Replies

“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.

At last, someone who seems to be sensible about cats!

I have to agree about handling strange cats. A long time ago, there was a stray cat hanging around my place. I fed it, and it liked to sit on my lap and purr, and all was well. One day, with no warning at all, it bit my hand to the bone. Fortunately, the local animal control was able to catch the cat and it did not have rabies, so I avoided the prophylactic shots.

I have always thought that the neuter-and-release programs are idiotic and inhumane. If you have captured the cat, why then release it again to be killed by predators or eventually to die in some other fashion almost certain to be much slower and more painful than humane euthanasia?

That said, I don’t shoot cats, either. We have four at present, three of whom were taken in as stray kittens, but we keep them indoors and let the local stray/feral cats stay outdoors to do the best they can. Coyotes keep outdoor cats thinned out pretty well around here, anyway.

If you dislike animals-that is your right, but no need to be nasty about it. More of us here care about animals than do not.

Why not encourage an animal lover, if you know one well-to start an animal rescue closer than Miami? Does Florida have a higher per capita average income than rural Texas? I live in a poor-to middle class area, and there are three of those shelters here, funded entirely by donations. We don’t have any tax-based animal shelters here-this county is too poor for that. What we do have are a lot of good people who give their leisure time to help animals-most of us believe they are God’s creatures, too.

I have children, thank you, and those kids are animal advocates too-no need to be insulting. And none of the “older women” I know-me included-need substitute children-we may live in the country, but that does not make us simple. I like horses, and did as a young teen-I suppose you think that is weird, too?

I was brought up on a working ranch-I’ve been an animal advocate all my life, same as my other family members. Do you really think anyone is influenced by cat food ads to think of cats as child substitutes? I actually don’t know anyone that stupid-or anyone who watches lots of cat food commercials, for that matter...

You don’t handle strange animals of any sort unless you want to get hurt, and maybe be able to tell a horror story like the one about the cat scratch fever you are telling here-all animals can be dangerous. You can live in a bubble of sorts-some people do, and they seem happy-not everyone needs to own pets.

Hanging out in the yard, barn, etc is for livestock-not pet animals. It is the height of irresponsibility to let your pet roam loose...

Dogs and cats have the same fleas-pet owners buy repellent for that at the vet or pet store and keep them flea free.

Sorry to hear you don’t have no-kill shelters, but not every community has people inclined to such a thing-and if your neuter and release program is run by liberals with tax money, do what we dumb rural conservatives did-start one or two with donations-liberals won’t want to get involved in that-no money for them.

Perhaps you missed what I posted previously-this is an environmentally sensitive area, and poisons are not permitted-it is listed right in the county’s deed restrictions that everyone signs when they buy property here-or should we all just break the law and taint the groundwater? I’m not in the mood for jail time because I poisoned livestock or wildlife, or water wells, and I will turn in anyone who uses any of that stuff-if they want to use poisons, they need to move back to the city. Natural solutions to a problem are best, if possible-traps and cats are a far better solution than poison.

Doesn’t Florida have restrictions on sensitive areas near/on groundwater and aquifer recharge zones, or is it only the areas like the Everglades?

Cats couldn’t decimate the small animal population like those non-native pythons and other constrictors everyone is so rightly upset about-and cats can be kept indoors where they will not eat birds-apparently that did/does not work out so well with snakes that grow to over 200 pounds and can eat small humans-maybe it is better to be baiting and shooting pythons instead of cats...