Cats, Peacocks, Snares and Mad as a Wet Hen

This is a very personal rant. If anyone thinks they have advice feel free to share. Please try to be civil but if you can't I am in no mood to be trifled with on this one. I will take it out on you if you're a jerk and my tolerance for assumptive, judgy, or just plain ...... on this one is pretty low. You have been warned.

We live on about 30 acres in a rural area. We have horses; this means we have hay which, go figure, mice think is a pretty nifty place to hide out and live. Sooo... We have cats. If we do not have at least three or four cats around here we will start to see mice in the house. We also have neighbors. This is normally not a problem. ( Or so I thought.)

Now, the attrition rate for barn cats is pretty high around here. Along with mice and neighbors we have foxes, eagles, hawks, and coyotes, not to mention the highway that runs along one side of the property. All of these things are certainly a factor in the ones that just don't come home and we just assumed that was the whole of the matter.

However, recently we had a mamma kitty disappear when her little ones were about two weeks old. Now thankfully her mother who had another litter at the time stepped up and fed everyone. A little awkward with three weeks difference between these kittens but everyone made it. We assumed she was gone but after ten days the cat came back. Just showed up on the porch like something out of a horror movie. Sunken eyed, bag of bones, walking on three legs, more dead than not. Cuts all around her neck save a little bit on her left side and her left paw swollen and she couldn't walk on it. Soooo.... I'm thinking "snare". I figured she got caught up in someone's rabbit snare and when she lost enough weight and was dehydrated enough the wire got loose enough for her to wiggle out. Took her to my backup vet (since my first vet was on vacation) and she squeezed out the abscess in her paw and put her on a good round of antibiotics. The cat is coming around but still fighting the infection and it is touch and go whether she will lose at least a toe or even the whole paw (and the latter situation is also an euthanization situation unfortunately).

I was talking to my regular vet about this because she was back from vacation and she told me that my neighbor puts out snares specifically for cats. He has peacocks and doesn't like the cats around to trouble the birds. He does not check his snares and frankly just leaves those cats that he catches to starve to death in the wire. She also said that he doesn't just set those on his land and we had better take a good look around the edges of our property.

I am mad enough to spit nails. I'm not s'posed to mention who told me this as this man is fairly well known and influential in the community and his family has been here for at least three generations. I'm not rational enough to address the situation in any way that is going to be productive just now but this is a disgusting, cruel way to let those animals die. All I can think of to do is patrol the perimeter of the property everyday and start snipping snares that I find. That, and go kick the tar out of the summbich but that isn't going to do anything but get me arrested as the mad woman most people around here think I am. Or shot.

This could turn out to be a regular neighbor feud because I hate those damn birds. They don't shut up and they come up onto my porch and in my barn and poop and (the irony) eat the cat food. Not to mention god help you if you are on a green horse and one of those damn things decides to come investigate. I've almost ended up a dirt dart more than once. Did I mention I hate those birds...? So I've been feeding and putting up with his frickin' birds for ten years while he is covertly torturing my cats to death. Words cannot even begin to describe... Bloody minded, psychotic neighbor.

I'd go out and buy a box of rubber chickens, paint em up like peacocks then hang them up from tree branches all over his property. He might just figure out he's been rumbled

a reply to: redhorse

We feed four feral cats (which have all been trapped and neutered) and two domestic cats for the same reason -- to cut down on the rodent population; they do an excellent job of it.

We have dozens of wild chickens, night herons, other large birds........ I have never known cats to trouble any of them....... except......... once a 10-lb. cat of ours went after a hen. He came back home with a split ear. I can't imagine a cat going after a peacock, even if the cat was starving. If things are as you have written, your neighbor has problems. Cats tend toward game that is their size or smaller. Yes, they will kill and eat birds, but not even birds as large as them.

I would think about looking up county ordinances regarding trapping of animals. Snares suck, unless a person is after specific game and checks the snares regularly. Most snares I am familiar with for small game are strangulation snares, not paw-catching ones. I think of something designed to catch a paw and I think of a Conibear. I would use snares in a SHTF situation -- nothing less.

