Audubon Editor-At-Large Advocates Poisoning Ferals – Take Action!

How can someone who promotes the welfare of any creature wish such cruelty on other animals? Maybe that question should be directed to Ted Williams, Audubon editor-at-large and author of a shocking article in the Orlando Sentinel, in which he suggests controlling feral cat populations by poisoning them with Tylenol!

According to New Mexico veterinarian and author Dr. Jeff Nichol, a cat that ingests Tylenol and is not treated quickly will die painfully and slowly over a few hours’ time. Click on the link for details, but it involves vomiting, swelling of face and paws, and liver, lung and kidney damage over the period of time that the cat is dying.

Not only can Tylenol poison feral cats… it can also poison your cat, if it happens to get out and consume any left around for ferals. It can also poison your dog. Tylenol is as dangerous for pets as it is for ferals; in addition it is against the law to kill a cat in every state of the U.S. and in D.C. Williams’ hatred of cats is so deep that he wants to break the law to kill them.

Many humans in the bird community do not like cats, especially feral cats. They want to see all Trap, Neuter and Return (TNR) programs shut down and all feral cats killed. But Ted Williams has really outdone himself with this editorial. Read it: it is obvious by its very tone that this man really hates cats.

Ah, but wait a minute! Where is the reference to Tylenol? After much outcry, the Orlando Sentinel quietly removed that section — without retraction or acknowledgement. Fortunately for us, Alley Cat Allies copied the story before it was changed. You can read it in full in their PDF file here: https://www.alleycat.org/document.doc?id=630 And here is the exact, unedited quote, if you don’t want to open the PDF document: “There are two effective, humane alternatives to the cat hell of TNR. One is Tylenol (the human pain medication) — a completely selective feral-cat poison. But the TNR lobby has blocked its registration for this use.” The paper also changed Williams’ end bio from “Ted Williams is editor-at-large for Audubon magazine” to “Ted Williams writes an independent column for Audubon magazine. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the National Audubon Society.”

I hope you find all this upsetting enough to want to do something about it because Alley Cat Allies is asking you to take action! Click here to send an email to the Audubon Society that asks them to denounce Ted Williams’ story, and to relieve him of his position with the organization. Somebody as biased and irresponsible as Williams only damages the integrity of any group he belongs to, and any paper in which his writing appears.

And speaking of papers… I suggest you also write to the Orlando Sentinel and complain about a) the clear anti-cat bias of the story and b) the attempts to whitewash the story in lieu of apologizing for it. This link leads you to the Orlando Sentinel staff contact list. I am not sure who is responsible for Williams’ story appearing in the paper, but I would wager that it is one of the editors in the Executive management list. If you do write, please be articulate, calm and factual (cite links from experts, not emotionally-written blogs).

We in the cat community need to fight for our own! So please take action now!
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