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Critter Watch loves kitty cats, but we wince when the lovable little domestic felines trot up the door steps with bird feathers in their mouths.

We're not alone.

The American Bird Conservancy is sponsoring a national contest for kids in grades 1-6 to create this year's poster for National Keep Your Cat Indoors Day.

This is such a noble cause, we're going to spice the chances of winning by making it an Inland Northwest contest, too.

Most CritterWatchers wouldn't need further explanation. On the other hand, we are surrounded by people who let their cats outdoors and assume they do only acceptable and harmless things, such as bat mice around like hockey pucks and poop in the neighbor's yard.

Every year, outdoor cats that manage to avoid being lunch for coyotes and to dodge the tires of speeding cars, follow their hunting instincts to kill hundreds of millions of birds and small mammals.

We digress to point out that Critter Watch still marvels at the once-in-a-lifetime fur and feathers spectacle we stumbled into on a backpacking trip some years ago.

Hearts still pound at the memory of seeing a bobcat spring into the sky to nab a hapless ruffed grouse that was a wing beat off the ground, but one short of escape.

Bobcats need to kill critters for survival. House cats don't. That's the distinction.

On May 11, National Keep Your Cat Indoors Day -- held in conjunction with International Migratory Bird Day -- aims to educate cat owners that both cats and wildlife benefit when cats are kept indoors.

The entries for this year's contest will yield winners in three age categories, one of which will be determined the overall winner and the official poster.

National prizes include gift certificates for the contestant as well as the schools or groups the child is associated with.

Competition rules are posted on the Internet at www.abcbirds.org.

The poster should depict a happy indoor cat in a campaign poster or advertisement style.

Double your chances to win something by making a color copy (on a regular sheet of copy paper) of the entry for the national contest and send it here to Critter Watch.

We'll pick a local winner, publish the poster and reward the effort with a large pizza of the winner's choice.

# posted by Medical Information : 4:43 AM