To the editor:

The Journal-World editorial on Dec. 13 supporting the Humane Society’s request to eliminate the city code’s ban on cats roaming free so the Humane Society can release its feral cats into the community represented a complete abandonment of objective analysis and journalistic responsibility. It was so one-sided and simplistic that I could not help but wonder if it had been written by the Humane Society leadership.

The editorial made no mention of the objections to the Humane Society’s request raised by the Audubon Society because free-roaming cats are virtual bird-killing machines that are responsible for the death of hundreds of millions of song birds in the United States every year. The editorial also failed to discuss the Humane Society’s request as a possible attempt to deflect attention away from its shameful waste of resources and poor judgment shown by spending $500,000 per year housing feral cats while the Lawrence Community Shelter, according to City Manager Tom Markus, is “on the ropes” and facing a 2019 funding shortfall of about $250,000. Instead, the Journal-World blindly accepted the Humane Society’s unverifiable statistics and wishful assertions as facts and backed the society’s claim that the real problem is a city code that doesn’t allow the society to send its bird killers out the front door.

Interestingly, on Dec. 15 the Journal-World published an article about the joys of feeding birds. What a contrast to its Dec. 13 editorial asking that the cats that will eat them be set free.

Gary J. Bjorge,

Lawrence