Posted on 04/13/2007 8:33:45 AM PDT by BradtotheBone
GALVESTON — After devoting much of his life to protecting wild creatures, a prominent naturalist here now faces trial on a felony charge of cruelty to animals.
Jim Stevenson, 53, a well-known bird-watcher and founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society, was indicted this week by a Galveston County grand jury on charges that he killed a feral cat Nov. 8 with a .22-caliber rifle.
"What really bothers me, this cat was down there killing endangered species of birds and others protected by law," Stevenson said in an interview Thursday. "Feral cats are not protected by law, and I stopped a cat from doing that and I get arrested."
Assistant District Attorney Bill Reed declined to discuss Stevenson's view of the law.
"All of those issues, I'm sure, will be flushed out in court," Reed said.
Stevenson, who has lived on Galveston Island since 1996, has traveled the world studying birds and published four books, including the Wildlife of Galveston. and publishes the Galveston Ornithological Society's quarterly newspaper, Gulls N Herons.
Despite his deep involvement with nature, or perhaps because of it, he has been accused of an aversion to feral cats because they prey on the birds he has studied.
Stevenson said the cat he is accused of killing had previously been captured and would have been euthanized had it not been spayed and and released.
Stevenson believes that there is no law protecting feral cats.
An official with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has said the law is unclear.
Although he admitted in a 1999 Internet posting to killing two dozen feral cats near his island home, Stevenson told the Houston Chronicle in November that he is fond of cats.
His arrest last year surprised and saddened many environmentalists.
"Jim Stevenson is not a bad man," Dori Nelson, chair of the Seabrook Eco-Tourism Committee, told the Chronicle soon after his arrest.
The arrest came after a toll-booth worker at the San Luis Pass Bridge told police that he heard two shots fired, then saw a white van speed away with Stevenson at the wheel.
One of the toll-booth employees, who had been feeding several feral cats and considered them pets, found the dead cat and pursued Stevenson. The employee said the cat already had a limp from an earlier bullet wound.
Stevenson is free on $10,000 bail. If convicted, he faces from six months to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Yup. It works.
So what is your suggestion? Put up road blocks and stop people from moving to Florida?
Raccoons are destructive not cats. Do you shoot them too? A cat is looking for food and shelter. You could go the right route and help it. Oppps....no...that’s what Jesus would do...not you.
All I’m doing is pointing out that it’s not the cats fault that birds are becoming extinct/scarce. It’s man. And I’m not saying what’s wrong or what’s right.
OK, I was never under the impression that anyone thought that cats feral or otherwise were wiping out songbirds. I oppose feral cats because they carry diseases that infect other cats who go out and interact with them. You laughed at my description of feral cats but I am exactly right. If the mother is truly wild she instructs her young the minute their eyes are open to fear humans. That’s a fact!That is extremely difficult to overcome so when there are so many tame kittens to adopt why bother. You have done it and it suits you so I am really tired of talking about it. I’d rather talk about the Pileated Woodpecker I can hear pecking on a tree in my yard right now. If Florida is becoming so overrun that it is killing the birds maybe you should move to the Texas Gulf Coast. We are a major flyway for birds.
I just caught 4 6-week old kittens from a very feral mother friday night. One is already very tame. Why would I move to texas because birds are lacking here? Your assuming I revolve my whole life around it. Don’t care that much. I care about my taxes and insurance.
That works for me.
I suppose I should call the government, have them dispatch a $40.000.00 truck and driver, catch the critter, and haul it off to be professionally assasinated. Yes, of course, this makes much more sense than my way!
Give me a break!!
You can’t top me on caring for wildlife, I’ve spent a long life outdoors. At some point, compassion has to end, and reality must take over.
Many of the pictures in these galleries were taken IN MY YARD. Don’t play “treehugger” games with me, I suppose I am one, but with a dose of reality tossed in.
http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root
http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/
Why don’t you help instead of just shooting? You shoot anything you deem to be destructive? That includes alot of animals.....Jeez......unbelievable.
Where do you think my cat and my daughters 6 cats plus a litter came from? How many spay and neuter trips to the vet can a working family afford, to say nothing about what I can afford, on a pension?
Do you have any clue as to what would happen if we started throwing cat food out in the yard?
Hey, the last wild litter is almost weaned, they’ve been cuddled and loved into very sweet critters, how many of them do you want? All our friends are avoiding us, they know they will be offered a kitten.
