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.
No ACTING HERE!
YOU shoot the cats....... you just may get SHOT.
DIG IT!
Live with your worthless desires!
May I say............ balless men like you who want to shoot cats should not be on this site.
You need some love in your personal life................. but guess what ...... you HAVE NONE!
You are just a pussy with a weapon. What a bummer!
You are such a fool!
You are one IGNORANT fool.
I really would appreciate you if your sorry ass shut it's sphicter right about now.
You are such a fool!
You are one IGNORANT fool.
I really would appreciate you if your sorry ass shut it's sphicter right about now.
You are a weak limbed little boy!
Glad you voted Republican....... but you need some GROWING UP!!!!................just like your stupid ignorance about THE NUCLEAR FREEZE ///////////////////////grow up!
Ah, I see.
So letting your cat go into harm's way is an act of love.
Remember that when your cat gets crushed by a car, mutilated by a dog, eaten by a bird, sent to the pound, or otherwise harmed.
"You are just a boy in what you thought was a man's body.
You are a weak limbed little boy!
Glad you voted Republican....... but you need some GROWING UP!!!!................just like your stupid ignorance about THE NUCLEAR FREEZE ///////////////////////grow up!"
I read your profile, too.
I did my "growing up" in 1984.
Now it's your turn.
"You need some love in your personal life................. but guess what ...... you HAVE NONE!"
Quite wrong. The missus is an Olympic class skeet shooter and is an amazing woman.
And she has never shot a cat with a rifle.
Because she is better with the shotgun. And she has shot and killed one cat on our property which killed two of our chickens. Normally she is very sensitive about critters but when she saw the cat dragging one of her beloved Rhode Island Reds by the neck there was no discussion and no regrets.
In my state it is legal to shoot and trap non-native animals in rural areas and it is legal to trap non-native animals on your property even in urban areas. This includes sparrows, starlings, rats, coyotes (except in counties where they are native), dogs, cats, nutria, and etc. etc.
Fish & Game officers in this state will make no attempt to try and rescue a cat they come across. They will "euthanize" it with a rifle. At least I try to pick up the friendly cats that are obviously someone's pet and I take them to a pound where they stand a chance. In the past I have found one beautiful Persian who we adopted out to one of my wife's friends and I also came across a lovely young Siamese that a couple took from me as I was bringing it into Animal Control in Carson City, Nevada.
The feral cats do not belong in the North American ecosystem and you'll find many nature groups quietly advocating the elimination of feral cat populations. In some rare instances the EPA has been invoked to bring the force of Federal law into eliminating feral cat populations from places such as the Oregon dunes where the Snowy Plover (a ground nesting bird) has come close to extinction due solely to feral cat predation.
Curious, since CA F&G officers routinely "euthanize" feral and domestic cats are you going to shoot them if you see them shooting a cat?
After all...
"YOU shoot the cats....... you just may get SHOT."
Are you really willing to kill LEOs to protect feral cats?
nothing more to you.
Oh, no these were feral. Completely wild cats. People would dump them nearby and they'd breed. The coyotes kept their numbers down, but we made sure to leave water out to keep them around.
"shoot away fellow................... have a great life.
nothing more to you."
How cowardly of you to engage in drive-by posting, call me names, threaten me, and then run away when your argument falls flat.
Your actions say a lot about your character. Why not go back and read your posts and then read mine. You infer and accuse that I am some sort of nut yet you are the person threatening harm to a human being as a direct result of the failings of people like yourself to care for their pets.
"nothing more to you."
Coward.
Well, if they were feral and you were keeping them around with food and water then they'd more or less be yours. As long as they were on your property no one would have a right to mess with them but you.
I've heard a lot of them get vanished, too. Poof!
Somebody's cats have been allowed to roam on my property and any animal who destroys or defaces my property will be dealt with. Harshly
Read again, you may get it right the next time. Contrary to what you write here, I never said that I would harm anyone. I wouldn't. I, however, did say that others may do that if someone mistakenly shoots their pet. That just may unfortunately happen up there. Got it?
I don't live in Wisconsin. I live on four acres in the suburbs of PA (near Teresa Heinz and her white raisins), and our cats are outdoors most all the time in the warmer months. We are a little more civilized down here perhaps, so there are no problems with any neighbors' animals wandering through from time to time. No one gets their nose out of joint.
These deer are making themselves a little too familiar however. At least they are creatures of habit and make it a habit of nearly always walking in the same place in the groundcover beds. They have created these real cool long, meandering trails in the beds of dense pachysandra. It almost looks like it was planned.
;-)
Be well.
I've seen other cats come into my yard. They do terrible things like sniff trees and roll in the grass. Did have one rip the trash bag open once, but I didn't think it deserved the death penalty. I quess it's a good thing we're not neighbors, newbie. I tend to veiw people who get off on tormenting small animals as rather "Dahmeresque".
I've seen your cats come into my yard. They do terrible things like piss on my screens and shit in the flowerbeds. Did have one rip some birds open once, and I did think it deserved the death penalty. I quess it's a bad thing we're neighbors, newbie. I tend to view people who get off on tormenting their neighbors as rather "negligent and rude". Their cats vanish. Poof!
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