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From the Minneapolis StarTribune 3/8/05
Goodbye, Kitty?
If a firefighter from La Crosse gets his way, stray cats in Wisconsin could legally be blown from here to feline eternity. Not surprisingly, the proposal to allow the shooting of free-roaming cats has horrified cat lovers nationwide.
"This really crosses the line in human and cat relations," said Ted O'Donnell, owner of a pet supply store in Madison. He has set up a website called dontshootthecat.com. "I remember when firefighters used to rescue cats -- not shoot them."
This particular firefighter, 48-year-old Mark Smith, doesn't quite see what all the fuss is about.
"I get up in the morning and if there's new snow, there's cat tracks under my bird feeder," Smith told the Associated Press "I look at them as an invasive species, plain and simple."
Trophy animal?Using that logic, he has asked Wisconsin officials to designate free-roaming domesticated cats as members of an "unprotected species" that could be shot on sight by anyone holding a small-game license.
Smith's proposal will be placed before the public April 11 at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress' annual spring hearings in each of the state's 72 counties.
The congress serves as an advisory group to that state's Department of Natural Resources.
"We're just going to have to pass on the citizens' recommendation to the [DNR], and they'd have to take it to the Legislature to get the law changed," said Steve Oestreicher, chairman of the Conservation Congress, who described his reaction to the proposal as "kind of a toss-up. People aren't aware of how many songbirds common house cats kill every year. They're surprised at what that critter is capable of."
But Oestreicher added: "There's no need for people to scream bloody murder that we're going to let people start shooting cats, because that's not going to happen."
Making a case
Scientific rationale for the plugging proposal is contained in a 1996 paper published by University of Wisconsin ecology Prof. Stanley Temple.
He calculated that an estimated 1.4 million free-ranging cats in Wisconsin's rural areas were responsible for the deaths of anywhere from 7.8 million to 219 million birds every year.
"It's obviously a very controversial proposal," Temple said. "I think there really is a basis for having a debate about it."
O'Donnell said the study was scientifically flawed and ignores alternatives, such as trapping and euthanizing such cats. Even better would be to adopt a policy of trapping, neutering and returning them to the wild, according to Alley Cat Allies, a nationwide cat-advocacy group.
"The idea of open season on cats, of going out and shooting them is just inhumane," said Alley Cat spokeswoman Jessica Frohman. "And it's not going to work because as soon as you get rid of one, you've opened a food source for more cats. You'll never get rid of them that way."
Frohman's organization has never encountered such a plan in any other state. A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources spokesman said no one in the state has ever floated such an idea.
As an alternative to shooting the state's cats, the Minnesota DNR and several birding organizations have sponsored a campaign called "Cats Indoors! Minnesota Project," which tries to educate cat owners to keep their pets indoors where they can't stalk and kill birds.
"A lot of people don't realize the toll cats can take on wildlife," said campaign spokeswoman Andrea Lee Lambrecht. "But having a shooting match with the neighborhood cats would be a real unfortunate outcome. We don't villainize cats in this country."
In fact, Americans are so enamored of their cats that they have made felines the most popular pet species in the nation, which could help explain the blistering opposition to the idea of shooting cats. In addition to the 77.6 million cats owned in the United States, the estimate for the number of feral cats -- cats that were domesticated but are living outdoors -- is in the tens of millions.
"I've gotten hundreds of e-mails from all over the country and Canada," O'Donnell said. "This is a ridiculous idea."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bob von Sternberg is at [email protected].
Goodbye, Kitty?
If a firefighter from La Crosse gets his way, stray cats in Wisconsin could legally be blown from here to feline eternity. Not surprisingly, the proposal to allow the shooting of free-roaming cats has horrified cat lovers nationwide.
"This really crosses the line in human and cat relations," said Ted O'Donnell, owner of a pet supply store in Madison. He has set up a website called dontshootthecat.com. "I remember when firefighters used to rescue cats -- not shoot them."
This particular firefighter, 48-year-old Mark Smith, doesn't quite see what all the fuss is about.
"I get up in the morning and if there's new snow, there's cat tracks under my bird feeder," Smith told the Associated Press "I look at them as an invasive species, plain and simple."
Trophy animal?Using that logic, he has asked Wisconsin officials to designate free-roaming domesticated cats as members of an "unprotected species" that could be shot on sight by anyone holding a small-game license.
Smith's proposal will be placed before the public April 11 at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress' annual spring hearings in each of the state's 72 counties.
The congress serves as an advisory group to that state's Department of Natural Resources.
"We're just going to have to pass on the citizens' recommendation to the [DNR], and they'd have to take it to the Legislature to get the law changed," said Steve Oestreicher, chairman of the Conservation Congress, who described his reaction to the proposal as "kind of a toss-up. People aren't aware of how many songbirds common house cats kill every year. They're surprised at what that critter is capable of."
But Oestreicher added: "There's no need for people to scream bloody murder that we're going to let people start shooting cats, because that's not going to happen."
Making a case
Scientific rationale for the plugging proposal is contained in a 1996 paper published by University of Wisconsin ecology Prof. Stanley Temple.
He calculated that an estimated 1.4 million free-ranging cats in Wisconsin's rural areas were responsible for the deaths of anywhere from 7.8 million to 219 million birds every year.
"It's obviously a very controversial proposal," Temple said. "I think there really is a basis for having a debate about it."
O'Donnell said the study was scientifically flawed and ignores alternatives, such as trapping and euthanizing such cats. Even better would be to adopt a policy of trapping, neutering and returning them to the wild, according to Alley Cat Allies, a nationwide cat-advocacy group.
"The idea of open season on cats, of going out and shooting them is just inhumane," said Alley Cat spokeswoman Jessica Frohman. "And it's not going to work because as soon as you get rid of one, you've opened a food source for more cats. You'll never get rid of them that way."
Frohman's organization has never encountered such a plan in any other state. A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources spokesman said no one in the state has ever floated such an idea.
As an alternative to shooting the state's cats, the Minnesota DNR and several birding organizations have sponsored a campaign called "Cats Indoors! Minnesota Project," which tries to educate cat owners to keep their pets indoors where they can't stalk and kill birds.
"A lot of people don't realize the toll cats can take on wildlife," said campaign spokeswoman Andrea Lee Lambrecht. "But having a shooting match with the neighborhood cats would be a real unfortunate outcome. We don't villainize cats in this country."
In fact, Americans are so enamored of their cats that they have made felines the most popular pet species in the nation, which could help explain the blistering opposition to the idea of shooting cats. In addition to the 77.6 million cats owned in the United States, the estimate for the number of feral cats -- cats that were domesticated but are living outdoors -- is in the tens of millions.
"I've gotten hundreds of e-mails from all over the country and Canada," O'Donnell said. "This is a ridiculous idea."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bob von Sternberg is at [email protected].
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