Originally posted by TheCommentator
Once again
you all agree that dogs should be able to roam free and that it doesnt matter if they kill a few pet cats right?

How many cats have attacked people after their owners let them run free?

I really don't think you're thinking it through.

Be it cat, dog, chicken, cow, try that over here with someone's animals and you will end up as lobster bait in no time flat. Why would anyone even think they have the right to kill an animal because it is roaming around anyways? Lots of animals roam around free here, and have forever. Don't understand how some people seem to think that animals don't have any rights.....

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.

Also, people in apartments own cats...doesn't mean they let them roam the halls of the building because they're too stupid to control their animals.

Some common sense would really help out here

this looks like yet another p.e.t.a. propaganda thread.

last incident i knew of where the op's proposition.. A cat owner had his pet poisoned. The cat owner found out who it was and shot the poisoners dogs.

Both men were arrested and put in jail for 5 years.


Lobby, do things in a socially responsible manner didnt cross either of these peoples minds. "Kill unruly pets" might as well read "kill all the unruly kids."

Or maybe notice the bigger infringement on the environment is you.. your home and the city you live in.

Originally posted by woogleuk
I'm pretty sure cats are classed as vermin, in the UK anyway, so I don't see the problem if they are causing problems with native species.

Cats are not classed as vermin in the UK.

And what native animals are cats killing? Mice and rats which spread diseases. Birds? Well put a collar on it with a bell on so that it can't hunt. End of problem.

Originally posted by Hawking

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.

Also, people in apartments own cats...doesn't mean they let them roam the halls of the building because they're too stupid to control their animals.

Some common sense would really help out here

Agreed. Cats' movements and actions can be controlled without cruelty. There are also certain areas where cats can roam without causing harm. But the OP is about cats roaming where they shouldn't and killing native animals. I love pet cats and dogs, but I also love and have a responsibility toward our endangered native animals, and so do we all.

To those of you who think I am either an animal hater or an a socipathic cat murderer, I have a heart warming story for you;

I grew up on a farm in New Zealand (a dairy farm for you aussies reading - no sheep were harmed in the writing of this post )

We also lived near a local highway where especially over Christmas many cats would be simply dumped by their uncaring owners and left to fend for themselves. Now, luckily being in a farming area that was devoid of habitat for endangered animals, the cats could cause no harm, but the poor things were left on their own to fend for themselves.....

That is until our family dog, a Kelpie, border collie cross decided she would adopt them. Yes, you read right, our farm dog, decided to open a cat shelter. What she would do is find the cats, show them where to find milk after the milk tanker had left, share her food with them and showed them where they could sleep in the barn, or under the house with her.

These cats were here 'pets' In return they were expected to claw her belly - something she took great delight in. If the cat was not doing it right or was slacking off, the dog would give them a gentle swipe with her paw to let them know to keep doing it.

In the end, our dog ended up with no less that 8 cats, which was a real sight to see.

I could end this story here and leave you all with warm fuzzies about how cute it was that a dog would start it's own cat charity, but there are a couple of lessons that cat owners need to take note of.

a) The fact that our dog managed to adopt 8 cats, means that 8 people cast their pets out into the wild where they could have either perished or strayed into the hills were there are native endangered animals to eat them in order to survive

b) Those cats started to breed and before we knew it 8 cats became about 30. In the end the SPCA had to get involved and help us trap and find them new homes. These cats were not particularly tame to start with; having been dumped by humans and left to fend for themselves they far preferred to trust our dog over humans. So we were never able to pet them or get near them to have them neutered etc until we called in the SPCA

So, please do not think I am a total animal hater and that I am an advocate of shooting cats because they get loose. The issue the OP talks about and I support in principle starts with the owners. If you keep your cat away from areas there are native animals, then we have no problem.

But the sad fact of life is that far too many people do not and these cats are destroying a delicate ecosystem that can't cope with their invasion.

In a town which i used to live, every once in a while (every few years) they pick a weekend, send out notices to all the towns people to keep their pets indoors on that specific weekend and perform a 'cat cull' the town is so over populated with cats its insane! Which led to another huge problem i noticed when i was there... Was an insanely HUGE flea infestation of basically the entire town.... You can not walk two steps on your yard (anybody's yard) without looking down and seeing at least 20-30 fleas crawling up your socks... When I lived there we had a couple of floods within a couple of weeks time... which flooded my basement (finished basement with bedrooms etc) after which my entire house became infested.... and even 'infested' is a pretty modest description.... I spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars trying to eradicate the problem, with minimal effect at all using some of the strongest flea killing products i could find... I finally gave up hope and moved...

Just my experience.. take it for what you will...

I really used to hate cats, especially feral and outdoor domestics. A couple years ago a bunch were dropped off as kittens in the outside wall where I live. I wanted to go and kick their heads off. Slowly but surely every night I would take the trash out and have a smoke the little buggars would follow me. I eventually found myself giving them each a name.

They would grow up, have their own kittens and the process would repeat. Watching the nightly routine of ferals is quite interesting and also a learning experience. They were actually quite delightful the bunch of them, trying to run their own little kitty society in the wall. When one had kittens it would beckon over for us to take a look.

Overtime I noticed less pigeons, roaches, and any other vermin around, the area was clean thanks to them. Until one day one of the domestic males that would watch them from a window managed to get out and went to the wall an "marked" it. That was the beginning of the end for them. Once they get into the "marking" game, the smell is atrocious! They were all captured and sent to a sanctuary property by the hospital to live a good life ridding pest and visiting patients, neutered of course.

Now I have mice I can't get rid of, and am seriously thinking of letting this new feral come inside to have a go at them. Cats most certainly have a place in human society, just beware the urine smell.

I hope all the people who want cats to be killed, have their homes infested with disease carrying rats.


May the stinging insects of the world seek out your moist areas.

Cats are very useful for the neighborhood. They catch a lot of small critters that otherwise wouldn't be eaten, such as mice, crickets, cockroaches, etc. We have two cats that live outside (we can't let them in because of allergies). They are also very clean, you never see cat poo lying around, and if they're not running around the yard (and neighborhood, of course our yard is pretty big, about two acres) they are lying around in the sun cleaning themselves. Of course in the summer they don't lie around in the sun. I live in a tropical climate, so you do not have to worry about the winters here. They are perfectly content outside all the time. (We don't have a heater anyway.)

The only problem that is a little annoying is that they will eat the lizards out back, which are nice at catching small ants and what not. I've seen the cats even eat a couple of scorpions. Woot. Cats do not annoy people or the neighborhood. More neighborhoods should have cats. Less pests to deal with. Dogs on the other hand. They should be locked up. They poop everywhere and don't care where. Can't stand it. And they will get territorial and bite you if you walk by them sometimes.

Cat owners should be held responsible first and foremost, as soon as they stray they should be considered as such and a responsible cat owner would have their cat collared and tagged so the appropriate penalty can be enforced. If not then I guess animal control should take them and either find responsible owners for them or it's the green door most likely.

i hate when dog owners let their pets poop on other people's lawns.

those dogs need to be corralled and sent to the pound, and their owners fined for the nasty droppings.

-subfab

Keeping a cat confined indoors all the time is animal abuse. It goes against a cats nature and can lead to depression in cats.My cat spends most of her time indoors but spends part of the day outside. Cats need to be outdoors regularly. If I ever tried to keep her indoors she would squirm beneath my legs any time the door was open.. I would be trapped indoors. Cats don't hurt anyone when they are out doors, in fact they will run, where as a dog is likely to attack, get into garbage ect.