Don't shoot the cat ...

I was a board member and rescue coordinator for a small animal rescue, you would be shocked at the laws that are out there. Not many of them are well thought through to be honest. While I agree that feral cats do pose a problem not just to the local wild life but also the homes/ppl they end up pushed out to live around when no one wants to care for them or they have all kinds of babies so thats thier way of getting rid of the problem cause they feel cats can live on their own (total crap- eventually they get sick and die even on thier own b/c they are not protected from so many things); cant tell ya how many feral cats I counted in the cold and snow this winter that now look really sick. I do feel there must be a way to limit the amount of feral cats or cats turned out on thier own humanely. The problem is, like locally here in Mansfield, animal control does not think it is possible for a person to own a cat, they will tell you that a cat owns you... even at that, you are responsible for that cat, but our laws dont see it that way. There are no enforceable laws locally regarding cats, not thier removal when feral- nothing. So, unfortunately, many ppl around here have taken it upon thierselves to "dispose" of the cats because even just 2 feral cats on your property can make ALOT more very quickly. Feral kittens are often times very hard to catch but local animal control wont do it, b/c it means they must find placement for them. The good thing is, the places that take the time to round up feral kittens and babies that need nursing and baby type care are much more likely to be successfully integrated into a home as a pet/companion animal once properly socialized. Unfortunately, there is not many resources locally here to do this sort of thing. Bottom line, ppl get those cute kittens and when it is almost grown and not litter trained, ppl throw them out to fend for themselves, it all really boils down to responsible ownership. Although, at times I wonder if my local animal control leaves things as is because for those that are adamant about getting rid of the feral animals, they charge $50 deposit per human trap, and then they want you to pay $25 to turn the animal in.... hows that for sticking it to ya?You do all the hard work, plus put out all that $ and they dont do anything but euthanize feral cats around here immediately. When I was heavily involved with Border Animal Patrol, we had so many cats that were feral, we ended up using a piece of property that was donated by another board member and making a feral cat sanctuary where the cats were given vaccines, any meds neccessary, a nice place to live out their lives with plenty of food and as much human contact as possible with the ones who wanted it-- in exchange for being spayed of neutered. It was the best we could do. The ones that were too sick to care for already because what ever they had was too advanced or were just too mean, we euthanized. We even found homes for quite a few much later. But the elderly cats usually stayed with us till the day they passed. This seems to be a problem in alot of places with cats, I am not sure what the solution is, but there has got to be something.

trapping would be awesome. euthanize the cats, sell them to biology classes nationwide and help fund some animal rescue programs. :)

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Originally Posted by xdeus

Hmmm... would you feel different if they were used for Burm or Retic meals? I find it interesting that people will defend one life yet justify the killing of another. People kill feral cats to protect the environment and other species and people kill rodents to feed to their pet snakes. What makes one right and the other wrong?

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i am not saying that it is wrong to want to get rid of feral cats, i'm saying that i don't think that shooting them is the way to do it. as far as feeding them to large snakes--i'm not sure how nutritious of a meal a scrawny parasite infested cat would make. you have to realize that, by and large, the rodents that are used to feed our pet snakes were bred and raised to be food and i really wouldn't want my snake to eat anything that wasn't raised specifically for food purposes. anyhow, that has little if anything to do with feral cats. my point is just that i think it is a bad idea to legalize the shooting of stray cats and that shooting a cat does not qualify as hunting.

I thought this news might stir up some interesting conversation. There are some organizations around here that trap feral cats, and if they pass an external health observation, they are fixed and released. The ones clearly suffering from injuries or disease are put down. That may still cause songbird, anole, etc., populations to dip, but it's a lot more humane than shooting the animals, doesn't require funding for feeding and housing them, and prevents those particular animals from reproducing more feral cats. It's not a perfect solution either, but if someone's housecat got caught by mistake, the worst that's likely to happen is that they get fixed, which they should be anyway. I am not trying to say that all hunters are mean or dumb or anything, but there are enough who are one or the other or who have other issues such as poor eyesight or being drunk that I can virtually guarantee some other poor cat owners will find poor Fluffy shot to death. Many cats are skilled at removing collars, and many are shy and would exhibit "unfriendly" behavior if approached. I know for sure of three cats belonging to my neighbors who would qualify and have been in my yard this week. If I were a cat-hater with a gun, I could make the argument that I thought they were feral and shoot them.

