Oh, I agree that feral cats can kill birds. Here in the Phoenix we have a HUGE population of coyotes that live in Town. They wipe out more birds (ground nesting) than anything else. Birds,small dogs,cats and anything they can find. I think you just dislike cats in any way shape or form. That of course is ok. You have not run a 100plus acre nursery and growing 500$ daylily clumps. My cats that I used really only stayed on my property and were well fed. When your life work is to grow plants you cannot afford to have a thousand chipmunks eating your stock. This is how I made a living not as a hobby grower. On my Nursery I had many friends do bird surveys and the only ground nesting bird were wild turkeys (introduced by the State of Wisconsin) on my property. I was part of the Blue bird restoration program and there was never any evidence a cat of any sort killed one of them. They nest on old wooden fence posts about 3 feet off the ground. Well anyway the cats at my nursery were an important part of pest control. Could you see me covering a hundred acres with chicken wire. Besides looking pretty bad it would not be practical. One thing that may keep chipmunks away besides the mothball odor is to use urine from a predator. A fellow grower used mountain lion urine to keep deer out of his growing areas. Most zoos and wildlife parks would give this to you but not being an expert in this field a person would have to experiment what works. If you live here in the SW were mountain lions are quite common I would not try female lion urine unless you want to attract them. Mountain lions love to eat whatever they can catch. Good luck getting rid of your problem- Russ H. In a message dated 3/13/2013 10:59:48 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, markmazerandfm13@earthlink.net writes: I used "farm cats". These are tame, not > feral (wild) cats with claws and teeth. Farm and feral and pet cats that roam free decimate precious ground nesting wild birds like plover and quail and take an occasional guinea fowl. Cats are not welcome here and are considered invasive pests. Put a wire cage around that precious nursery stock like we have to do when we find a vulnerable killdeer nest during breeding season. The only good cat is an indoor cat. Mark Mazer Hertford, North Carolina USDA 8a PS: No, we don't shoot cats nor do we encourage our "farm dogs" to dispose of them like some of our neighbors do _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/