Editor:

A few years back, I was having a casual conversation with a neighbor who “oversees” several outdoor/indoor cats. This person happened to mention that these feline charges enjoyed our yard when we were gone as they stalked prey there and that came in handy since cat food was unaffordable anyway.

This person laughed, I didn’t. Later, perhaps a year or so, I read the following New York Times Magazine article about the national diminishment of birds and their various species — billions due to the house cat left out to hunt. I was shocked at the magnitude of the problem.

We noticed a marked decline in birds using our birdbath over the years, more than coincidental since we noticed this decline long before I read the article to which I refer:www.nytimes.com/2014/03/22/opinion/sunday/the-evil-of-the-outdoor- cat.html?_r=0

I encourage your readers to link to it. It’s not funny, but rather a result of purposeful neglect and ignorance.

Frank Jasko

Idyllwild