Not a happy or good thread. I know there are a lot of cat-haters out there, because they are ignorant of the nature of felines.

I moved out to the middle of freaking nowhere with my 9 cats, because the suburban neighborhood we came from had some kids that thought it was fun to torture small cats, and a neighbor behind us called animal control every time he saw a cat on our adjoining fence. Despite our purchasing a $250 motion-activated sprinkler system for him, he never used the sprinklers and continued to be a jerk about it. I guess he sold the system on e-Bay.

We had specific guidelines for the place we would purchase: At least 1/2 a mile from the road, and NO close neighbors. It took a year of looking, but we found the perfect cat habitat. When we moved in, it was overrun with prairie dogs and moles. The yard was riddled with holes and the phone lines were constantly being chewed up. Rats and mice were up in the attic, in the walls and had nests all over in the fields. The native population of hawks and coyotes were not enough to keep them at bay.

The first 6 months, our cats cleaned up all the vermin. We have the nicest lawn within 10 miles because we don't have a ton of mole holes dug in it. No more mouse poo in the cupboards and no more hearing rats and mice dig in our walls and chew our wires. The phone guy who hooked up our landline stated that he used to have to come out every few months and patch the line in the ground. We haven't had to call him, ever.

Are domestic cats native to this part of Texas? Not at all. Neither are humans. However, since we're here, our cats help to keep our place clean and vermin-free. We let them out when the sun comes up, and bring them in when the sun goes down, because the coyotes are thick out here and pass through our yard on a nightly basis. Do we shoot the coyotes? No. The night belongs to them and we respect that. We have a great deal of birds here, different types at different times of the year. Our cats don't catch too many of them, because they're too smart to be caught. Our cats have never caught a road runner, because those suckers are too quick. Many of the native birds here are thriving, and our cats don't even bother to try and catch them anymore.

Felis Catus Domesticus is one of the most successful species on this planet, because they can adapt to a wide variety of climates, diets, and human-wrought environments. Even though the ignorant medieval Europeans equated cats to the devil and had fun with public cat-killing displays, cats endured and survived. Had the Europeans left them alone, the plague would never have had a chance to take root.

To the poster who complains that his dog barks at cats outside and wakes the baby, perhaps he would like it better if baby's Cheerios were riddled with mouse poo and rats cruised the floors at night, dragging their testicles on the carpet that the baby crawls on.

LOL you people are calling koalas and wombats defenseless against cats?

wow what is in the water you guys drink in australia?

Animals are suppose to run around outside not being inside all the time seriously what's wrong with a cat around the neighborhood, most cats do that and go back home and inside to eat(some cats eat outside that are fed) cause not everyone has a fenced yard. Even with a fenced yard cats jump over it anyway to explore.Dogs on the other hand are a different story.

Why does a cat need to legally be killed just because its an animal that's suppose to be outside, human beings are not the only ones on the earth!

I do agree though that vicious cats without shots should be put in a shelter if no one owns it.. animal control does that already even cats with shots just trying to be a cat living outside in peace with nature who do have a home, but the people who don't want cats in their yard report them. Legally killing a cat in your yard is wrong on many different ways especially if its not violent.

My neighbor has her cat outside all the time with her shots and roams in my large yard and I dont really mind cause my puppy likes to chase them. Anyway killing a cat that someone else owns or doesn't own is once again wrong!!

I am all for catching the cats and bringing them to a shelter or dropping them off outside city limits. I get really sick and tired of smelling cat urine in our flower beds and against our house. Equally sickening are all of the dead birds we find in our yard that are half eaten, feathers everywhere. We have literally seen the cats catch the birds, and we are constantly trying to chase cats away so that they don't capture, torture and eventually kill the small helpless animals that they catch. Maybe if the owners of the cats get a nice little fine or have to pay fees to get their little torturing murderers out of the shelter they will perhaps keep them under control like they should to begin with.

Cats are the owners responsibility, and not the responsibility of the neighborhood.

squirels and babies i'll give you. however that is the mistake of the parent animals for leaving their young un-attended. if these were dingo attacks im sure you guys wouldn't be crying

So this is an australian problem is it? There are no native wild cats in australia at all? Back in NY and here in canada, bobcats, lynx and pumas are a bit more of a threat than house cats and they have lived here forever....

So everyone in this thread only cares about their cats and no one gives a toss about native species.

I would like to point out most people who are the nay sayers are from different countries.

Its a bit like me coming forward and saying I seen Bigfoot when I don't live in America.

Point being you don't have a clue as to what is happening in nature over here, you don't get local news reports. local newspapers that report on this matter.