Dear Albert Dreckers, With candor in charity let my words be heard. I am the gadfly of McLennan County and so I will remain, no matter the persecution and failed attempted ZINGS that come from you, Sir Albert. No your nihilism must be expounded briefly so that it may be brought into the light, for we all now that no thing has power so long as it comes into the light, but it remains in power as it remains in darkness. With Walter Sobchak I say and exhort and edify McLennan County: "No, Donny, [McLennan County] these men [Albert Dreckers] are nihilists. There's nothing to be afraid of." And with Jesus: "Father forgive him [Albert Dreckers] for he knows not what he does." The purveyor of hope, that harbinger of the Waco Tribune who so incisively recognized the problem at hand, the problem with being (zein), in the Heideggerian tradition, revealing herself to be a Wacoan of noble blood in the Malickian line, the problem of stray, feral, and virtous domestic. We might avoid the pitfalls and descent of nihilism which Albert Dreckers embodies and cling fast the void, as the void is the only hope, the only life, the only response to a correctly aligned Vorgriff (in the Rahnerian sense). Yes the writer here is a companion gadfly to me, and we, vocatively and against you, O Albert Dreckers, robustly declare NEIN!!! To you nihilism and despair. Let us McLennan County against feral nihilism cling to the void staring at its faceless abyss. Yours Truly and Sincerely as a Fellow Waiting the Pan-Consummation in Being-Towards-Annihilation, you, O nearly-formidable opponent, Albert Dreckers, who I would gladly shake the hand of, I say, seasons greetings as we thaw in the summer's preparation in spring, Felis Silvy C.

Felis silvestris catus, and THAT's why all your writings have been sent back to you, stamped "REJECTED".

In her chapter on the "Welfare of Feral Cats" in _The Welfare of Cats_ Margaret R. Slater argues that a variety of approaches must be taken in the situation and dilemma of what to do about the ferals. She is precisely wrong in her 'postmodern' assessment of the proper approach of humane and effective dealings with the feral. What matters--and call me a chauvinist dualistic apocalypticist if you will, as the taunting Feline Fetish has donephallic dilletante that he/she is)---is treating the feral in its utter abjectness sincerely, the way blackness is treated by Newt Gingrich, ya dig? By attempting to subvert the feral/stray dialectic Feline Fetish has put us on course to the gentrificatory of the domestic, carving a false state of peace for the feral, a Procrustean bed if I've ever seen one, ignoring all beckons from Delphia to the nihilistic platitudes of Congress. The feral/stray, as simulacrum of the eternal/temporal must be upheld. McLennan County must see through the mere appearances of the humane, and see that the humane is found in human flourish a la carte, and tout court. Something strange and fresh I smell coming, and it certainly isn't a feral in my garbage can.

Webster's Dictionary defines feral as "of, relation to, or suggestive of a wild beast." Veritably, at stake here is the eros-flagellating Weltanschauung of America, the paragon of which resides in and around the potent lawns of Lions Park. Felix catus, in the tradition of his Christian forebears, and in tune contemporarily with the ideology of whiteness and manhood, duplicitously calls on the good people of Waco to make a distinction between "feral" and "stray" in a desperate nature-fearing appeal that is in reality the most redolent of unreality. "Feral" and "stray" function as his own inner war between nature and culture, respectively, the quotidian laceration that he daily inflicts on his natural flesh, whose demands he cannot ignore. He would have us exterminate the "feral" because it represents what he wishes to exterminate in himself: uncultured feeling, eros. What is next, Felix, extermination of the "benighted" races? Exclusion of the "wild" female? This is the trend of his thought, Wacoans. Sound a bit like Hitler? That's what I thought. We must stop trying to control the feral cat, because what we do not see is that he is at the vanguard of the resistance of suburbanization in Waco. He is the grease-stained mechanic at the muffler shop. He walks with the houseless, whispers to them that the promise of "stray"dom and reunital with society is a false condescension of the rich, that there is nothing wrong on this Christ-haunted post-lapsarian slice of earth in central Texas with being "feral", with weeping over the earth until nightfall while the "stray" goes back to the tranquilizing home of his owner.

@Nature Advocate: Did you just put forth an argument for gentrification? Methinks in the affirmative. As long as the dialectic of feral/stray is 'dog'matically ignored by the likes of you and @meco McLennan County cannot expect true human flourishing. And human flourishing must needs be our common goal. From the early days of all cats until the present day the noblest and beautifullest bodied felines have advocated for their lame brother and sister cat's extermination. Let us in obedience to cats of noble-origins (namely, domestics!!) draw the due distinction between stray and feral!!! Lets also continue to allow music to demarcate territory. Besides, we all wish to avoid falling into the pitfalls of living into the unreality of monetary-transactions, as if sound were less effective than paper and private property actually meant something. In voice consonant we cry: Righteousness will prevail in McLennan County! The 254 Forever!

