Natural Born Killers

Shortly after moving here, we went to the animal shelter and came home with a cat. Her name was Sunshine -her owner had been sent to prison and she was without a home. She soon became pregnant and delivered a litter of kittens which were really, really fun.

We were lucky to find really great homes for all the kittens besides the two we kept for ourselves. One is my youngest daughter's that she named Seraphina, or Sara. The second my son named Zippy. Sadly, it was hit by a car and killed when only a few months old.



To replace Zippy, we got another shelter cat for my son's birthday and he named her Lyra. All three are outside barn cats who relish their job of catching mice, rats, and moles, as well as snakes, an occasional bird, baby squirrels...

...and the wee wild bunnies we have. Cats are just natural born killers. As unsavory as it sometimes is to see when we come upon them at their job, this is what they do. Without a few cats around here, to do what cats do, we would soon have a serious rodent problem. And despite being cute, the bunnies multiplying unchecked, would become a disaster in the garden. Of course, the other natural born killers, the coyote, raccoons and opossums, kill and eat these same rodents and bunnies, too -its their role in the big scheme of things. It's just that our poultry are every bit as tasty and easier to catch. Thankfully, the cats leave our poultry alone -once the chicks and ducklings are big enough, that is. They are natural born killers after all.