Once, during some social gathering, I was complaining about the cats in my yard. I don’t want to alienate my neighbors, but I do wish that if carnage is to take place, it would not happen in my bird-populated yard. I understand the laws of nature, I just don’t always want to participate in the destruction of the weaker species. I eat meat occasionally, isn’t that enough of a bow toward Darwinism?

The hostess of said social gathering laughed and said yes, indeed, you can’t keep a cat from doing what nature imbued in him (she has a tomcat). Her cat cannot be restrained, she tells me. He goes out each night and preys. He is, she says, a predator.

Thank you for that clarification.

Thirty-one days before the election and I am very much aware of the role of predators in this presidential race. Webster on line says this about predators: “one that preys, destroys, or devours.” I think I’ve come across some this week-end. I am now using this post to announce again: I do not, for this reason, feel warmly about cats. It seems to me that harboring predators is unhealthy.

(If you have tamed your cat to diffuse –rather than encourage – his or her aggressive tendencies, you are forgiven. In fact, you have entered the realm of sainthood as far as I’m concerned. I don’t care if it flies in the face of nature. Aggression should be tamed.)

(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)