Hunting Cats????

[mamasharones]

Save the kitties!!!


So I heard that Wisconsin is thinking about legalizing cat hunting. I think it's ridiculus. Supposively (I read in my university's newpaper) they want to make it legal to hunt/shoot kitties whether or not they have a collar only if they seem unsupervised (maybe some one can shed a little light on the situation) I have a cat and I could never imagine killing her. She's precious and we love her SOOOOoooOOoooOo much.

Thought's? Feelings?

[toman]

I have shot and would shoot again cats on my property. I don't care how cute they are, they destroy property and for the most part the owners don't care and take no responsibility.

[treehugger]

Wisconsin is my state so I'm pretty up to date on this whole issue.

It's pretty ironic because I think it was two or three years ago the hunters proposed this bill allowing them to start hunting mourning doves. There was a huge fight and eventually the hunters won and now they can hunt mourning doves.

Now this bull **oopsie i mean BILL** comes up and they're talking about how cats kill songbirds so they want to kill cats now. Open season.

WTF??? I'd call a mourning dove a songbird!

Anyway, there was a vote and the hunters narrowly won the vote. It basically went urban (against cat hunting) against rural (supporting cat hunting)

I believe the hunter has to sort of look and make sure the cat appears to not be owned...and if it's wearing a collar, THEORETICALLY, they're not supposed to shoot it. Yah right. That'll happen.

Now the issue is up to our governor...and he has said he is going to veto the bill because he "doesn't want to be the laughingstock of the country" by being the first governor to allow an actual hunting season on cats.

And, toman, this is further reaching than just shooting a cat that happens to be on your property. You'd actually be able to hunt them. You could get permission from any landowner to actually go and shoot cats on THEIR property.

I think it's really dumb.

I have a black cat and I have a lot of mice in my house. So I wanted Mojo to have the advantage so he is not declawed and his collar is black too so he can disappear better in the dark looking for mice.

Mojo doesn't go outside. At least if I can help it. But...now I have to worry that if he slips outside he may get shot.

The big argument the hunters are making is that the cats are preying on songbirds. There ARE ground-nesting game birds that I suppose cats might be interfering with their nests..

I still have a problem with an actual open season on a cat.

I believe *hunting* should be left to cover animals that are going to be actually used for *food*.

I doubt that these cats will get consumed.

But so far it doesn't look like it is going to go because the governor (democrat) has flat out refused to sign the bill.

Kath

[toman]

Yeah, I get the issue. I personally am not too concerned about the songbird issue (which strikes me as a bit of a lame excuse, but maybe I'm wrong) nor am I going to pack up my guns and go cat huntin', but I do agree that cats are a serous problem in many areas. The humane societies and animal control don't seem to care, people continue to allow cats to breed, and people continue to tolerate and even feed and encourage stray cats. I realize that in our culture killing anything is considered disgusting and antisocial, and if it's cute and furry it makes you a disgusting person, but in places I've lived there are no rats or mice, and stray cats are more of a nuisance and do more damage than rodents probably would in the first place.

Here's a pretty nice example, although I'm sure some here won't appreciate it: A few years ago I lived in a suburban neighborhood. At the time I owned a couple cars, one of which was my pride and joy that I spent a lot of time and money on. Now, my nextdoor neighbor was always traveling on business, so he was never around. But one of his little hobbies was to feed all the feral cats in the area. So consider this: Aftermarket wheels for a performance car cost in the neighborhood of 1-2k. Quality paint for a car costs about 5k. In one or two days of leaving my car ouside in the summer, cats climbed all over the car with their claws, scratching the hell out of the paint, pissed all over the pain and stained it, and pissed on the wheels, ruining the finish. Then you consider the cat shit that filled the yard, the cat piss that drenched the inside of the garage, ruining it, the piss all over thousands of dolars worth of tools, piss on the kitchen window, and several other vehicals damaged by cats.

If I had a pit bull that did that much damage to other people's property it would be siezed and put down. I had more money and love into that car than most people put into children. If my dog mauled a child it would be put down. But because these fucking cats are cute and furry, there's nothing that can be done to keep them from running wild and destroying everything in sight. So I don't think it's completely off base to allow someone to take a little initiative to go out and take care of this infestation. If you have pets that you're that worried about, how about doing what owners of every other kind of animal do; keep them on your own property, make sure they're properly identified, and train them to not damage things.

[treehugger]

To be honest, this bill isn't about destructive cats. Property owners already have the right to kill cats on their property.

This is different. This is an actual HUNT. If your land is not posted, other people can come on your land and hunt for cats.