When cats overpopulate, it is reasonable to get rid of them by any available means. People who are obsessed with Cat Welfare, Cat Rights, etc should should be treated with kindness but largely ignored.

Human Territorial Behavior By Expendable Proxy I have come to the inexorable conclusion that "cat-lovers" (an oxymoron if there ever was) that let their invasive-species roam free, especially those that defend feral-cats overtaking public property and wildlife areas, are only (cowardly) using cats as a proxy for their own territorial behavior. Like uneducated inner-city youth that will disrespectfully use loud music to stake-out a territory for themselves. As long as they can have one of their cats defecate in another's yard or destroy their property, animals, and wildlife; and the land-owner not have any recourse; the cat-owner owns that territory. It's time to put a stop to them using their "cute kitty" excuse for usurping and stealing others' property. If they want territory they can damn well buy it just like anyone else. They're using underhanded and manipulative means, putting (and sacrificing) live animals in the path of their envy and greed. Proving why they don't care about cats nor anyone else. Cat-lovers only want your yard, garden, or forest while making all other humans and animals suffer for what they can't have nor own. Bottom line -- they want to control you and your property. That's ALL that "cat-lovers" are after. It's why they don't care at all if their cat nor any other animals, nor even other humans, get harmed by their goals and (lack of) values in life.

Slow down, little buddies and buddettes! Talk about presumptious street! The entire assumptions of this article and all comments are irrelevant. Let me tell you why: You have possibly conflated feral cats with stray cats! Where is all this 'dog'matic assurance coming from?! If they are feral cats, swift and immediate action is called for. The ferals must be exterminated. If they are merely stray, however, we must rehabiliate them into the former life of domesticity. It is in violation of every creature under God of the Metazoan kingdom to conflate and mistreat a feral and a stray cat. An attempted rehabilitation of a feral would be calamitous. And an extermination of a stray--an atrocity. Let us now together in voice consonant declare: Death to anthropogenic irresponsibility and life to Virtue and Honor! Righteousness must overcome in McLennan County!

Why don't we just put some feral people there to take care of the cats?

Why do the people who are complaining about these feral cats not take them to their homes and feed them?

ClarkP, maybe LD was trying to compromise. LOL. God has a way of taking care of things and he's presented us an opportunity to handle this. Apparently a park in Fort Worth has lost all its feral cats. We could round these up and take the cats to them as a city-to-city gift. http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/01/18/missing-cats-leaving-volunteers-heads-scratching/ This would solve both our problems at the same time. An alternative would be to do as some northern states have done and release wolves back into the wild and maybe they'd drop one off at Lion's Park. That would probably thin out the population of feral cats and it's part of God's plan - the circle of life, food chain and all that. As they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat and these protesters haven't really thought of many alternatives. They want everything their way. Another idea would be to relocate them to the new dog park. It's fenced and I don't know why it has to be exclusively for dogs. In fact, the cat lovers might want to protest that or sue over discrimination.

It seems that there are nine feral cats at Lions Park. There is at least nine women that have written in for support of the continued feeding of the cats. I say trap the nine cats and give them to these nine women to take home and feed and take care of in their neighborhood. Is Lions Park the ONLY place in Waco that a reported feral cat problem.

LD, NO! Do NOT take them to ranches and farms. ALL the wildlife on my land was DESTROYED BY CATS from people who dumped their cats on neighboring ranchers and farmers. Native prey became tortured play-toys for cats. Native predators starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY food source. Otherwise everything you say is 100% true. If you advocate for cats as rodent-control on farms and ranches you've already doomed them to being destroyed by drowning or shooting when it becomes a financial liability more than any asset. Ranchers and farmers worldwide are fully aware that cats' Toxoplasma gondii parasite can cause the very same birth defects (hydrocephaly and microcephaly), still-births, and miscarriages in their livestock and important wildlife as it can in pregnant women. This is why any cats are ROUTINELY destroyed around gestating livestock and wildlife-management areas in the most efficient, humane, and least-expensive method available. Common rural practice everywhere. The risk of financial loss from dead livestock and important native wildlife from an invasive-species cat is far too great to do otherwise. The next time you bite into that whole-grain veggie-muffin or McBurger, you need to just envision biting down on a shot-dead or drowned kitten or cat. For that's precisely how that food supply got to your mouth -- whether you want to face up to it or not. It's not going to change reality no matter how much you twist your mind away from the truth of your world.

