There have been many strange things going on at Fort Hays since classes began. However, the thing that has bewildered me most is the huge presence of stray cats near Tomanek Hall.
At first, I took the cats’ presence as a joke. I told my friends they needed to come get their kids, or they couldn’t bring their pets with them to school. This provided humor between my friends and me for a good while. Then the joke died off and I came to realize that the cats have gotten out of hand.
These cats have scared me every time they come out of random places. On numerous occasions, I have been talking with friends and one of them ran between our legs. In an another instance, a stray popped out of a trash can I walked by and made me jump.
When I need to run some errands, I find the cats situated underneath a few students’ vehicles. I would not be surprised if there have been cases where the cats have gotten stuck underneath someone’s car.
When I get back from running my errands, the cats decide to run across the street. As a result, I have to swerve to avoid running them over. The black ones are hard to see at night, so there are times when I could have run over a stray cat. I am shocked that there are not bodies of dead cats lying in the middle of the road in front of Tomanek Hall.
One weekend, someone decided it would be a good idea to set out food for the strays. Within minutes, there were close to 20 cats gathered on the sidewalk eating. The cats were occupying the sidewalks, stopping any student from walking. If anyone attempted to walk where they were, the cats would get angry and attempt to attack the pedestrian.
I am not one to judge, but with all of these cats around, why has the university not taken action? Why has animal control not been called? There are probably more than 50 cats loose in the area between Jellison Bridge and Tomanek Hall. It is obvious that this is a huge animal control problem.
In the meantime, students need to be cautious of the cats when driving. Be sure to check underneath your car to see if a cat has gotten stuck there. Most importantly, do not feed, disturb or pet the cats. They are not your friendly house cats.
While I do not mind that you find this article offensive, stupid, ridiculous, etc., please do not disregard the integrity of this newspaper. “Please use your newspaper for better use…” We are a student-run newspaper, and we publish things students write – whether you think it is an appropriate topic to write about or not.
If you feel so strongly about it, write a letter to the editor about your disagreements instead of bashing The Leader itself. We publish plenty of serious articles about campus happenings and issues – every once in a while, it’s okay to run a satirical piece that is merely voicing what students think of campus happenings.
I can testify, he’s not the only one that thinks there is an animal control problem. A university campus is no place for stray cats, regardless of how they got there. Yes, students should take more responsibility for their pets. As a matter of fact, almost everyone should. But do not blame this ONE student for YOUR issues with other people’s pet care.
I find ridiculous that such a hubbub has been made about such a silly article. Take it for what is is – a little bit of fun. I am sure that Austin had to intention of offending anyone. He’s making an observation. Plain and simple.
My words exactly!
The whole cat thing was a joke. I even mentioned in my opinion that it had “gotten a little out of hand.” It was a joke that I was sharing amongst my friends and nothing more. I used these jokes to describe my initial thoughts about the strays as I first discovered them. As the “gotten a little hand” statement states, it is clearly no a joke and something does need to be done about it. The whole intent of this opinion was to raise awareness about the issue that the stray cats have gotten out of control and actions need to be taken to deal with the issue. I made an obvious observation and wrote about it. This is a problem and these were the “facts” which I presented. Indeed we should probably take measures to spay and neuter our pets to avoid problems like this. But we need to look at the “now” and this is what I aimed to do. That being said, feel free to disagree with my opinion, but do not attack me as a writer or the newspaper as a whole.
I agree if it was suppose to be a joke it wasn’t funny, and that the cats originated from students leaving around campus.
Can the leader handle the truth?
Here are some things I have heard and seen regarding students and pet ownership.
This is to the girl who was keeping her cats in the garage because she didn’t know her rental agreement said no pets. If you can’t keep them don’t throw them outside. Take them to the Humane Society for a chance to find another home.
This is to the student who called his dog stupid. Your dog is there to assist you.
This is to the student who leashed his little puppy to a lab and the lab was dragging the puppy everywhere because he couldn’t keep up. Everyone was standing there laughing. It really wasn’t funny.
This is to the girl jogging on campus with a daschund whose legs were probably 3 inches tall. The dog is to small to be jogging with you and it was 105 degrees and you had no water for him.
This is to the girl who brought her small dog to the art studio and while you went inside you left your dog outside and it got lost in the underground storm drain.
This is for the boy who was riding his bike so fast with his dog by his side and the dog had a hard time keeping up.
This is not responsible pet ownership.
So for the black and white cats and the white and brown cat on campus I guess we can say oops! that would be a college student.
Regardless of my affiliation with the campus spay and neuter program for the cats, this is literally the worst editorial I have ever read.
Half of this article is false or exaggerated. Please do more research, or write over subjects of which you actually have knowledge.
I think it’s supposed to be a joke.
If it was supposed to be a joke it wasn’t very funny.
Maybe Mr. Koeller instead could do article on responsible pet ownership, As many of the living cats on campus were probably abandoned by many who live near the campus. That would also make for responsible journalism as well.
This article is ridiculous. Get your facts straight. Use your paper for better use like educating the students on how to take care of their pets. Care of pets in winter, care of pets in summer (do research instead of making things up.) Where to take their pets when they do not want them anymore.
I do not think this is an appropriate topic to joke about, nor do I think a newspaper is an appropriate medium for jokes.
The purpose of journalism should be to provide readers with accurate and reliable information, even if it is an opinion piece. Instead, this article describes the complex situation both inaccurately and superficially.