Stray Cats - Can I, should I shoot them?

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Not many people are as fond of mice and voles as they are songbirds, but rodents are very important for the health of the wildlife community
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Mice and voles are a food source for weasels, hawks, shrews, owls, otters, coyotes, bobcats, bears (believe it or not) and snakes. Their populations fluctuate wildly from year to year and impact greatly on whether these predators survive in the wild.



I'm sure my cats would cheer if they knew about it - they hate feline intruders in a very emphatic and loud way
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They have a right to as do you. Feral cats carry many diseases including feline leukemia.

Your wife would probably cheer too about your removing these menaces from the world if she knew about the toxoplasmosis feral cats carry. This dreaded disease causes birth defects by infecting the brain and eyes of the human fetus.

I wonder if parents of Toxo babies could sue PETA, cat rescue groups and the Humane Society?
 
Well, I'm not going to have time to read all of these posts, but for what it's worth...

Killing feral cats is beneficial. Do it.

The Argula .22 with the heavy (I think it's a 55 gr.) bullet works quite well inside of 50 yards. (It might work out further, but I haven't had time to check.)
 
Hey - I love cats! (my fiance and I have 3, all fixed, none declawed - and we keep them indoors)

but feral cats aren't pets, any more than wild dogs. If I lived in the country I wouldn't hesitate to take my .22 to one of them.
 
YES!!!!!!!

I won't read all these posts but cats are over populated and disease ridden they even have a form of HIV.

Believe me you are probably doing the varmint a favor.

If they infect your pets they could in turn infect you and your family.

Also, spay and neuter your pets unless you plan on keeping and caring for all of their offspring.

In reality they pose more of a menace than coyotes or wolves.

Shoot them in the head or neck. quickest easiest kill or chest right behind front leg. If you don't drop them right away you do have a duty to finish the job. I find a .22 is O.K. but if you have really big cats use a bigger gun. I find a 7.62 x 39 works superbly!

Then again I enjoy any opportunity to shoot my SAR 1.
Better to use too much gun than too litlle.

You live in a great state!!!! Hope to move down there someday.
 
Feral colonies can definitely be a menace. They kill wildlife and spread disease.

However be very very aware of gun safety rules if you're going to shoot them. Specifically, be sure of your backstop. This is very very important, especially if you are using a weapon with excess reach (.308 for cats?). There are unfortunately many kids injured every year because of people who shoot at varmints, miss, and hit children playing in their back yards.
 
Long ago, when I was just a twig my grandpa and I would go fishing and after cleaning them he would bury the innards in his garden. One day he noticed some of the local catlady's "pets" trying to dig up the remains. Now I'm not an activist tree hugger or a cruel type guy but this woman had HUNDREDS of cats and Ol' Gramps didn't much care for 'em. His brilliant idea was to wait till dusk to fill in the hole. When the cats came to get a free meal.................BAM ! Then I'd go fill in the hole. Papa always did have a VERY lush garden !!!! ;)

As previously mentioned:
Cats are INDOOR pets, keep them there.
 
Spaceman: A neighbor of mine had a problem with their neighbor's dog droppings in their yard. Called the neighbor, asked him to keep the dog where he belonged. No results. Called again, a month later--still the poop buildup, no results.

So the guy got a bucket and filled it with the dog poop from his yard, walked to the neighbor's, opened their back door, and dumped the whole bucket on their floor.

Dog was on a leash ever after.
 
Must be a problem in warmer climates.. not much of a feral cat problem here that I've ever seen..

The cold winters, and primarily the Fishers pretty much keep _ANY_ cat popluation thinned out, feral, domestic, or otherwise..
The fisher population has been on a steady increase in the area since the delcine in trapping.. You rarely see a cat domestic or otherwise that's on the loose for very long before becoming snack food.

http://home.mcn.net/~wtu/fisher.html

Leo
 
For those that are interested and do not have access to searchable data bases:

Here are some citations to recent scientific studies backing up the need to control the feral cat populations.