If you own any significant acreage...your cat is not even safe on its OWN land, unless you have it posted No Hunting.

That's, I think, the jist of the problem. Suppose I have 200 acres of land. And I have a farm and I'd like to keep the mice down. So I have barn cats.

Now, I have to post my property no trespassing/no hunting, just to ensure the safety of my own cats, on my own property.

Something is wrong with that.

I defend a property owner's right to protect his/her property from damage. I have no problem with that.

I do have a problem with a general hunt where people can go on lands that AREN'T their own property, and kill cats.

Kath

[toman]

I hear what you're saying. Is there someplace we can get real info on the subject instead of just speculating on what it does or doesn't mean? :bandit:

[julesandjo]

I'm not really going to comment on the issue being discussed, but I want to agree with Toman on alot of points he has made. I am one who is guilty of feeding all the cute little "wild" cats on my property, and man do I regret it. I had no idea what the repercussions would be. They have destroyed my yard. The middle of my yard is like a giant litter box. I have bird feathers everywhere and more and more smaller areas of nothing but dirt instead of grass where they do their business over and over again. Before we moved here the previous owner had a mouse problem and we figured the cats would keep the mice down, which they have, but good Lord, we never dreamed what they would do. Our wood deck is clawed up EVERYWHERE, last spring and summer they sprayed STINKING STINKING pee on my house, on the sliding screen door and you can't even sit on the front porch without the smell of cat pee and poop gagging you. We found a dead kitten in our old shed. I mean, I truly regret feeding them but in my own defense, the previous owner was my sister and she had already begun to feed them and I just kind of continued, thinking about the mouse problem. I want to get rid of them but don't really know how, short of destroying them and I can't bring myself to do it. Oh, and last year we had a cat inside and it NEVER went out and we had a flea infestation in our house so bad. I even kept advantage on our cat even though she NEVER went outside and then switched to frontline and we continued to have fleas. We bombed over and over again and still had them. So, I'm assuming the flea problem came from the outside "wild" cats. Our yard was probably infested. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way. I never knew the damage these "cute" little furballs could cause. I even have paths through my yard where the cats walk in the same exact place over and over again. I just never would have known.

[toman]

Giving a good sized dog the run of your yard will quickly get rid of cats, but make sure the dog isn't killing them. If it gets the taste of blood, you'll probably have serious problems with all sorts of dead critters. Only problem is you either need an extremely well trained dog or a fenced yard.

[nappydread]

hey guys...
I'm not really sure where i stand on this issue...
I find it wierd that most stray cat problems occur in the urban areas, yet these people don't support the hunt in wisconsin. I also understand that humans will always want to control animal populations to protect their property etc. However, I think the reasoning for this hunt is kinda flawed and I'm sure if this hunt is accepted then it will lead to hunting cats for "sport"....which is not a very good direction to go. I also know some dogs that cause property damage too...so i hope they won't limit the hunt to only cats.

peace

[LIBRA]

I dont agree with "cat hunting", though something should be done about them, how about educate people who feel the need to feed them and have 10 of them which make 100 more, or you have to get a license to own one, show you are responible enough to spay or neuter them, these things probably wouldnt work but hey!!

Ya know what really bothers me, this whole deal and things like this get more attention then pysco convicted sex offenders killing little girls and rapists who get 2 years in prison and are set free, same with child molestors oh they have to register as a sex offender but they dont.
people are so concerned with the well being and treatment of animals but look around at what people are doing to people, its sick, way worse then shooting cats, to me anyway.

[ShaDoW]

O.k. here is the deal, I do not agree one bit with destroying an animal because another human being was completely irresponsible and let it loose. Some people catch feral cats and take them to get spayed and neutered and then they re release them back on the property they captured the animal from in fact certain agencies out there will do this service for people when people take the time to look them up and call them. It really is not the animals fault instead there should be a way to hold people resposible for letting animals loose that then cause destruction to other peoples property. Why on earth can't people think before they get a pet, pets take work and responsibility you cannot just let them run loose they have been domesticated for far to long it is terribly inhumane. If you cannot bring yourself to call the humane societies to do something about the problem then go out and invest in some humane animal traps.
Oh, and the thing with humane societies is that you, the person with the problem, has to call them, the humane society, to get something done. They do not just patrol around waiting to see some animal running loose, most of the time they have to receive a complaint before something is done.
Cats are disease spreaders when left to run loose, they are very destructive as well, I have my own cat and she does not get to go outside; I love animals and do not think that domesticated animals turned feral should be hunted, but they should be dealt with somehow. The people that get pets and then let them loose should also be held responsible somehow, severe consequences should be in place for these irresponible f*#cks.
Sorry bit of a rant...
:hippie:

[toman]

*shrugs* I guess it just depends on how you look at it. Some peple say I don't have much heart, because I don't think things like that are wrong. Maybe I'm just old fashioned or something, that sounds a little nicer then "cruel bastard"... :-D I agree that people should be more responsible about their pets, but really, sooooo many people are irresponsible when it comes to major issues like their own lives and children that realistically pets have to be down on the totem pole a bit. Of course, most people in this society these days treat their children like liltle more than pets, so hey...

