Should it be legal to kill pet cats roaming around the neighbourhood?

Originally posted by selfharmonise

Originally posted by TheCommentator

Originally posted by berkeleygal
NO It's not right! I am really angry with this thread

edit on 16-2-2012 by berkeleygal because: (no reason given)

So why is it ok for your cat to kill other animals?

Do you eat any meat? Or are you vegan?

I eat meat.

My cats have always worn bells to warn away the critters... The only dead things they have ever brought home are RATS, big dead rats on my living room floor.

Mama brings me rubberbands and bits of plants.

Yeah I eat meat, I'd eat you if I had to, but not my cats, so there...

Originally posted by selfharmonise

Originally posted by TheCommentator

Originally posted by berkeleygal
NO It's not right! I am really angry with this thread

edit on 16-2-2012 by berkeleygal because: (no reason given)

So why is it ok for your cat to kill other animals?

Do you eat any meat? Or are you vegan?

Yeah but I dont eat wildlife that is at threat of extinction

Originally posted by snowspirit
reply to post by choos

 

this is kinda how it already is in Australia... after a few weeks of no one picking up the cat its put down.

Still doesnt make it right i dont trust the average joe to have the right to kill a cat or any animal for that matter, most people the sick mostly have a habit of torturing animals before or even if they can be bothered killing it.

That right there is a huge problem. Here, the fines for animal abuse or neglect, can be up to 2 years in jail, or a $25,000 fine.

There are way too many sickos out there.

There is a difference between animal cruelty and animal control. And this is the problem with this debate - people can't seem to understand the difference.

There is absolutely no excuse for torturing any kind of animal. Nor is there any excuse for letting your darling pet kill native animals. Cats are a bigger problem that dogs because they are more independent, far less supervised and wander far more freely than dogs do.

I am not against keeping pets at all. I don't mind cats, but I do mind that they are wiping out animals that until the arrival of the european settler had no predators. Quite simply these animals cannot cope and have had no time to evolve or adapt.

Sometimes tough love is the only way to make a person understand what damage they are causing (even if it is unintentionally like in the case of having a cat that hunts wildlife) I am pretty sure that if cats were shot for roaming the streets, suddenly they would be far more closely supervised and would be stopped from going out hunting by those who love them so very much.

reply to post by TheCommentator


www.youtube.com... mice are not native neither are cats but still this is what happens to you guys when you DO have cats good luck with out them

I've killed a few ferals in my day. I've had 4 cats in the last 15yrs. Two were strays coming to my door.
The Ferals need to go.. no use to humans and infected. Old school is the cheapest alternative.

It is legal. I've shot them with my bow. Dogs are legal also. Never shot one, other than BB gun.(need to be attacking a big game animal.)Check your state rules.

What you are proposing is just wrong. Common sense should tell you that. You can't go around slaughtering animals. If a cat is bothering you, go to it's owner and explain you want them to deal with the issue. If it doesn't have an owner, contact animal control. You know this is wrong.........or you wouldn't have asked the question in a thread.

reply to post by markosity1973

I am not against keeping pets at all. I don't mind cats, but I do mind that they are wiping out animals that until the arrival of the european settler had no predators. Quite simply these animals cannot cope and have had no time to evolve or adapt.

Well thats too bad. However, animals have gone extinct over the history of earth and that cannot be helped.


They either evolve or they die. Thats is literally the point of natural selection.

reply to post by WhoDat09


Nice looking kitty.
Up here, some vets also do a catch, fix, vaccinate and release program. It's all done on their spare time, and they make sure they get back to where they found them. It helps, and anywhere that there's lots of cats, there's also lots of mice.

I had a small cat for 19 years, she came in at night, and hunted mice all day. She hardly ever brought back birds, and only ever brought back one small squirrel

Tons of mice and rats though. I like everything, and even the rats around here are cute tiny little things, but they are dangerous diseased little things, that get in your house and crap all over your kitchen, so I was just fine seeing a dozen a day dead ones on the porch. She liked to show off what she caught.

I brought her in every night, for her protection, there are also lots of larger predators here.

reply to post by TheCommentator


food chain you can take the animal out of the wild but not the wild out of the animal how many endangered species are in urban environments? and if they are getting creatures in non urban areas why are you bothered by other peoples cats (rural areas usually have lots of property and towns usually don't have endangered species)

adapt or die the way of nature

Originally posted by KilrathiLG
reply to post by TheCommentator

 

www.youtube.com... mice are not native neither are cats but still this is what happens to you guys when you DO have cats good luck with out them

We have plenty of native rodents in Australia

reply to post by KilrathiLG


Haha, so you actually believe that Australia is overrun my mice?

That is AWESOME...

FYI, a seasonal plague of mice in remote Australia does not mean we are all screaming Mouse! and cats are now worth millions on the black market.....

I too am upset and offended by this thread as a cat lover. The fact that you explicitly say "pet cats" in the title is horrible. To most pet owners our pets are our family. You wouldn't appreciate somebody killing your family now would you?