IMPACT ON WILDLIFE
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Predation of wildlife by domestic cats Felis catus in Great Britain MICHAEL WOODS, ROBBIE A. MCDONALD, STEPHEN HARRIS Mammal Review Volume 33, Issue 2, Page 174-188, Jun 2003

Here is the abstract from the article. I thought the entire thing was interesting.

1. A questionnaire survey of the numbers of animals brought home by domestic cats Felis catus was conducted between 1 April and 31 August 1997. A total of 14 370 prey items were brought home by 986 cats living in 618 households. Mammals made up 69% of the items, birds 24%, amphibians 4%, reptiles 1%, fish < 1%, invertebrates 1% and unidentified items 1%. A minimum of 44 species of wild bird, 20 species of wild mammal, four species of reptile and three species of amphibian were recorded.

2. Of a sample of 696 individual cats, 634 (91%) brought home at least one item and the back-transformed mean number of items brought home was 11.3 (95% CI 10.4-12.2). The back-transformed means and number of cats retrieving at least one item from each prey group were: 8.1 (7.4-8.9) mammals for 547 (79%) cats, 4.1 (3.8-4.5) birds for 506 (73%) cats, 2.6 (2.2-3.0) herpetofauna for 145 (21%) cats and 2.2 (1.8-2.7) other items for 98 (14%) cats.

3. The number of birds and herpetofauna brought home per cat was significantly lower in households that provided food for birds. The number of bird species brought home was greater in households providing bird food. The number of birds and herpetofauna brought home per cat was negatively related to the age and condition of the cat. The number of mammals brought home per cat was significantly lower when cats were equipped with bells and when they were kept indoors at night. The number of herpetofauna brought home was significantly greater when cats were kept in at night.

4. Based on the proportion of cats bringing home at least one prey item and the back-transformed means, a British population of approximately 9 million cats was estimated to have brought home in the order of 92 (85-100) million prey items in the period of this survey, including 57 (52-63) million mammals, 27 (25-29) million birds and 5 (4-6) million reptiles and amphibians.

5. An experimental approach should be taken to investigate the factors found by this descriptive survey to influence the numbers of prey brought home by cats. In particular, investigation of potential management practices that could reduce the numbers of wild animals killed and brought home by cats will be useful for wildlife conservation, particularly in suburban areas.

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A Review of Feral Cat Eradication on Islands MANUEL NOGALES, AURELIO MARTÃN, BERNIE R. TERSHY, C. JOSH DONLAN, DICK VEITCH, NÉSTOR PUERTA, BILL WOOD, JESÚS ALONSO Conservation Biology Volume 18, Issue 2, Page 310-319, Apr 2004

Here is a quote from this article:

"Feral cats are directly responsible for a large percentage of global extinctions..."

They then go one to review methods of eradication.

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Cats protecting birds: modelling the mesopredator release effect, Franck Courchamp, Michel Langlais, George Sugihara Journal of Animal Ecology
Volume 68, Issue 2, Page 282-292, Mar 1999


Interestly enough this study shows that in areas with a high concentration of rats, cats will actually benefit the birds more by preying upon these rats (which eat eggs and unfledged young) than they hurt them by preying upon the birds. This is corroborated by the previous study that showed that cats ate 3 times more mammals than they did birds.

Again, here is the abstract:

1. Introduced predators account for a large part of the extinction of endemic insular species, which constitutes a major component of the loss of biodiversity among vertebrates. Eradication of alien predators from these ecosystems is often considered the best solution.

2. In some ecosystems, however, it can generate a greater threat for endemic prey through what is called the 'mesopredator release'. This process predicts that, once superpredators are suppressed, a burst of mesopredators may follow which leads their shared prey to extinction.

3. This process is studied through a mathematical model describing a three species system (prey-mesopredator-superpredator). Analysis of the model, with and without control of meso- and superpredators, shows that this process does indeed exist and can drive shared prey to rapid extinction.

