell River for doctors and hospital space. This will encourage an extra tier in our health care system when doctors notice that there is a large segment that need health care and have the money to pay for it.

We will also create jobs like they did in Florida. Instead of alligator-removal specialists, we’ll have general wildlife-removal specialists. Not to worry though, the wildlife will be relocated and not killed.

Bambi and Yogi will live in harmony with all the other wildlife that are relocated to a special habitat where there are live-feed video cameras. We can watch the animals living in harmony with each other, because that’s what animals do.

I’m sure that since developers are people like you and I, profit will take a backseat to the common good.

Henry Hill
Bowness Avenue


Parade a joke

Sea Fair Parade is a joke [“Parade continues,” July 5]. Let it go. No one is going to get involved. It’s over. Get over it. Sea Fair’s dead. Rest in peace.

Dave Thickett
Quadra Avenue