[BandAide]

I've withheld any resonse to this topic because I am not informed enough to have anything other than a gutteral reaction. That being said, I don't morally object to hunting. I don't object to hunting cats any more than I do to hunting deer. I don't particular like the idea of it, nor do I advocate it, but I understand why it's important for population control. Humans have things like AIDS and earthquakes to control our volume, animals have hunters.

BUT

I can not, no matter how hard I try, no matter how deeply I search, understand how anyone could ENJOY hunting. I can't understand how anyone could bring themselves to shoot a cat. I can understand hunting for food, out of necessity. But even in hunter/gatherer societies people subsist mainly on grains and berries and have meat as a small percentage of their diets. Going out to kill something because you think it's fun... or because something makes you so angry that you think killing it is fair and appropriate is weird and sort of perverse to me. It's this sort of primative, derranged shoot em' up dribble drabble behavior that boggles my mind and raises one of my eyebrows and half of my lip in an elitist snarl. I mean, c'mon, get off your power trip. We all know humans are big and strong and have opposible thumbs and excellent reasoning skills. Do we really need to prove and then reprove it by killing cats for sport?

[toman]

I don't have a problem with hunting as sport particularly. The idea is that you take something you'd do anyway, like hunting for food or hunting to control pests, and enjoy the challenge in it. If you look at it in an unemotional sense, it's a perfectly natural, healthy thing to take an ordinary task and learn to enjoy the technicalities it presents. I don't think killing small game really proves much of anything, because any human could take a cat and break it's neck with his bare hands. If you're using a gun, maybe your skill is something to be proud of, but I don't think lot of people are going to get some kind of thrill from the simple act of shooting something unless it's big game or something that just takes balls. I really think we've done a disservice in this culture by distancing ourselves from real life issues like killing; by doing so we've developed this notion that anyone who kills an animal or another person is some kind of whacko, when that's really not the case. Sure, some people are like that, but not the majority.

[treehugger]

I've withheld any resonse to this topic because I am not informed enough to have anything other than a gutteral reaction. That being said, I don't morally object to hunting. I don't object to hunting cats any more than I do to hunting deer. I don't particular like the idea of it, nor do I advocate it, but I understand why it's important for population control. Humans have things like AIDS and earthquakes to control our volume, animals have hunters.

BUT

I can not, no matter how hard I try, no matter how deeply I search, understand how anyone could ENJOY hunting. I can't understand how anyone could bring themselves to shoot a cat. I can understand hunting for food, out of necessity. But even in hunter/gatherer societies people subsist mainly on grains and berries and have meat as a small percentage of their diets. Going out to kill something because you think it's fun... or because something makes you so angry that you think killing it is fair and appropriate is weird and sort of perverse to me. It's this sort of primative, derranged shoot em' up dribble drabble behavior that boggles my mind and raises one of my eyebrows and half of my lip in an elitist snarl. I mean, c'mon, get off your power trip. We all know humans are big and strong and have opposible thumbs and excellent reasoning skills. Do we really need to prove and then reprove it by killing cats for sport?

What you've said, BandAide, resonates true to my instincts as well. Once again, you have eloquently expressed what I was incapable of expressing.

I, also, don't really have a moral issue with *hunting* if its out of necessity. But I don't personally understand hunting for sport. I have brothers who hunt...and one of them, to me, fits Tomans explanation of the challenge aspect of it. My brother makes his own bows and arrows using old native american techniques...so there's more skill and more of a challenge there.

My other brother, on the other hand, just seems to relish the kill. And he uses the most powerful, up to date, sophisticated equipment available. Laser sights, decoys that really move, remote controlled blah blah.

I have more respect for the first brother. The one who uses the old techniques. He also consumes everything he hunts.

The other one just gets his kills stuffed and displayed in his house *eew*...

I wonder if people will display the cats they've shot?

Kath

[toman]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/Felonious-Monk/shoot-the-cat.bmp

[lukifer]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/Felonious-Monk/shoot-the-cat.bmp


i don't agree with hunting cats, but this picture is hilarious...

