June 18th 2008 12:55 pm
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Over the last year, Mom has been learning about the benefits of locally-grown food, and as such she has been purchasing about 75% of the food she and Dad eat from the local farmers markets.
I've found the organic, lactose-free milk she's started purchasing as a result of this effort to be far superior to the milk she had previously been serving. I decided to investigate the local foods movement for myself.
There are many benefits to buying food grown in your area. The most obvious and direct benefit is that the food is fresher than food that has been shipped from another state, or perhaps even another country. Fresher food is more nutritious and tastes better. And of course, bringing food a shorter distance uses far less petroleum than from a longer distance. The economical and ecological benefits are quite obvious.
Cheaper, greener, more nutritious and better tasting. Now, how can a feline involve him or herself in this important food trend?
The answer, I believe, lies in the study of invasive species. Birdwatching is a favorite hobby of mine, and I've noticed lately a marked lack of diversity in our neighborhood avian community. It makes for dull birdwatching, as you can imagine.
As it turns out, the birds I see most often at the window feeders, European Starlings and English House Sparrows, are invasive species. These two birds were introduced to the Americas in the late 1800's and since then have used quite aggressive means to overtake native populations of birds, in particular, the Purple Martin.
The Purple Martin is a quite delightful bird, like his fellow midwesterners, an interesting and hard-working character. He eats mainly flying insects of the unwelcome variety such as mosquitoes and houseflies.
However, the Purple Martin likes the same kind of dwelling that the EH Sparrow and the European Starling do. The two newcomers will stop at nothing to wrest a good home from the Purple Martin. Thus, the numbers of Purple Martins have dwindled to ten percent of what they were 100 years ago.
I shall now propose my thought, which I hope you will not find objectionable.
My research in feline nutrition has taught me that fresh, high protein meats are the best food for a cat. European Starlings and English House Sparrows are quite high in protein, and can be caught locally, so are therefore very fresh.
I humbly propose that we felines -- an introduced species ourselves, I'll allow -- be given the privilege of bettering our ecosystem by thinning the numbers of these invasive birds. At the same time, we will reduce the number of bags of kitty food to be shipped to our local stores, thus saving petroleum, and we will be providing a more welcoming habitat for useful species such as the Purple Martin.
Now, if you will excuse me, I must speak to Mom and Dad about the matter of letting me outside off-leash once in a while.
Yours in good citizenship,
Bertram
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