this is a very interesting conversation, but i can not choose a side. both have excellent points ... if we wouldnt have messed with the enviornment then we would not be put in such a conflicting area of discussion. the cats didnt ask to be there yet the surrounding wildlife is suffering because human beings first put them there. to get everything back in order (which is highly needed for the environment ) is a must, and sometimes it hurts one side or the other's feelings. simply put dont blame the hunters side or the cat deffenders side you should blame the people that did not take care of their animals ... it is normally always the human race that does this. sorry if i offended anyone with this but i find that there are alot of people that get something (live or just an object) then within a month they want to throw it out. shoot just the other day at work someone dropped off a box outside the door and in it was a baby bunny with no food water or anything to keep warm. lets face it some of the human race is creul to animals. just my opinion though.

ok.....here's a scenerio (now where's that spell checker button?!?) i live in small town of like a 100 if we are lucky. we are also in the middle of the woods. ppl feel free to drop thier cats and dogs off around here.(sad huh)
as for the dogs....if they don't end up as roadkill, someone will either take them in or to the pound.
thankfully, these feral cats live @ the other end of town(away from me). there is this woman feeds them, thinking she is doing the world a favor.
it was the spring of '03, i was looking for a kitten. so i called this girl who feeds them, and asked her about any kittens. thats when she told me about this calico that someone dropped off along w/ an orange tiger(which was struck by a car 8(..).she also said those kittens r toooo wild! so i went down to check out this cat, and boy was she pretty! friendliest cat i ever met in my life! very outgoing, just a really neat great cat. buuuuut, she was like five or six months old already and i wanted a kitten (like 5 or 6 weeks!). so i left her there. i told my daughter about her, next thing she brings her home. i told her the only way she can stay is if she is litter trained. she wasn't here 5 minutes and used the litterbox.( i was all set up ready for one) i didn't know this, but, every calico cat is female ....there r no male calicoes. how bout that? so the vet tells me anyway.
there is this site friendsforanimals.org or something and you can buy a "certificate" cheap and find a participating vet in you rarea to spay or neuter your cat. cool huh, so i did. this cat kinda remembers where she came from bcuz she seems to really appreciate her home here. sounds crazy, but it's true! everyone loves her!
well that didn't satisfy my kitten quest, so i ended up with my jungle cat hybrid. got her on fauna classifieds, had her flown in. niether of my cats are declawed (another cano'worms) only bcuz they are gentle when they play, and really don't destroy anything so they can keep em. back to my story.....
one of my nieghbors traps the feral cats and has them vet-checked @ her exspence.......that would be the day. but she has been workin' alot lately and hasn't had time to continue her efforts. therefore these cats keep breeding and breeding and breeding..........
this same nieghbor found another nieghbors cat badly beaten by the feral tom, which also contracted fhiv and some other diasese...(where's that spell checker button?...hehe) and had to be euthinized (spell checker?!?). my other nieghbors cat is older, set in her ways, and doesn't use a litterbox, but just goes outside. she too, has been badly beaten and has contracted fhiv and some other feline disease, she didn't have to be put down.
there is no doubt these cats r a threat to the community! the local spca won't come and get them outta here, they say there is just toooooo many . when you go down by where they live they r everywhere...literally. like they should make a movie....the cats. they come out of the trees, it's quite spoooooky actually @ how fast you become surrounded by them....they r not @ all friendly they won't let ya get close. they look sick.....thier eyes r all yucky and some have battle wounds and scars. its quite sad.
my delema is i can't let my cats outside @ all but when i do it is supervized. but still the fear is there. so, my question is..... would it be bad to take the ar 15 down there w/ a couple 30 round clips and play exterminator? wwyd? (what would you do?) i also like to let my dog run, but can't bcuz if he gets ahold of one of them mangy cats god knows what he could contract....thats not the only reason, we have alot of other critters around that i wouldn't want him to get ahold of (bears, rabbits, squirrels, oposums, porqupines, raccoons, groundhogs, foxes, turkey etc.,etc.....you get the idea......) would it be so wrong to shoot them? the longer we live and let live the more they become many...