I'd suggest contacting PETA if this guy is well known. It guarantees media coverage...

Of course... which is worse: angry peacocks around every corner -or- militant neckbeards hiding in the bushes?

The guy sounds like a tool...

Sorry to hear about your cats ..
Makes me glad that dont have neighbors .if his birds come on your land catch them and cook them .. peacock cooks up good .. being kind as the other advice thinking of would severely break t&c ..

a reply to: redhorse

I love cats.

The bastard would be dead already. Short of that, I am pretty sure that his traps, if placed upon your property, represent a criminal trespass event at the least, and I am sure that there are animal groups you could call who would make the scumbags life miserable.

Short of that though, buy a cell signal jammer, cut power and comms to his building, wait til nightfall, and drive a heavy plant vehicle through his house.

Bit extreme?

I can't help you I'm afraid :-( As I would have hurt him by now, and have him think his life is in danger if he continued - It wouldn't be of course!

I'm assuming a friendly talk is out of the question?

Sorry to here about your poor puddy :-(

This situation makes me feel sad and quite angry. Who does this idiot think he is? If he found some of his peacocks caught in one of his #ty little snares I'm sure he'd soon stop putting them out. What a heartless, cruel little #.

I don't know where you live but, like previous posters have said, he must be contravening some sort of law by putting the snares out, both on his land and on yours. Especially on yours. A quick call to an animal protection organisation may start to put pressure on him.

I really hope your cat recovers and good luck to you.

a reply to: redhorse
If your neighbor does not want your cats on his property, maybe you could ask him to use live traps like a Havahart to catch them. Then he could take them to the SPCA or Animal Rescue League.
Then again, maybe you could take steps to keep your cats on your own property. Or keep them in your house, especially if you like wildlife. wildlifee xtranews

a reply to: redhorse

Just between you and me, go buy yourself a slingshot and keep a bag of frozen peas handy. A little gentle of persuasion on the arse end will see the last of the peacocks. They are irritatingly loud.

Best of luck with that.

Kind Regards
Myselfaswell

a reply to: redhorse

Kicking the tar out of him would be my first inclination as well! Let someone call me a crazy lady! Ah, but the jail would be bad, so......

The legalities are the real question. Can he legally set the snares? If so, then isn't there some recourse you can take against his trespassing birds? If he can legally snare and kill cats on his property (though he certainly shouldn't be able to on yours), then you should legally be able to cap some peacocks, if they come on your land.

That's the course I would take. He wants to play that way, let him see how it feels. That, and smearing his name all over locally and elsewhere......

WOW

Made me mad just reading that...

1st.. As a Law Enforcement Professional I will tell you this.. Have a "Letter of Trespass" notarized and sent to him via Certified Mail... Then if he comes back on your property, or you find one of his traps, call the police and press charges...

2nd.. As a cat/animal lover.. Take the advice of one of the previous posters and call PETA... They do some amazing work..

You could get the guy for placing traps on your property and also cruelty to animals.

Shouldn't those birds be penned up anyway?

originally posted by: Night Star
You could get the guy for placing traps on your property and also cruelty to animals.

Shouldn't those birds be penned up anyway?

OP first needs to find snares on their property, then needs to prove who set them. So far, they have hearsay that the neighbor is setting snares at all.
I sympathize with the OP in that peacocks are very loud and extremely annoying birds. I would not want to live within a half a mile of them... they are that loud.
As far as domestic animals being on a different person's property, either neighbor has reason to complain. Both the cats and the peacocks should be limited to the owner's property.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: redhorse



Short of that though, buy a cell signal jammer, cut power and comms to his building, wait til nightfall, and drive a heavy plant vehicle through his house.

Bit extreme?

Maybe... But I discussed it with my husband and we decided to keep it on the table anyway... I mean, a good idea is a good idea.

originally posted by: Expat888
Sorry to hear about your cats ..
Makes me glad that dont have neighbors .if his birds come on your land catch them and cook them .. peacock cooks up good .. being kind as the other advice thinking of would severely break t&c ..