Child, you need to grow up!
http://www.pbase.com/tsiya/root
http://photobucket.com/albums/v244/tsiya/
No, I don’t need to grow up, you need to wise up. THere are alot of shelters that would be happy to help you find home for those kittens. The least they would do is put them on their website (petfinder.com). You could also find a shelter to help you find the low cost spay-neuter facility in your area. Just getting one cat fixed helps stop a larger population. Everytime I see a new cat in the area, I trap it and take it to the shelter who gets it fixed for me between $35-$50. That includes a 3 year rabies shot. This is common procedure for educated sensible people. You need to get out more.
I don’t want 100 cats in the yard, spayed, neutered, rabies shots or not!
You don’t seem to understand, I actually live in the actual “environment”, not in some little gated community, with transplanted trees.
You seem to believe that I get a kick out of random killing, but you are wrong.
There is an agency here. They will come out, set traps, haul the cats to town, neuter them, and bring them back, and TURN THEM LOOSE, and I can’t feed any more than I’m feeding now.
I addition, I don’t want a bunch of CITY SLICKER METROSEXUALS running around in my swamp, I moved out here to get away from them. Hell, the gators won’t even eat them! Could be the gators are filled up with CATS!
Take your little do gooder Sesame Street campaign back to Hilary’s Village, it doesn’t work here in the “environment”.
So, people are TNRing the cats in your area and you are shooting them because the gators won’t eat them? You are just too sweet. You should at least tell the people who are taking the time and money to do the right thing, that you will shoot them.....so they don’t bother trying to help the situation.
I live on the east side of South Florida..further south than you....I have many of those birds and bugs.....and feral cats.
Most likely up to your butt in metrosexual do gooders too!
Keep them away from me!
If you really want to help Florida’s wildlife, start by learning about it, from experience.
Negative. I don’t know any metrosexuals nor do I want too. I’m getting all the florida creature experience that I can.....you can’t help it since my house was where they used to all live. THey feel that it’s still their home.....and you can’t help but feel for the creatures getting run over by boats (manatees) and slaughtered on the roads (gator, fox, panther, otters) I’ve seen them all. Had gators in our pond and in the canal....seen lots of dead larger birds on the streets as tall as me, joined the dolphins (via waverunner) at their hotspot. Saved tons of lizards. Killed lots of palmettos. Chased the vultures. What do you suggest? Living in the everglades?
Very cute pictures. I understand what you are saying just from seeing what has happened down here in the last 20 years. A main road used to be 2 lanes...some of it was dirt. Now, it’s 8 lanes with developement everywhere....
(PS. I do hope to God you get all your sweet kitties fixed!)
Just a little ditty from the USFWS Migratory Bird Management Office
Americans keep an estimated 60 million cats as pets. Let’s say each cat kills only one bird a year. That would mean that cats kill over 60 million birds (minimum) each year - more wildlife than any oil spill.
Scientific studies actually show that each year, cats kill hundreds of millions of migratory songbirds. In 1990, researchers estimated that “outdoor” house cats and feral cats were responsible for killing nearly 78 million small mammals and birds annually in the United Kingdom.
University of Wisconsin ornithologist, Dr. Santley Temple estimates that 20-150 million songbirds are killed each year by rural cats in Wisconsin alone.
Feline predation is not “natural.” Cats were domesticated by the ancient Egyptians and taken throughout the world by the Romans. Cats were brought to North America in the 1800’s to control rats. The “tabby” that sits curled up on your couch is not a natural predator and has never been in the natural food chain in the Western Hemisphere.
Cats are a serious threat to fledglings, birds roosting at night and birds on a nest. Research shows that de-clawing cats and bell collars do not prevent them from killing birds and other small animals. For healthy cats and wild birds, cats should not be allowed to roam free.
Work with your local humane society, veterinarians and state wildlife agency to enact and enforce free-roaming cat regulations. For more information:
Free Roaming Cats. American Backyard Bird Society, PO Box 10046, Rockville, MD 20849.
Cats: A Heavy Toll on Songbirds. by Rich Stallcup. Point Reyes Bird Observatory, 4990 Shoreline Hwy., Stinson Beach, CA 94924.
Is there a Killer in Your House? by George Harrison, National Wildlife Magazine (October/November 1992).
Beware of Well-Fed Felines. by Peter Churcher and John Lawton, Natural History Magazine (July 1989).
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