Is shooting really the only way you folks can control feral/loose cats-aren’t there any neuter and release programs for feral cats in Florida? Any no-kill animal shelters, or fines for dumping pet animals? The fines here for that are ruinous-but they seem to work on everyone but snowbirds.
I thought Florida had a python problem, not a cat problem. Are domestic felines suddenly decimating the native wildlife like non-native, released snakes?
I live in the absolute hinterlands, and even the most hard core game warden here doesn’t shoot cats-that is why we have animal shelters, and everyone supports them-there is no shortage of people with catch poles and have-a-heart traps, to avoid injury either-I’ve done it myself as a volunteer quite a few times...
Those cats that are neutered and released may live short lives, but it sounds far better than dying from a shotgun blast to the head in a trap they were lured into by humans with the promise of food-I don’t even hunt deer near a feeder. No wonder the smart strays don’t trust humans. The neuter and release program is more humane by far...
The area I live in is environmentally sensitive because of groundwater-only environmentally safe pesticides are permitted, and no commercial weedkillers can be used-cats are needed here-not having a rodent survive further than the door from the garage without dangerous and harmful poison is good.
“Is shooting really the only way you folks can control feral/loose cats-aren’t there any neuter and release programs for feral cats in Florida?”
Lots, but none travel 50 miles from Miami for anything except a large donation.
Handling a strange cat is a high risk affair. A close friend was scratched by a cat he allowed the mother of to live on his place.
He fed this cat, and it appeared friendly. One day it clawed him and he got a severe case of cat scratch fever. Had I not literally ragged him to the hospital, he would have died from the infection.
Older females tend to see cats as a child substitute, something easily seen by watching cat food ads on TV.
“Are domestic felines suddenly decimating the native wildlife like non-native, released snakes?”
As a matter of act, cats have always been known to be major predators of small animals, birds, anything made of meat. Accordingly, most states allow shooting of them. My opinion is that I am not going to chase a cat through the Everglades with a catch pole just to take it, at my expense, to a “shelter” where it will probably be killed anyway.
Also, I do not want cat fleas in any vehicle, let alone on me!
“The neuter and release program is more humane by far...”
I must disagree, as those programs are all too often paid for by tax money. To tax a non cat lover for the support of Liberals (most cat program employees and Liberals) in the “Cat Catch & Release” business is, IMHO, egregiously unfair.
Reduction of rodent population is best done with rat poison.