Euthanizing them is the kindest thing to do. Their lives are miserable.

Our priorities as a community must be askew when we worry more about animals than people. I contend we see more fundraisers and public concern for animals than homeless people. I credit it to the fact that animals are "cute" and less complicated than people with problems, medical, mental or otherwise. The feral cat supporters have an unfounded sense of entitlement and are doing themselves no favor. How many organizations will want to allow them onto their property knowing they will never want to leave, even when asked nicely? How dare they take a non-profit group to task that has been trying to provide a quality children's attraction for years. I hate cats and love dogs, but I wouldn't want a bunch of feral dogs running around a park either. This group can romanticize the cats all they want, but if they're too wild to adopt as they've frequently pointed out, that alone makes them too dangerous to keep around a park for little kids. Trap them all and take them to one of these supporters' rural ranches or farmland.

I think that the language and attitude of the TNR supporters has come across as threatening, unprofessional, and rude. I've had several conversations this week with people who have no strong opinions about the issue, but who have developed negative opinions about the nonprofits involved based on the way that they have handled themselves the last few days.

As a child, I loved going to the Park and seeing the cats. I don't have kids, but the children of my friends express a similar delight. As long as people are eating in the park, there will be a food source, and there will be cats as well as other animals. Wouldn't it be better to have a smaller number of healthy and vaccinated ones than the mess of constantly sick and breeding ones who were there before the volunteers came in to help? No one was routinely feeding them then, but they still multiplied. The other option for "control" is to pack any new ones up and send them to the shelter to be killed, at taxpayer expense. I'd rather see my money go to keeping open wonderful schools like AJ Moore. There ARE more important things than focusing on cats who are not harming anyone - and when not harassed and backed into a corner, many of the volunteers working with the cats support other community projects as well - even ones that aren't animal related.

Not sure what to say about this....the cats have been there for several years and all of a sudden there is concern for the childrens safety?!?! STARVING these cats IS NOT THE ANSWER!!! Allow the CARING citizens to trap these cats and get them out if they r not wanted there. STARVING them to death IS NOT a solution, what would the ASPCA say about this?!?! ANIMAL CRUELTY

The cats are already vaccinated, spayed, and neutered. I heard that seeing the cats "made people sad." They will be a lot more sad if these cats die or are relocated, because the unspayed ones that take their place will start having litters of sick/dead babies. This happened at Waco High when the administrators there didn't allow the cats to be trapped and altered. And when I was a student at Baylor I often spotted sickly feral kittens in the drainage ditches and around campus at night. And as to Lisa, I think that caring about animals doesn't lessen caring about children in any way. In fact, doing something to improve your world is far more admirable than complaining on the internet.

I agree, Jim. Our priorities are very, very screwed up if we care this much about nine cats. How many children didn't have enough to eat that day? How many kids were abused by their parents? We should care about kids at least as much as cats. The Lion's Club is leasing the property. They get to decide how the property is used and the occupants of the property. That seems like the bottom line to me. There were 75 protesters. Seems like they could find nine people to each take a cat. From the sounds outside my window last night, I think there are going to be some feral kittens by my apartment soon...if they need something to keep them busy.

The reasons cited by the Lions' Park representatives are questionable at best. Is the public to believe that, in September when the new Board of Directors made this decision, that the cats suddenly turned hostile? I would like to know the number of complaints they had, and if anyone was actually harmed. If so, there should be documentation. The Disney parks, TCU, ASU,and SMU participate in TNR programs. If a Mouse can handle it, why not a pride of Lions? As to the offer to move the cats' feeding station and shelter to adjacent land, look at the area. There IS no adjacent land; Lion's Park takes up the entire block. To the east is New Road and Bosque Blvd. to the south. West is the fair parking lot, the Lions' Den, and the Harrison Center which already has a feral colony. Northwest is Waco High, and directly north is the Little League field. Before making a judgement call, I would encourage anyone to go look at the swimming pool area where the cats were cared for. Cats are the least of the hazards there.

I think we have our priorities screwed up...they're more important things that need to be addressed than several feral cats... Com'on Man.

I think they had some cat haters on the board. Those cats were providing free "mousing." When this country was founded, having a cat was, dare I say it, "the cat's meow.". They provided a service, keeping the mice and rats out of the flour, wheat, and vegetables. There was a great deal of time and money invested in that feral colony, and it took about two seconds to undo all the time, money and effort that so many people put into it. The feral cat colony was something I would have enjoyed teaching my grandson about. As an active participant in animal rescue, I am extremely disappointed that the actions of a select few mean minded people will in effect be responsible for the probable deaths of 9 animals.