4. This work emphasizes that, although counter-intuitive, eradication of introduced superpredators, such as feral domestic cats, is not always the best solution to protect endemic prey when introduced mesopredators, such as rats, are also present.

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DISEASE
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Helminth Parasites of the House Cat, Felis catus, in Connecticut, U.S.A. Rembiesa, Cheryl, Richardson, Dennis J. 2003: Comparative Parasitology: Vol. 70, No. 2, pp. 115–119.

In this study they conclude that controlling feral cat populations will reduce the occurance of parasites being transmitted to humans and domestic cats.

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I've run out of time, but you get the idea. I hope this helps your decision.

Kilgor
 
There are unfortunately many kids injured every year because of people who shoot at varmints, miss, and hit children playing in their back yards.
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Funny, I don't recall of EVER hearing of this happen. I agree that one should shoot safely and know thier backstop, but can you show me that this is happening many times every year? I do recall an article about a kid that was hit by a police officer's bullet when it missed the berm at the target range and went a mile or so. I do not, however, think that children playing in thier back yards are dropping like flies because of errant bullets from varmint shooters.

Kilgor
 
Poodles

" He said in the county where I live, there are none of the really wierd cruelty to animal laws like you have in some places where a Poodle is worth more than a human life."

Most of the Poodles I have known were a lot nicer than most people these days...

FWIW

Chuck
 
Re: wounding cats

Ah, but if you wound the cat, it will take two of his buddies will carry him off, removing three cats from the battlefield.

No really, I'm a big softy. I took no pleasure in dispatching the giant rats who where living on my back porch. I would not like to have to pop wild cats either.
 
Could this apply to dogs as well? We have more stray dogs around here than cats.....

Of course I realize we are in different states and all that... just curious.
 
Although this thread is a year old, I just gotta say...

One of my cat is pretty big and can usually take care of himself. My other cat is small and I don't let her out much.
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So you do let the big one out a lot?

Jeez, maybe to your neighbor, she looks like a feral.

And maybe some of those "ferals" are your neighbors' cats?

Best practice for domestic cats is to spay/neuter and to keep them indoors. Ask your vet.
 
I dont urge killing animals unless your life is literally threatend or if youre going to eat them and use thier body parts constructively.

Why not just shoot them with a paintball gun? they wont return. Its how i keep skunks and racoons out of my yard without having to kill them.
 
Naturally your actions will depend on where you live, but I believe that a loose animal should be killed whether it's a pet or not. Just because an animal is someone's pet doesn't mean that it isn't dangerous to wildlife or people. In my younger days I spent a lot of time with my grandparents who lived in a rural area; and the rule was to shoot both dogs and cats on sight.

IMO loose dogs are actually worse than cats because of the potential for attacks (especially in more urban areas). As a regular runner, I mace any pooch that comes close to me without a restraint (such as a fence or secured leash).
 
If its truely a stray and not someone's pet, shoot the damn thing. A single feral cat can kill hundreds of songbirds per year. If you're an archer, shoot them with a judo point- its sucks the life right out of them and the arrow won't go skipping into the next county.

If the cat belongs to someone- expalin to the person why you don't want to see it loose, and that it will be shot if it attacks your dog again.
 
You seem ethical enough.

Just shoot straight, use enough gun and don't let the kitties suffer.


also BE DAMNED CAREFUL!!! Be sure the cat you're shooting is NOT somebodies pet!!!!

If they're well fed looking and healthy, they're probably someones pet.
 
First, my reason for not liking any cats or dogs in my yard:
I have small kids, they play in the yard, I don't want them dealing with animal feces, especially cat or dog crap in the sand box. And I don't want anyone to step in it when they visit, including me when I'm doing yard work. If you don't want a severally chastised or wounded pet, keep them at home... for if you don't care enough about me to keep your pet from crapping in my yard, then I begin having trouble caring enough about you to keep my "pest control" methods from being fatal....

Second, a question:
Is there anything that will make a cat (or dog) sick but not kill it? Maybe a small amount of antifreeze? I don't want to kill your pet, I just want to make it go home and puke and have diahrrea in your house, so that you appreciate your pet as much as I do.