p.s. the rabbit pop hasn't been what it used to be......

but who is going to shoot them? and is it going to be a one time thing or an anytime thing? is the person shooting the cats going to make sure that they are dead and not laying somewhere suffering until they finally die? if anyone can shoot them anytime they want then your cats are still not safe going outside because then they run the risk of being shot themselves. i totally agree on the fact that something does need to be done but i think allowing people to shoot cats is risky, unsafe, and possibly inhumane. maybe trapping and euthanizing them is a better method. but the main problem is that no matter what method is chosen there will always be feral cats. people will continue to dump their pets and/or their pet's offspring and those abandoned animals will reproduce and the cycle will continue. it's another one of those problems that people themselves are the cause of and yet no real solution will ever be had because people will not stop being the cause of the problem.

Reminds me of a article I read where the Park rangers in Florida are having trouble with Burms, that have been released by people, breeding and how they are taking away resources from the native animals. But they also said they are providing a new food source for the gators.

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Originally Posted by mlededee

but who is going to shoot them? and is it going to be a one time thing or an anytime thing? is the person shooting the cats going to make sure that they are dead and not laying somewhere suffering until they finally die? if anyone can shoot them anytime they want then your cats are still not safe going outside because then they run the risk of being shot themselves. i totally agree on the fact that something does need to be done but i think allowing people to shoot cats is risky, unsafe, and possibly inhumane. maybe trapping and euthanizing them is a better method. but the main problem is that no matter what method is chosen there will always be feral cats. people will continue to dump their pets and/or their pet's offspring and those abandoned animals will reproduce and the cycle will continue. it's another one of those problems that people themselves are the cause of and yet no real solution will ever be had because people will not stop being the cause of the problem.

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well i sure couldn't...and i wouldn't want to see them suffer......its not thier fault. its a shame too cuz some of them have really pretty colors. but on the other hand, if this population is wiped out,by whichever method, and iresponsible people continue to dump animals, it would be alot easier to keep them in check. and if that goof will stop feeding them, thats probly why they don't get shot, cuz of that hoarder! they are her babies! wonder how she would feel if we all start sending her vet bills!
you r right, my cats still aren't safe...but... we all kind of have an understanding....like if my fox got loose, i would email my nieghbor, yo, copper is loose. then email him back when the fox came home. andfox would be off the market. but we get alot of atv,jeep, and dirtbike traffic, whose to say they wouldn't shoot?

I have had my cat my ENTIRE life. He's basically my brother. I had his mother, his dad, his uncle, is other uncle, and is grandpa (all cats). (as you probably figured out I used to have alot of cats and we bred them). We also had some of his brothers and sisters. He went through a horror story when he was a kitten. I went to work with my dad, and when we came home there was blood and fur all over the floor, including a majority of the kittens were dead . We searched the house and the mom cat couldn't be found. Well, we finally gave up searching for her and the remaining kittens hoping that she ran away from whatever happened and took the remaining kittens with her. I opened my dresser droor, and there was Quazi and a few other kittens. The mother cat was never found and we still don't know what happened to the cats that day or if the mom cat was killed or if she ran away. Well one of his uncles was bitten by a snake and was killed. His other uncle was attacked by a raccoon and had his back torn out, so we had him put to sleep. The grandpa cat shared a food bowl with the uncle that was attacked by a raccoon, so the vet told us we need to put him to sleep too incase of rabies. (plus grandpa cat had feline aids and wasn't doing so well)

So, now we only have one cat.

He's a huge cat, he probably weighs 20 pounds. We have tried all his life to get him to wear collars and tags, but he always was able to take them off. He roams around, and he's a nice cat so everyone pets him and enjoy's him.

Well what if they passed this law and my cat was shot because he "didn't have a collar"?

I don't think shooting is the way to go.

I think everyone should have the right to put out a trap, and if they catch a cat with no collar then they should take it to the humane society and if no one claims it, then if its nice adopt it out, or if its like ferocious then euthenize it.