Feral cats

Good for you. IMHO, in many areas, Feral cats are the number one killer of songbirds and small game there is. Add to their ability to hunt on their own, there is the myriad of folks out there who feel sorry for them and feed them as well. So you have a well fed killer than has all the time in the world to hunt patiently, and the ability in many cases to breed indiscriminately while spreading disease. My state spends millions every year to stock pheasants that are not native and have almost a zero chance of living more than a month in the wild. We used to have quail everywhere. Now it is rare to hear even one in prime habitat. While I love hunting pheasants too, I wish the state would promote more quail stocking and habitat improvement, than use all the money on pheasants.

I am a pet lover. IMHO, those who allow dogs and cats to run loose and "go feral" and become a nuisance rather than an asset need to be horse whipped.

The magazine Wyoming Wildlife published an article about pheasants years ago. Most of the pheasant hunting there at that time was put and take much like trout fishing in some streams. The article said that approx. 60% of the released pheasants killed in eastern Wyoming were killed by feral cats.

Over the years, I have "euthanized" sevgeral dozens of feral dogs and cats.

It breaks my heart to pull the trigger, but it's necessary. It really p!sses me off that some irresponsible jackass is to blame, but I have to pull the trigger!

Kids leaving the local college abandon their cats, when they go. Apparently, the pets they
couldn't do without in school are expendable, in real life, and they generally just leave them
out in the woods, to fend for themselves.

I'd like to Havahart the feral cats around here, but I would need a bait that attracts cats but not skunks. I don't want to deal with caged skunks.

Anyone know a bait that cats like but skunks don t ?

If you live trap them, you're just moving the problem from one location to another.

Can you imagine the misery of a feral cat?

No humans to order about, disdain, and ignore? No finicky food presented by supplicant humans to be disdained? Actually having to work for a living? What an unnatural life for a cat. Every one of those poor barstewards you put down is an act of kindness.

Yeah I don't like them feral cats.... I don't like me no bobcats either, and I really don't like it when just recently I thought I might have a feral cat in a field in front of me and it turned out to be a BOBCAT!

LD

I feel like, as a veterinarian, I should mention that -- whether you agree with it or not -- killing feral cats is considered animal cruelty (as they are viewed as companion animals, not wild animals, and as such they do not have an open hunting season). You would probably do well to avoid publicly announcing that you've dispatched such animals, and that it would probably be smart for moderators to not allow threads such as these given the potential legal implications.

primalmu said:

I feel like, as a veterinarian, I should mention that -- whether you agree with it or not -- killing feral cats is considered animal cruelty (as they are viewed as companion animals, not wild animals, and as such they do not have an open hunting season). You would probably do well to avoid publicly announcing that you've dispatched such animals, and that it would probably be smart for moderators to not allow threads such as these given the potential legal implications.

Click to expand...

I think you will find that all States have provisions for 'nuisance' animals and while certain requisites/conditions exist, Feral Cats are likely to fall under them. Nonetheless.... your concern for the legal dispatch of them is valid.

Short version: A Wisconsin study of feral cats concluded that a feral cat would kill as many as 100 songbirds per year. A statewide survey of feral cats on farms, ranches, parklands and forests concluded that there were as many as a million feral cats in Wisconsin.

Some credibility is given from Audubon surveys which have commented on a general nationwide reduction in songbird numbers.

Another short version: I had a "crazy cat lady" neighbor. The local humane society live-trapped seventy-two cats in immediate proximity to her rural house.

My opinion is that there is cruelty (dictionary definition) and there is predator control.

primalmu said:

I feel like, as a veterinarian, I should mention that -- whether you agree with it or not -- killing feral cats is considered animal cruelty (as they are viewed as companion animals, not wild animals, and as such they do not have an open hunting season). You would probably do well to avoid publicly announcing that you've dispatched such animals, and that it would probably be smart for moderators to not allow threads such as these given the potential legal implications.

Click to expand...

The dispatching of feral cats is looked at as "animal cruelty" in a very limited number of jurisdictions, and mostly by folks against the killing of any animals for any reason(s), but then the state or county rounds up such animals and slaughters them, but not in a timely fashion and rarely because the impact of the invasive species has had a negative impact on the natural fauna...and it always does have a negative impact....

