Wal-Mart Employees Charged With Shooting Cat On Manager's Orders

I read this @ keep and bear arms .com

& if I remember correctly it was felony not federal animal cruelty.
And from what I can gleam they deserve at least misdemeanor.
use enough gun
they used a pellet gun on a cat,all they did was wound it,from what I remember it took THREE DAYS TO DIE As Chris Rocks said "that aint right"

They should have used a .22 and made sure it was dead rather then wound it & let it die a slow death.

 

I can't find it being a Federal Charge-

http://www.animal-law.org/
This is a great resource for such info including Fed and State laws.

We really need the police report- did they shoot it 17 times with a .22 or pellet gun?

CT

 

Felony charges over a cat. A cat!

 

Felony not Federal charges!

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/10531024.htm

Anderson and Harding need to learn to hunt small game,all they did was wound the critter and let it die slowly.

 

Felony charges are justified

" joking about shooting the cat."

"Anderson and Hardin repeatedly shot the cat with a pellet gun from the store until it died the next day, a Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department report said."

Anyone that thinks that's ok I have no use for....

CT

 

Yes it does. A feral cat is a totally different case from a domesticated pet that's gotten away from home. They can't be tamed or controlled and they're very dangerous.

 

Not true

They are not trusting of humans but they are not dangerous. I have had a few take up house keeping in my garage and hide their kittens there they are really good mothers the females. their just not trusting of humans. Can we blame them?

 

Yes True. I've seen several documentaries on them. They are a problem. Harboring them doesn't help anybody.

 

Evicting an animal, OK.

Shooting a feral cat that has become a problem. OK

Shooting any animal with a round insufficient for a clean kill. NOT OK.

Perhaps fit punishment for Anderson, Hardin and their manager would be to take the lot of them far out in the boonies, shoot THEM a couple of times with a very small, underpowered round and leave THEM to slowly die in fear and agony.

 

Centuries ago, a whole religion preached hatred and the killing of Cats as the servants of satan, etc.
After they got rid of most of the strays, and even many household pets, Bubonic Plague broke out, and killed 1/3-1/2 of the people in europe.

It's interesting to see the hatred of cats show itself in all the people who think it's fine to shoot cats outside. Wonder if they'd think the same if their dog was killed just because it got loose, or any dog for that matter.

That old nonsense about cats destroying the environment is old hat, and even cat hating scientists now admit that their early condemnation of cats as wiping out whole populations of birds, etc was wrong.
They have since found that other causes like disease and the like were responsible.
On pacific islands where they blamed the introduction of catsfor the complete elimination of all bird species, they killed the cats, reintroduced the birds, and lo, and behold, they all died a few years later.

There are a lot of cats where I live, I have 5(all fixed), and there are others, either wild, or owned by neighbors.
Our Quail population continues to soar despite all these "horrible" predators.

 

The only thing wrong in this was not using a weapon capable of a humane kill.

 

Cerberus,

Feral cats carry disease (such as rabies), can cause injury, and depending on the area can kill the beneficial wildlife. Being a good mother? By that standard you could even consider mice&rats as "good mothers".

A small population isn't bad, it can even be good. After all, they do tend to keep the rodent population down. But when it gets too large, measures have to be taken. You figure a female can have multiple litters of around six kittens a year, though many die as kittens. This leads to the same situation as with deer. If there isn't some form of predation or loss, they'll overwhelm the available game. Also, smaller populations don't carry disease as much. They don't have the pressure, so they will avoid humans more successfully. My thoughts: If they aren't causing a problem, don't worry about it. If they are, then take action.

Feral cats can be tamed, but it does take alot of effort. I have an aunt who has done this multiple times. It takes months.

BTW:

I hadn't heard that they had used a pellet gun and the cat didn't die immediately. If that is true, then yes, they deserve to brought up. Though if the gun was given to them by the manager, it's him who deserves to be brought up.

 

That's terrible. I hope they're all convicted.

 

Anybody that shoots a cat or any other animal with an obviously underpowered weapon, and deliberately leaves it to die slowly, deserves felony charges and whatever else they get.

While any unchecked animal population will mess up an ecosystem (ever seen what rabbits can do to an island with no natural predators on it?), a cat living by a Walmart is going to be making his living by dumpster diving, not wiping out the tweety bird population in the area.

We've got cats all over the place around this neighborhood...still doesn't keep the squirrels out of my garbage, or the birds from attacking my pepper plants.

I hope the people involved in the torturing of this animal get their posteriors handed to them (to put it politely).

 

I forgot to mention that. If you have to dispatch an animal, it absolutely should be done in a humane way. Quick, clean shot.

