Cat Poop in Flower Beds

Here's a sample discussion from my neighborhood forum... A neighbor asked "Anyone know how to stop cats from crapping in my flower beds? I have flies galore because of the cat poop. Maybe i wouldn't care so much if my flower beds weren't so close to my front door." Many suggestions were offered. Some suggested red pepper, others, offered citrus oil or peels... I like these latest ones.

Neighbor A:
I've also heard dried coyote urine works (available at some nurseries, believe it or not).

B replies:
or you could ask Rick Perry to shoot one and harvest the urine.

Me (feeling to need to try and spark something):
I really want to make a joke about "who collects all this urine?" but then I Googled... There are lots of impassioned articles that speak of the animal's living conditions, here's the least emotional blurb I found.

"Generally speaking, fox urine is a byproduct of fur farming. By purchasing genuine fox urine, one is helping make fur farming more profitable (in the same way purchasing leather gives money to the beef industry).
While there haven't been too many animal-rights exposes into the animal urine market, it would only make sense that a sizable portion would come from fur farms. Fur farms are one of the few places that large numbers of carnivores are confined to the type of small cages that would make large-scale urine collection possible. Since fur ranching isn't exactly a booming industry, it would also make sense that fur farmers would want to branch out into other industries as much as possible. It would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to reliably harvest urine at zoos or in the wild."

B responds:
Now I am a little embarrassed by my flippant attempt at humor


C adds:
I'm not embarrassed in the least that I bought fox urine to try and eradicate the family of raccoons tearing up my attic space, nesting in my insulation, tearing up my ductwork and wreaking havoc above the bedroom ceilings at all hours of the night. It's not safe, it's costly and it's a health hazard with all the crap they leave behind.

At the expense of some fox somewhere, I am trying to remove raccoons using live traps and "gentle" eradication methods on the "end user" of the fox urine, however it is collected, as opposed to tazering them, shooting them in the ear with a pellet gun, etc., etc.

I was not fond of frontier cowboys skinning buffalo just for their hides at the expense of taking away many Indian tribes main food and tool source, nor am I the kind of guy who would throw blood on some gal wearing mink or a fox collared jacket.
I know cattle suffer deplorable conditions at the slaughter house, but I still eat steak.
I shoot and kill deer, but I've never paid to have any antlers mounted; instead, I pay to have the meat professionally processed and I eat the venison. I don't shoot anything for sport. I catch, clean and eat fish.

At the same time, I detest cruelty to dogs or cats. I believe there's a hierarchy and I'm glad I'm close to the top of the food chain. That doesn't give me the right to add to the suffering in the world but I'm not going to become a vegan or vegetarian as a result. Nor am I going to take such a soft approach to raccoon eradication from my home that no suffering on earth occurs as a result of my decision (unless this racoon family wants to help me pay my exorbitant taxes).

Partially tongue in cheek, partially dead -on.
Cheers,
xxxx


Me again (My rabble-rousing worked! Yippee!):
Apparently, if you'd just kill and eat the raccoons, you could fulfill your thirst for the hunt, meanwhile sparing the suffering of:
Foxes
Cattle
Deer
Fish?
And, if you saved their pelts, you may spare a few minks

Stop being so "gentle" with those pesky and dirty raccoons in your attic.



There was so much more to JerkStore him on, but short and sweet is best.