Here are Gerald and Misty, hard at work!
They accompany me on my walks, but only at the park (which is safer for them and they know this) and as well as for taiji.
On a more serious note:
Why street dogs and cats live amongst us
It was our human ancestors, many thousands of years ago, who left food scraps in their nomadic lifestyle so animals followed their tracks. It was also our humans ancestors who domesticated the wolves and wild cats as companion animals or later, used cats to ward off vermin from their farms, dogs to guard their property.
But dogs and cats breed on their own. They do not go through menopause; dogs can breed twice a year while cats can breed up to four times a year. It is how Nature is, for the survival of the species. But we have built our concrete jungles and dogs and cats find it difficult to survive in them. Many street animals also may not be “genuine strays”. They are abandoned unneutered pet animals due to irresponsible pet ownership, or the offspring of such abandoned pets.
But worse of all are the laws and by-laws enacted by politicians whereby unfriendly and intolerant humans can lodge complaints about street cats and dogs being a “nuisance” and then, the authorities will act upon these complaints and catch-and-destroy. As usual, certain humans kill to solve their “problems”. That’s just how humans are, sad to say. But when you talk about who the real “nuisance” is, aren’t they the humans who destroy the natural environment to build their concrete jungles?
The bottom line is this: Animals did not choose to live amongst us. We destroyed their natural homes. We brought them in to live with us. It is only reasonable that we help them by controlling their population through neutering so that they do not breed at an exponential rate and suffer on the street. It is only reasonable and fair that we allow to live out their natural lives in the only home they know: Where they are born is where they belong.
Human beings are supposed to have a conscience. But sadly, they are not in touch with it.