Poll: Should it be legal to shoot feral cats??

[1911 guy]

Songbirds

I have seen several cats take birds, some truly feral, others ill kept pets. Birds are not usually first choice for cats as they can get away often, so if these cats are killing that many birds, how many other animals are they killing? Most will notice the "pretty birds" first, but the small mammal, reptile and insect populations will be affected by predation as well. Anyone have facts about how many housepets are harmed by wild cats annually?

 

[dakotasin]

i don't, but i do know there was one trying to get into the garage last night...

can't let 'em lay very long in this warmer weather, though... flies come, they smell bad...

 

[Shalako]

If it makes you feel better to believe that nothing should be killed if its not food, thats great. If that works for you, and you don't care about the inconsistencies and unreconciled flaws in that line of logic, that's great too.

Weeds get killed for no reason. Rodents in the house get snapped up in a trap. Moths get zapped in the buglight. Butterflies get collected on my truck's grill. Deer, coyotes, foxes, and racoons starve to death when their habitat got plowed for that new development. Nesting birds abandon their nest when that big happy dog walked by on his way to the river. Nests full of chicks get flushed downstream when the reservoir ramps up their releases. Trees get chopped down because they blocked someone's view. Worms get chopped in half when I stir my compost pile. All manner of bugs get toasted when I douse my garden with pepper wax spray.

We humans kill stuff all day long and I for one don't have time to lose any sleep over it. When you consiser all that, what merit will I gain by abstaining from shooting a squirrel? Am I suddenly on the ethical high ground by some sort of New Age measure of wellness? When the exhaust from my pickup is choking off the atmosphere, all my trash and old computers are making leachate in some landfill, forest roads to allow harvest of my timber are silting up all the rivers, and all the modern farming that feeds us is nuking the topsoil....why should I give a flying damn if I decide to shoot some squirrel or not? That barely even factors into the equation by a millionth of a percent.

But if it makes you feel better, that's great.