Posted on 06/26/2012 12:11:10 PM PDT by fteuph
I've forgotten which Bob Swagger novel takes him back to Arkansas to deal with his father's death.
I am reminded of Mikhail Bulgakov's Russian novel, The Heart of a Dog: a dog becomes humanoid and goes to work for the Cat Eradication Commissariat (or something like that -- I didn't actually read it).
Black Light
We live on a ranch with over six hundred head of cattle and I’ve got close to 1,000 chickens. They’re not a hobby and they’re not pets. We depend on them for part of our income.
When some stray dog makes one of our breakers break a leg that costs us in vet bills or it can cost us in the loss of sometimes two or three thousand dollars. A round from the .308 costs us only eighty cents or so.
When a stray cat comes on the ranch and fights with one of our barn cats that costs us a vet bill and if the stray kills a laying hen that’s a loss of $5 per dozen eggs and the $3 to $5 we get from the butcher for the hen. Again, the .308 only costs eighty cents.
Maybe you can afford to be sentimental but we can’t. I know it sounds cold but someone’s stray animal is not worth as much to me as food on our table.
Sorry that sounds harsh but that’s the way it is and we’re just like pretty much everyone else around here.
.308 is way too much gun for a cat. A .22-250 is more than enough and shoots flatter in the bargain.
Besides, it'll turn the cat inside out which proves that there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Sounds like a good name for an all female rock band.
Am I the only one that reads this as “first they came for the...” sarcasm?
I love cats, but I’m allergic. I wasn’t always allergic to cats. I used to own cats, but as I grew older, I couldn’t be around them any longer. But if I wasn’t allergic, I know I would have at least one cat. My second cat had a couple of litters of kittens, and they were sooo cute!! If you can handle having a cat, then go for it!
Lose some cattle to stray dogs and lose a cat to feline leukemia from a stray cat and it makes you kind of pragmatic. Also, the .308 is awesome for making shots at 200 to 300 yards. I know it is overkill, but with the .308 you can make one shot and know the critter is dead instead of suffering like they can with a .22.
Let us not forget the neurological and psychological impact of toxoplasmosis.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/how-your-cat-is-making-you-crazy/8873/
It’s hard to have a sense of humor under these circumstances. All of this could be avoided if people would just keep their critters at home. I’m not owned by (a) cat(s), but I like cats.
Actually, has anyone ever noticed that Wayne Pacelle (HSUS) advocates the extinction of dogs but promotes the establishment of feral cat colonies & trap-and-release (TNR)? I think that’s odd.
(My favorite feline humor is the one about giving a cat a bath)
What about global warming? Don’t cats cause that, too?
You are right.
I’d buy a ticket.
BTW- Where are you getting 7.62 at that price? Do you reload?
Believe me, there will be no suffering on a cat sized critter with a .22-250. It's a great centerfire varmint round. If you hit it, it's RDRT. Very flat trajectory, too.
Roger that. Everyone knows that dogs have owners. Cats have staff.
I DON’T THINK SO
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