Posted on 04/13/2005 9:10:21 AM PDT by Houmatt
MADISON, Wis. Apr 13, 2005 — Although Wisconsin residents have voiced their support for a plan to legalize wild cat hunting, some legislators and cat lovers say they will continue their fight.
The proposal would allow licensed hunters to kill free-roaming cats, including any domestic cat that isn't under the owner's direct control or any cat without a collar, just like skunks or gophers something the Humane Society of the United States has described as cruel and archaic.
Outdoor enthusiasts approved the proposal 6,830 to 5,201 at Monday's spring hearings of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, a citizens' advisory group.
The results, released Tuesday by the state, get forwarded to the Natural Resources Board for its consideration. Ultimately, though, any measure would have to be passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jim Doyle.
Already, two state senators Scott Fitzgerald and Neil Kedzie are promising they'll do everything they can to keep the plan from becoming law.
Kedzie, who chairs the Natural Resources and Transportation Committee, called the issue "a distraction from the main tasks we have at hand."
"I don't see a whole lot of momentum for it," Kedzie said. "It's not the responsibility of the DNR to regulate cats."
Fitzgerald, co-chairman of the Legislature's powerful Joint Finance Committee, said he will "work against any proposed legislation to legalize the shooting of feral cats."
At least two other upper Midwestern states, South Dakota and Minnesota, allow wild cats to be shot and have for decades.
Every year in Wisconsin alone, an estimated 2 million wild cats kill 47 million to 139 million songbirds, according to state officials. Despite the astounding numbers, the proposal has been met with fierce opposition from cat lovers such as Ted O'Donnell.
O'Donnell, who gathered more than 17,000 signatures in an online petition to oppose the plan, was joined at Monday's meetings by scores of other animal lovers who held pictures of cats, clutched stuffed animals and wore whiskers.
Even Karen Hale, the head of the Madison Audobon Society, one of the largest pro-bird groups in the country with 2,500 members, voted no. She said the proposal was just too controversial, even though wild cats have reduced the state's bird population.
And being a dog and cat lover, this is just too much for me.
Being a dog lover and cat tolerator, and also being an occasional dove and quail hunter, if I see a stray cat out in the woods where I am quail hunting I shoot it.
Ka-BOOM!
Paging the Baha-Men. Paging the Baha-Men.
A year or two hence, Wisconsin will have organized rodent hunts..
Good for you. I live in Calfornia and when I'm out if I come across a family cat who comes up and says "Hi!" then I reach down, pet it, and see if there is a collar and bring it back to the owner if there is. Otherwise I take it to the nearest pound.
The cats that run or otherwise act wild get shot.
California Quail, the state bird, are being hunted to extinction by non-native cats and I will shoot the feral cats every chance I get to protect the quail and other birds.
If cat "lovers" really loved their cats they'd keep them safe inside their homes. Safe from Parvo, feline leukemia, dogs, other cats, raptors, and me. I can't tell how many times I've seen someone's cat become a hawk or eagle snack. You cannot tell me that a bullet from my rifle is a less humane demise for a feral cat than to be dismembered alive by a hawk or an eagle.
"There are too many unwanted animals. I also live in the state of Wi. I absolutely hate this idea of open season on felines."
Erk. Logic error.
So, what solution do you offer to the "too many unwanted animals" that will not cost the taxpayers more money than the current proposal?
live trap????
"Why? It's probably hunting quail too. Oh, I guess the cat didn't buy a license."
Hunting preserves and Game Officers are paid for by hunting fees. And then hunters respect their bag limit and EAT what they kill while most domestic cats just kill for sport and then eat cat food.
Hunters do more to preserve wildlife than all of the stupid tree-hugger groups COMBINED can ever do.
I suggest the supporters of hunting bring a couple of feral cats into the hearing room and toss them at the people in silly costumes clutching their stuffed animals.
Feral cats are not your cuddly little Mr. Whiskers.
"live trap????"
No, that would be far more expensive.
How about this REALLY inexpensive solution:
KEEP YOUR CAT IN YOUR HOUSE.
They will never solve the problem otherwise.....
Not at all. He just pulled rank as the top member of the food chain and told the cat, in strict, no-nonsense Darwinian terms that the cat was not entitled to the man's dinner.
I believe that's a felony.
I do the same with unleashed dogs.
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