[sabbath_hawks]

I have shot and would shoot again cats on my property. I don't care how cute they are, they destroy property and for the most part the owners don't care and take no responsibility.


I sincerely hope you are kidding. How can you say the cat's owners don't care? My cat, who I love, ran outside one day when I was letting my dog out. He never came back. I have put out fliers rode my bike around the neighborhood calling for him, and contacted animal services. Not to mention I have cried myslf to sleep and at times broke down in the middle of the day so don't say owners don't care. Maybe you have never bonded with an animal but they have their distinct personalities and abilties to show affection. They are irreplacable. Either your post was some kind of joke or you're just like the fucking uneducated redneck hicks from my home town who think thier dicks grow everytime they hurt a defenseless animal.

[LIBRA]

you have to look at the big picture probably 50% of people with animals dont care, you individually do care and people here care but people out there dont, that creates a big problem, one cat turns into lots of cats and it just keeps going and going. people around here have animals I know they dont care about, have a dog thats tied out its whole life, turns psyco hyper from complete lack of a natural dogs life, that is no way to raise a pet. so before you take it personal think about it and the whole conversation not just tomans response, and I am sure you'll get another one outta him now ;)

[toman]

Lol... way to make an entrance, n00b. But you're probably right; anybody here will agree that I'm some sort of fucking uneducated redneck hick with a big dick. :hippie: Oh, and if you read the thread it's pretty obvious that killing cute furry animals gives me a boner. :ufo:

[mamasharones]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/Felonious-Monk/shoot-the-cat.bmp


LOL awww.... it's cute.... not the gun that cat....

Funny pic

[TuckedInside]

I can't see any sport in shooting a cat because they wouldn't provide any challenge. Also the fact the cats probably don't know any better about what they are doing and that it isn't their fault that people have been irresponsible in their own actions that have led to this situation. Maybe we should work on a way to communicate with the kitty population and ask them nicely to just stop what they are doing and work out a compromise with them, ya know, develop some diplomacy with them, instead of following suit with the popular trend of just killing the things we don't like because we can't find a more creative and interesting solution. Humans were given the power to THINK. We should try that more often. :)

[nappydread]

i like this feline diplomacy thing...hmmm...and i also like the armed robbery thing too!
I'm thinking of robbing cats for their fur so i can spin it into yarn....and crochet the yarn into a nice three-piece suit:D
It would be better than hunting them...there would just be lots of bald kittys running around :bandit:


peace

[toman]

Three words: Spontaneous feline combustion.

[tooter_mcgee]

I'm wondering when we'll be able to shoot stray dogs...

I like both dogs and cats, and i just don't really understand why it would be okay to shoot a stray cat and not a stray dog.

:hippie:

Di

[plainjanepatchwork]

Oh man I live right on the IL/WI border and I get the WI news because my cable company is out of WI. So I have been watching the news stories out of WI on this issue. There is nothing worse than feral cat shit in your garden *YUCK* . I know if they had cat season around here my dad and hubby would probably take a shot at a couple. The strays around here are mean and inbred. My dog comes back with scratches on his face. We live in the country and the cats are free to run and breed. The farmers do not want to shoot them for sport they want to thin out the population. I know IL gives out hunting liscenses to farmers for deer. Not a regular hunting liscence but a liscence that says that they can shoot around 10 deer. They are not meant for sport hunting they are meant to thin out the population. Shooting the cats is no different than that. Conditions are good for the deer and the cats. We have eliminated their natural predators. If we do not thin out the population by hunting them they die a slow painful death of starvation in the winter. When there are too many deer the land cannot support them all. Since we killed off the coyotes and wolves the humans have to take thier place to thin out the herd.

[plainjanepatchwork]

I'm wondering when we'll be able to shoot stray dogs...

I like both dogs and cats, and i just don't really understand why it would be okay to shoot a stray cat and not a stray dog.


While there are stray dog packs in the country there are far more feral cats. I am sure if there was a large wild dog population harming wildlife and farm animals the farmers would want to hunt them too.

[toman]

It is legal to shoot dogs if they're harrassing livestock or if it's in self defense or defense of another person.

[toman]

For that matter, it's legal to shoot people, too. ;)

[tooter_mcgee]

That's the American way...

:hippie:
Di

[LIBRA]

Yes its definitly legal to shoot a dog if its on farmland, in PA anyway, I have proof of that, a puppy with a hole in it!!!!
I agree with plainjane on this, you just made it sound better!!
We dont have a cat problem though, alot of farms have barn cats but I think nature takes care of thinning them out.