Funny that's what my dad said and they are kind of big... I can't say I'm not tempted. But the peacocks didn't do anything and I feel bad having them pay for what he is doing. I just can't get my head around a workable way to confront him.

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: Night Star
You could get the guy for placing traps on your property and also cruelty to animals.

Shouldn't those birds be penned up anyway?

OP first needs to find snares on their property, then needs to prove who set them. So far, they have hearsay that the neighbor is setting snares at all.
I sympathize with the OP in that peacocks are very loud and extremely annoying birds. I would not want to live within a half a mile of them... they are that loud.
As far as domestic animals being on a different person's property, either neighbor has reason to complain. Both the cats and the peacocks should be limited to the owner's property.

This is true regarding hearsay and that both neighbors have grounds for a grievance. Right now all we know is that the cat was in a snare and my vet feels my neighbor sets them. It is hearsay and could just be a coincidence. So today is the scheduled snare hunt. I'm just waiting for my horse to finish his breakfast.

Regarding the respective animals staying on their owners respective property you are technically correct but culturally off the mark. I know that we have seen our cats over there and he breeds these peacocks so he may be worried about little ones, he doesn't pen them in though. But to be honest most people don't pen up cats, chickens, peafowl, and even some dogs around here. A lot of animals wander and most people get along with it. If we call the local police over this they will either laugh at us or be pissy because we are involving them in something trivial.

We could probably fence to keep the peacocks out (good fences make for good neighbors and all that), and it is theoretically possible to fence 30 acres to deter the cats but I can't afford it. There is no fence suitable for that much land to keep a cat in for sure though and I need them to have access to quite a bit of the property. It isn't just mice they take care of but ground squirrels and pocket gophers which make big holes and lots of them which is a hazard for the horses. These cats have a job and it is pest control and they are good at it.

Time to get traps and lay them on your porch for his peacocks.

a reply to: redhorse

We could probably fence to keep the peacocks out (good fences make for good neighbors and all that), and it is theoretically possible to fence 30 acres to deter the cats but I can't afford it. There is no fence suitable for that much land to keep a cat in for sure though and I need them to have access to quite a bit of the property. It isn't just mice they take care of but ground squirrels and pocket gophers which make big holes and lots of them which is a hazard for the horses. These cats have a job and it is pest control and they are good at it.

I am with you there, fences are a plus, but they are horribly expensive. As far as I know, a cat proof fence would be prohibitively expensive just to fence in a typical backyard. It would need to be high, no openings at all and made of PVC or a similar material that they couldn't get their claws into for a climbing grip. It would also need to be flush with the ground so they couldn't get under it.
I grew up where most barns had cats just for vermin control. Most of them stayed within a couple of hundred yards of the barn. This is where I have a problem with some groups, the local Animal Rescue League will not allow adoptions of cats if they are going to be used as mousers. If cats do have a purpose as a domestic animal (IMO) it is for vermin control.

Just an update.

I did not find any snares but I only checked two sides of the property. I would have a hard time believing he would put snares blatantly in the middle of my land but stranger things have happened I suppose. The line that I share with him has a gravel road separating our respective properties and a deep and wide barrow pit on both sides. I checked my side of the road in the barrow pit and along the fence line.

The other side I checked runs down to the river and there is a dirt track road that everyone uses to access the water. Technically this little road is on my property but I don't really have an issue with people using it. I checked that road but the grass and brush is thick along the sides and could easily hide a snare so well I could pretty much step on it and have no idea its there; because of this I focused on the animal trails tracking through the grass and tangle.

Sooo... so far, I didn't find anything. She may have gotten caught in one on his place but I will keep looking and keep everyone posted if I find anything. I will also update on the health of our kitty if anyone is interested (she did seem perkier today. She wanted outside and caught a field mouse). Time will tell if she comes out of it or if we have to make the hard choice. Vet says give her more time before we slam her with antibiotics again.