Hey all.  I received this in my email today from someone who was concerned about my "cause" to help out local strays.

I'd just like to respond by saying that, yes, that cat was eking out a living.  Sure, he may have been happy with that.  And, of course, all the female strays in the area would be just as happy as they were eking our *their* living.  And, then, of course, there's the kittens… One unspayed female can produce hundreds of kittens in its lifetime.  And then each of those female kittens can do the same, sometimes starting as early as when they are only four months old. 

The environment, of course, cannot support that many stray cats.  So they die in some horrible ways, the least of which is being hit by a car.  They die of starvation, disease, infected sores, attacks from other animals (including other ferals, who sometimes kill their own kittens).  And, when they get injured, they have no one to care for them, provide them medicine, or ease their pain.  They die slow, painful deaths. 

Make the nighborhood much safer for the humans?  No.  We can fend for ourselves.  Make life much easier for the feral cats that are already out there?  Absolutely.