Third, I need a paintball gun -- it sounds like the perfect short term solution.

Finally, another method (which I have not yet tried, but it comes highly recommended):
Catch them in a live-trap, and let them sit there for 2 days (or more). I have heard that cats receiving such treatment seldom revisit the yard where they were caught. When I go to get the paintball gun, I'm going for the live-trap. Hopefully, the live-trap will work.

Richardson
 
i feel your pain. I hate cats! My neighbors across the street breed em. They are out of town alot and cats are everywhere. I got tired of cats walking on the hood of my wife and my vehicals. But she didnt want me to do anything. Yesterday, I was backing out to go to Popeye;s to get some chicken, and there was a cat taking a ???? in my newly cut front yard! I was pissed! So now, my 22 loaded with cb's is behind the front door. I need something quiet since it is illegal to shoot in the city limits. Before I lived here, one of my dads friends lived here. I think he killed about 15 cats with my dad's rws pellet gun. 1 shot 1 kill with that baby!
OTOH, my dad has had probs with em in the country. So dad traps em, shoots em with his 22 pistol, then throws em in the road and runs over em with his truck to the stupid neighbors think they got hit by a car! LMAO!
BTW, these are the same neighbors that called the sherriffs dept and told them that we were shooting and there were bullet raining down on her house when we were shoot my AR into a huge dirt pile 100 yards away from her house! My dad called the sherrif and he said shoot away! Bwahahahaha
 
Dern, a few weeks back there were two big piles of feathers out near the bird feeder. You reckon I should of blasted that hawk? He was a big one, too. He looked funny diving into the holly tree after the little birds, but gave up and ate pigeons for a couple of hours. The rest of the birds fled, but the stupid squirrels got within a couple of feet of him and lived. Stupid squirrels, now there's a redundant phrase.

Everyone on my side of the street has cats and even a few dogs and they're so used to the birds they don't even chase them. And they can't catch the squirrels. The squirrels walk to within 5 or 6 feet of the cats and turn their backs on them while they dig up dinner.

I can see shooting dogs on sight though. :) Especially if they're barking or chasing the livestock...but we don't have any livestock to speak of in town so I guess I'll just keep dreaming of shooting all the blankety-blank barking dogs.

John
 
We had a female Siameese cat when I was a little kid. We lived at the end of a dirt road in the country. Our closest neighbor had no pets, and both our cat and dog considered our property and our neighbor's property their territory which was fine with that neighbor.

Our dog, a little Lhasa Apso didn't wander past our closes neighbor's house unless we were with it. It also was completely useless for protecting our property.

The game warden down the road never complained about our cat on his property, but I suspect she went there often enough. Our cat had a bowl of cat food, but didn't eat a lot of it. That cat was an impressive hunter, and actually kind of cruel. She liked to catch chipmunks and take them to a place where she could play with them and bat them against the walls until they died of fright.

While the game warden never seemed bothered by our cat, the two dobermans he owned didn't like her much. I saw them chasing her home a couple times. She'd run back to what she considered her territory, and then she'd turn and lunge at their face with claws extended. THe dogs never managed to get a piece of her, and I don't think she managed to seriously hurt them either.

If one of those dogs got a hold of her while she was on their property, I know my father wouldn't have been upset with their owner. If one of those dogs came on our property and hurt our cat or dog, then they'd be put down.

The dobermans were eventually put down. Not for attacking a pet but for attacking a neighbor's kid. They got a really nice chocolate lab after that who was really friendly. He and our cat ignored each other, and he would come and play with our Lhasa. By playing with our Lhasa I mean he would come and let our dog chase him around while staying just ahead of our dog. When our dog would drop from exaustion he would lay down facing her about a foot away.

If I still lived in a rural area I think my solution to stray cats would be to get a nice mean Siameese. :)

If that didn't work I'd probably try the .410 I inherited, but haven't really found a use for.
 
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