Sketch of the Week

My friends and family well know that I am a cat lover, but today's sketch is about a cat problem.

You see, Roswell has a large feral cat population. I usually see at least one a day, and it's not uncommon for me to encounter several at one time, especially when people leave food out for them. There must have been about eight animals wandering around in this scene, but I was only able to capture a few of them due to their dartlike movements. Several of them stared at me in a somewhat confrontational manner, and indeed, I was an intruder on their space. I was struck by the frankness of their gaze, so I decided to sketch them.

Feral cats are a big problem though. They can decimate local wildlife populations, and left unchecked, will continue to reproduce. I've asked my co-workers whether there's a spay/neuter program in place for feral cats, but so far I haven't heard of anything that's currently active. There should be something, though. Cute as they may look, feral cats are a threat to the indigenous species here.

I've actually decided to turn this sketch into a zinc drypoint, so stop by next week to see how it turns out!