As far as my "two great kids" (strange to put that in quotation marks, maybe some sarcasm there?) go, don't you worry about 'em.
No sarcasm intended. The quotation marks merely indicated a direct quotation from your profile page. Since I don't know them, I cannot make any conclusions (positive or otherwise) about them.
They know how to take care of their cats, house cats. My two great kids know that feral cats are destructive because they've seen it first hand,
Most living things are destructive. Gophers are (from a rancher's perspective) destructive. Sheep, from a cattleman's perspective, are destructive. Rabbits (from an Australian perspective) are terribly destructive. Here we come to the nub of our difference in perception. As nearly as I can tell, you believe that you have either a right - or, perhaps, a responsibility? - to eliminate the feral cats. I don't concur.
they had rabbit(meat rabbits, Oh my God not raising those cute rabbits to be killed and eaten)
Now you're being facetious. So long as they kill the rabbits in a quick, humane manner they are doing nothing morally different than ordering a fast food hamburger. It can be argued that they are more honest about the process since they act directly, instead of through intermediaries.
pens raided by a couple of the mange infested things before.
So the objection is to the economic cost? It seems that it would be easier to make more secure pens.
They've also seen feral cats get wild rabbits, young ones. Not to mention numerous bird nests around the around the hood.
Not meaning to be unkind, but...so? Seriously. You already mentioned that your children eat rabbits. Why shouldn't the cat? And other predators will go after rabbits as well. Or do wild rabbits have some particular value that I don't see? The same applies to birds. Most of us consume birds too - in our case, chickens and (sometimes) turkeys. If the cat eats a sparrow - or some other bird - what of it?
As far as the seeing the reality of that lesson, I see it. Or, would you like to explain what you mean? (It could be taken in a couple of differnt ways.)
I'm not at all sure that you do. But I have confidence that in the fullness of time you will.
I taught it. I was taught by a good man. I passed it on. My great kids don't have to depend on going to the grocery store if they don't choose too. (I know, the HORROR, someone has taught their kids to hunt and fish, Oh My..)
Once again, you proceed from a false assumption. Hunting (and fishing) for food is one thing. Removal of the feral cat population because they hunt for food (i.e., young wild rabbits and birds) is quite another.
I know that my great kids have more knowledge about the mechanics of nature than most of these ignorant bleeding heart PETA posters do.
About some aspects, quite possibly. Nature is red in tooth and claw; and man (being a highly successful predator) participates. But I wonder if the gratuitous slaughter of feral cats because their behavior offends one's sensibilities doesn't reduce one to less then their level. The cats kill because they're hungry, not for the joy of killing. Nor do they seek to exterminate competing predators.
I apologize to you in advance if you take offense But impression is ya intend to offend.
I'm not offended - you've said nothing to give offense. My hope is that you'll change your view of the cats to something other than "mange infested things." One could say of birds "Mite infested things that spread disease and steal grain from people's mouths."
Some years ago, the Peoples' Republic of China decided that the sparrow was an enemy of the people, and the government designated it as such. The reason was that some bureaucrat had decided that sparrows consumed grain which would be better used to feed people. And so it was decided to make noise and prevent the sparrows from perching. When an exhausted bird dropped to the ground, it was beaten to death. Ironically, it was later learned that the sparrow didn't really eat much grain at all - actually, it ate mostly insects, and thus protected the grain. But by then, sparrows had been exterminated across broad stretches of China.
You can read the full details at: http://www.aapn.org/archives.html#CHINESE%20SPARROWS first published in the Wall Street Journal.
The PRC was, clearly, misguided. They now realize that. I think that the slaughter of feral cats is likewise misguided.