As stated, cats and dogs are very different. Have you ever tried to take a cat to the vet in a cage? They will bloody their face up trying to chew their way out of that cage in a matter of minutes. They don't like to be confined. I've tried taking my cats outside on a leash/harness. They will squirm their way out of it somehow, no matter how snug you think it fits them. You can't confine a cat, it's torture.

We personally built a large cage in our back yard and put a pet door in the window so the cats have been free to go in and out as they please, and things like snakes and rabbits can't get inside of the cage. The occasional unlucky bird has flown in and been captured (and brought inside the house to be defeathered while nobody was home) but it's rare. Cats just like to be outside. We have enough things in the house for them to climb up on that they're pretty happy in the house too. They just enjoy the fresh air and watching the trees blow in the wind and the birds flying by. Cats are explorers. They want to go where they want when they want, and they should be free to do so.

I give more of a damn about my cats than I do about the local wildlife because that's my family. They are hunters by nature, and you can't take that away from them. I agree that I prefer pet cats to be kept indoors for their OWN safety, but some just won't have it and will escape every chance they get. Mine have slipped out the front door on occasion when we come in, they just want to see what's out there.

I honestly feel sorry for you if you've never had a pet you cared more about than the local wildlife and you think it's okay to kill other people's pets. They don't know any better, they don't know the other creatures are going extinct. They're just doing what they do. Shooting them for it isn't going to teach them a lesson. It's just going to piss off a lot of people and make you look like an evil person and nobody will want anything to do with you.

I was attacked by somebody's dog that was loose in the neighborhood when I was 4 years old. I'm scared of dogs now. You wouldn't see me shooting stray dogs though. They can be loyal and wonderful pets if trained properly, but they can be very dangerous if not. Dogs will stay in the backyard, on a leash if you make them. They'll bark like crazy and piss off the neighbors though, and I hate that, so I'd rather you let them roam free in the yard and come in the house whenever they want just so the neighborhood is a little more peaceful. Cats, not such a danger or a nuisance. They're pretty lazy and won't hurt you if you don't give them reason to, and even then, it's just a scratch. They're not going to maul your face off. If you die from a cat scratch then I'd have to say that's your fault for not taking care of it properly.

Ugh, enough ranting, I just do not like this thread at all, it makes me feel sad.

Originally posted by TsukiLunar

Well thats too bad. However, animals have gone extinct over the history of earth and that cannot be helped.

They either evolve or they die. Thats is literally the point of natural selection.

Natural selection is um err, well N-A-T-U-R-A-L i.e has nothing to do with mankind interfering.....

Cats would not have made it to Australia and New Zealand without mankind's help. It is a well known fact that cats do not like water. Yes they can swim, but even I doubt that they could have swum all the way from wherever they originated to Australia and New Zealand......

It wouldn't work in the UK, there's too many nasty people who will purposely kill your cat because it's crapped in their garden

reply to post by TheCommentator


but i am pretty sure those werent the native ones and ive never seen that many mice in one area but ive never lived near a grain storage warehouse either

reply to post by berkeleygal


I wasn't asking you that question....

Think you've kind of got me wrong! In your offended fervour, you kind of missed that I am as equally dumbfounded by the stance of the thread as you are.

You just jumped in...that question was for the op!

Reread my post - I hope it's clear that it was directed at the op, given I mainly quoted him....

LOL CATS: YOUR DOING IT WRONG

Keep your Cats man from OZ you need them

Originally posted by TheCommentator

Originally posted by TsukiLunar
You people are a bunch of idiots. Tell me how in the hell you are supposed to keep a cat confined? Cats arent dogs, they dont take commands.

You put them in a cage or bring them in your house at night, it’s pretty simple.
Native species shouldn’t suffer because of a cat owner’s incompetence.

Put it in a cage? You've obviously never owned a cat.
I live in a neighborhood with a ton of strays - dogs & cats. Big flipping deal if the cats are killing a few birds and mice. At least they're not terrorizing & attacking people like the stray dogs do.
Shooting them is a bit out of line. Accidents happen to even the most responsible pet owner. What if one of your pets accidentally slipped out while you were bringing in the groceries and you watched your neighbor blow your poor fidos head off in front of your children?! Uncalled for!
People just need to SPAY & NEUTER and we wouldn't have a problem with strays to begin with. Cost is not an excuse - most towns offer it free a few times a month.
I think any animal on the streets deserves to be picked up by animal control & at least given the chance to be adopted before someone shoots it's face off.

reply to post by lordnightstalker


pfft, that is old news. It's what happens after a long drought - the ecosystem goes psycho, then it balances out again. That situation needed the pied piper, not a bunch of mangy cats.

Besides we can shoot rats and mice too...

reply to post by selfharmonise


I'm sorry

wasn't paying attention there.

gonna take me kittehs and go to bed :-)