Since no one is advocating breaking the law where they reside, there is no reason a moderator should be censoring such communication, in my opinion.

Hunting seaons close the days when wild animals may be harvested..., not the reverse, so any animal that is not a "game" animal, or otherwise not prohibited (such as song birds), is open year round. It's an old misconception that you are being given permission to harvest when you're a hunter, when in fact you are being told it's no longer prohibited to harvest between certain calendar dates.

(Now FACEBOOK would censor such communication, but not because of law, but because in their own personal opinions which they judge superior to others while voicing that others should not be judgemental... they prefer to permit only that with which they agree. They don't like guns either, and consider them bad too. But I digress..... )

LD

From the Oklahoma Animal Cruelty Statues:

§ 1685. Cruelty to Animals.

Any person who shall willfully or maliciously overdrive, overload, torture, destroy or kill, or cruelly beat or injure, maim or mutilate, any animal in subjugation or captivity, whether wild or tame, and whether belonging to himself or to another, or deprive any such animal of necessary food, drink or shelter; or who shall cause, procure or permit any such animal to be so overdriven, overloaded, tortured, destroyed or killed, or cruelly beaten or injured, maimed or mutilated, or deprived of necessary food, drink or shelter; or who shall willfully set on foot, instigate, engage in, or in any way further any act of cruelty to any animal, or any act tending to produce such cruelty, shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary not exceeding five (5) years, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one (1) year, or by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00). Any officer finding an animal so maltreated or abused shall cause the same to be taken care of, and the charges therefore shall be a lien upon such animal, to be collected thereon as upon a pledge or a lien.

Click to expand...

Just to make it clear -- I'm not making any judgement calls here, just trying to clarify. The above is from the OK Animal Cruelty Statues. The only possible issue is the "any animal in subjugation or captivity" bit, however I doubt that means an animal must be trapped prior to being killed before it is considered animal cruelty. For instance, if one of my dogs breaks through my house window (yes, I have had patients who have done that) and starts roaming the neighborhood, if someone shoots him out in the middle of a field it would still be considered animal cruelty.

primalmu said:

I feel like, as a veterinarian, I should mention that -- whether you agree with it or not -- killing feral cats is considered animal cruelty (as they are viewed as companion animals, not wild animals, and as such they do not have an open hunting season). You would probably do well to avoid publicly announcing that you've dispatched such animals, and that it would probably be smart for moderators to not allow threads such as these given the potential legal implications.

Click to expand...

Just puttin' this out there.........

Melissa Tedrowe, Wisconsin state director for the Humane Society, said laws in some states permit killing feral cats. Although Wisconsin law does not declare it legal, she said, it also does not prohibit it.

Click to expand...

primalmu said:

I feel like, as a veterinarian, I should mention that -- whether you agree with it or not -- killing feral cats is considered animal cruelty (as they are viewed as companion animals, not wild animals, and as such they do not have an open hunting season). You would probably do well to avoid publicly announcing that you've dispatched such animals, and that it would probably be smart for moderators to not allow threads such as these given the potential legal implications.

Click to expand...

Total Barbra Streisand, feral cats aren't companion animals, they are an invasive species.
I have killed more feral cats than I can remember and I will kill the next one I see. If I had a dollar for every tear I've shed over it I'd be broke.

Like I said, I'm not making any judgement calls. I'm not saying its right or wrong, just mentioning that there may be legal implications for announcing in a public forum that you may be involved in illegal activities may not be the smartest thing in the world.

I think the issue is that the laws are rather ambiguous, with no law or regulation specifically allowing for the taking of feral cats as a form of pest control.

(And for the record, I am a huge opponent of no-kill shelters, so don't think I'm some bleeding-heart liberal who can't stand to see a fluffy animal die. I've probably euthanized more animals in 5 years of practice than most hunters have taken their whole lives.)

Art Eatman said:

Another short version: I had a "crazy cat lady" neighbor. The local humane society live-trapped seventy-two cats in immediate proximity to her rural house.

Click to expand...

A case like that here was dealt with more expeditiously when the Cat Woman went to a nursing home. The guy who handled it said a Feinwerkbau 124 was a good cat eliminator. That was before we got so sensitive, of course.

Pictures of the English or Continental gamekeeper with shotgun show what is considered suitable treatment for feral cats and dogs in places where the game belongs to the landowner.