The door swung open and she froze. With a quick and piercing glance, she dashed toward the sewer. Slinking into its folds, she disappeared like a rabbit entering a magician's hat. Calmly I waited for a chance to see her again. It had been awhile since she had shown herself. This time, she appeared to have been caught off guard. I stood very still, and after a minute a mottled face arose from the darkness. Keeping low to the ground, she slunk across the street and vanished under my neighbor's bushes. I knew what she wanted; the scraps of bread laying in my front yard.

This oddly calicoed cat was a vagrant. My first sighting of her was a year earlier, when I found her crouched over some left-over pasta I had thrown out for the birds. At the time, I wasn’t sure if she was someone’s pet, a stray, or a wild visitor. Her short, deformed tail made her recognizable from a distance, and I knew it was the same cat as before. As she slipped into the manhole, my suspicions were confirmed. She was not a stray, but one that had lived on the street her whole life. A true feral feline.

There is something about an animal’s eyes that tells you whether it is a lost pet or one who has had to live entirely by its wiles. This female always kept her head and body close to the ground. Her gaze was one of calculation and directness. From the looks of her, she was proving to be a master at survival. Quick and determined, she knew what routes to take, what areas to check for scraps, and where to hide for invisibility.

She became a more frequent yard guest when I saw her belly nearly dragging on her paws. Her pregnancy spurred me to help, so I offered scraps more regularly. Often, however, despite the enticements, her presence was still a mystery. I would throw something out and watch from the window for awhile, only to be disappointed that she'd come right at the moment I went to get a glass of juice from the refrigerator.

Many times I have wondered where she came from. Had she been living in my bushes for years, or was she new to the area?

Four years prior, a large, black, long-haired cat I had never seen before was sitting on my driveway when I came home from work. His scruffy coat and squatting gold eyes spoke of wildness. You couldn’t approach him and he’d disappear faster than a blink. I tried offering him food for awhile on the carport, but he never really trusted it. If he got brave enough to enter the open slab of concrete, he was easily startled by a blowing leaf or a loud noise, and he’d run for cover before finishing the food. Shortly thereafter, my dog arrived and I stopped feeding him altogether so there would be no conflict of interest or possible encounter. The black cat still lives, and I continue to see him occasionally slipping under brush or trotting across a lawn.

Everyone has probably seen a feral cat at some point in their lives. Some are fed by caring people. Some live off mice and insects. Others do a combination of both, and learn where to go and how to do it. According to the feral cat group, Alley Cat Allies, there is currently a bill pending in the state of Illinois, H.R. 2703, that will require animal control personnel to trap, and remove, any cat seen outdoors that they consider “at large”. The cats, whether someone’s pet, stray or feral, will then be surrendered to a local animal shelter where their fates lie in the hands of overworked staff.

This legislation has potentially dire consequences for cats. In 2008, shelters euthanized over 60,600 cats according to information gathered by Alley Cat Allies, through the Freedom of Information Act. In that same year, only 2,990 cats that arrived in the shelters were returned to their owners.

Shelters are all ready burdened with many abandoned or surrendered animals, especially in these hard economic times. If new arrivals start coming in, the euthanasia rate will soar, costing more money, resources and heartbreak.

One most wonder why this bill is being introduced. Are the cats that roam really causing problems? Are citizens complaining? Do the control officers want more work? Are there public health concerns looming that are not being announced?

If you care for feral cats, or even have a pet cat that you allow outside, you could be affected by this bill's consequences, should it pass.

This legislation reminds me of the dog and cat round-ups that have occurred in China over the last several years. In July of 2006 nearly 50,000 dogs were killed in the southwestern part of this country due to the government’s claim that it was necessary to stop the spread of rabies. Large dogs, they told the public, are more vicious than small breeds, so any dog over 13.8 inches was taken and slaughtered whether owned or running the streets. If there was more than one dog in the household, they were also confiscated. Some were killed as their owners watched.

Before the Olympics in Beijing, cats faced the same fate. In order to appear hygienic and environmentally responsible, the Chinese government rounded up thousands of cats and disposed of them. Some cats died of infection after being stuffed into small cages that housed currently sick individuals.

Animals like the mottled cat that slips under the bushes and eats pasta scraps, is just trying to survive. She was either born into a situation she couldn’t control, or someone left her to that fate. Either way, the cats that truly live by their instincts, are just like squirrels, rabbits and birds. And as for pets that like a little outdoor time, what in the world is wrong with that?

Photos courtesy of www.freephotos.se