One of the early English kings gave cats the right to roam because they kill mice and rats, which not only eat and contaminate food stocks but also spread disease.

Over the decades, my cats slaughtered hundreds of them. If it weren’t for cats, our seaside Garden City would be Hamelin West.

A neighbour asked me to keep my cats out of her yard. I told her they were ratting. She said she didn’t have rats.

I said that was why, but suggested she turn the hose on the cats to discourage them. She did. They were duly discouraged.

A few months later, a pest control vehicle was seen outside her house, and it transpired that her house and studio were infested.

Rats had gnawed through her electrical wires and died in the walls. The stench was horrendous. She had to move out until expensive repairs were completed.

Cats also kill birds. So do rats (and crows, raptors, squirrels, and raccoons), stealing eggs and nestlings.

So, cats kill rats that kill birds. Nature is complicated.

Hilary Knight

Victoria

Many writers who call the claims for separation in Alberta treasonous are reaching a bit. This view seems to think that the Canadian confederation is inviolate, i.e., once a province is in, it can never leave.

This is simplistic.

Of course, Canada would be a lesser nation if any province were to choose to separate.

But perhaps it is time for all interested parties, including various levels of government as well as First Nations, to work a little harder to understand why some jurisdictions believe that they are not sharing fully in the benefits of confederation as they might hope.

In my view, we all need one another in these parlous times and need not gratuitously alienate any partner.

David Collins

Victoria

In June 1941, in the middle of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, said: “United we stand. Divided we fall.”

Today, fear and division are running rampant on the world stage. Closer to home, think of some Albertans wanting to separate from the rest of Canada.

Would now be an appropriate time to remind ourselves of Churchill’s words?

If Alberta separated, wouldn’t that leave a gaping hole in the fabric of Canada for the Orange Man south of us to move in?

Is that what Albertans want?

Aren’t we stronger........

© Times Colonist