 

Personally, I believe killing is sometimes required. The requirements for killing obviously goes up as you go up the food chain. If someone stomps on all the plants in my garden, I'm going to be equally annoyed at them for destroying life that wasn't required along with them destroying my property. Yes, trees need to be cut down. Grass needs to be mowed. Some plants must be destroyed to make food. That's the way it is.

Animals are a food source at times, a threat to humans at other times, and other times they should be left alone. When it is required to kill an animal, either do it properly or not at all. Those that torture animals for amusement should be punished. It is often a sign of deep mental issues at worst, at best it is rather sick. I'm not sure what punishment the crime of stupidity deserves. My initial reaction would be to shoot the two persons involved with a low caliber handgun or pellet gun in a non-vital and non-life threatening area, and explain that pain/suffering is not nice. Cruel and unusual? Yep. But maybe they'd learn something. Probably a little bit overboard, but not by much in my opinion.

I don't equate killing animals to killing humans, nor should a person get a long prison sentence or an insane fine for killing an animal. It just deeply disturbs me when someone causes intentionial undue suffering of others. At best, really stupid. At worst, a very sick mind possibly capable of doing so to humans.

 

Feral cats didn't ask to be born and are only trying to survive like all other species. If one has to be dispatched, it should be done quickly and cleanly without suffering. If the guys at Wal Mart shot this cat repeatedly with a pellet gun and let it suffer, then I have no sympathy for them. This action (if true) does reach the level of felony animal cruelty. I watch Animal Planet all the time so I'm something of an expert on this. Seriously, I don't know how the feds would be involved in this.

 

Shooting the cat seventeen times and allowing it to suffer for three days. that is horrible, how could they sleep at night? but still, felony? no. high misdemeanor? yes. but not for killing the cat, for killing it improperly or tortureing it.

these guys are probably what law makers intended the felony animal abuse law for. but not for someone dispatching a troublesome animal in a humane way.

 

Absolutely true.

"If the cat had been made in China, Wal Mart would have sold it."

For a while, Wal-Mart, and other retailers, DID. The Chinese killed cats and kittens, skinned them, and put the pelts on foam molds. These were sold as knick-knacks and "pets" until word got out.

 

Reply to Calhoun

Calhoun, I lived in NC for 7 years.

 

In Wisconsin

Winter is the main culling agent of feral cats. However a big problem is "feeders" My mom and grand mother are "feeders". They feed the poor wild cats who would otherwise die of starvation. The now well fed cats breed more cats. The new generation knows where to go for food and so on and so on.......
One of my mothers neighbors (couple actually) set out live traps. When they caught the cats they would put them down when my parents erent home.
At one time there were like 40- 50 wild cats in the neiborhood.
And spot on about other animals coming to the food tray. Ive seen some huge possums and coons coming in after the cats.

 

Killing cats isn't a felony but being mean to them is. Right or wrong that's the law. I lived next to a lady who at one time had over 40 cats that could be counted. Most were half starved and losing their hair. The damn things would get into everything and they did some real damage. I started shooting them in the head, but after a while i just got tired of having to pick bug infested dead cats out of my yard. Sooo, i learned that if you shot them in the guts, they'd run home and die. That may seem unusually cruel but compared to starvation or dying from disease i still figured i was doing them a favor. Unfortunately, cats are really tough animals, and on the rare occasion they wouldn't die and they'd show back up all hunched over with a severe limp or something.

I learned a few things from living there. One was that until you see an animal suffer you don't quite get the full effect of your actions. I'll never shoot another animal again with the intention of just wounding it. Second, a cat is just a cat, not a human being. That's what i was told by animal control and the local sheriff's dept. after many complaints were lodged about the way she took care of her animals. If they would have been horses or livestock it may have been a different story. But they were just cats.

 

From the local paper:

Courier & Press story

Like others have said, my problem isn't so much with the fact that they killed the cat. I can see why they wanted to get rid of it. My problem is with the fact that the animal suffered for over a day after being shot.

That's why they're being charged with animal cruelty, and personally I hope the book gets thrown at the one who did the initial shooting.

 

the old' garden hose trick works for me...strays may come back for seconds..but rarely see em asking for thirds..

its a cat...they are strong and fairly intelligent..they prefer NOT to get wet..the main thing that brings unwanted creatures into an area...is FOOD..thats across the board..insects, animals...you can board-up,chain, wall-off an area..but if the food is still in the area..your "hunters" remain..eliminate the food source and the problem will go elsewhere.

wolf

 

I could see getting your nose out of joint if it was a dog. Dogs are cool.

Cats, on the other hand, much like other people's children...are vermin.