Posted on 11/21/2007 4:20:08 PM PST by No Truce With Kings
Editor’s note: A mistrial was decalred in the animal-cruelty case against Jim Stevenson, after jurors said they could not reach a verdict about his shooting of a cat.
Despite neither reading any newspaper articles nor watching any TV newscasts since the infamous cat incident a year ago, I’ve become aware of a few discrepancies that I would like to publicly address.
Most importantly, this matter was not about cats vs. birds. It was about biodiversity, especially on Galveston Island. In the 10 years I have lived here, I have witnessed the total extirpation of breeding black skimmers, Least terns and Wilson’s plovers at San Luis Pass, all federally protected species we pay hefty taxes to save. Were there a rare species of wild feline living at the pass, and we were turning loose some feral, raptorial bird, I would be just as opposed to those birds being there as these cats.
While increased beach traffic has no doubt contributed to the birds’ demise, marauding nocturnal feral cats have been seen taking these species, as well as the endangered piping plover that winters at the pass.
Most estimates place avian mortality at around a half-billion annually at the hands of outdoor cats in America, and it’s simply foolish to think it’s not happening at the pass.
I have friends who own cats with which I play and I am not a cat-hater! This was a wounded, feral animal that was chasing endangered species and would likely die the same excruciating death as dozens of her comrades in that revolving door of feline misfortune.
The “caretaker” admitted under oath he was “not the owner” of the cats, which many thought should have been enough to end the trial.
It is against the law to allow an animal you own to run free.
This is to say nothing of why Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ignore their responsibility to enforce the Endangered Species Act or the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
However, this particular cat would never have been shot had the “caregiver” not been hiding the food to keep anyone from poisoning it (an act I would consider despicable). A sign there might have helped!
I find it equally cruel and despicable that some who supposedly care for animals would turn domestic creatures such as cats loose in the wild, subjecting them to diseases (shared at feeding stations), predators such as coyotes, automobiles, starvation and a host of other horrible deaths.
The larger question, though, involves cruelty to birds and other native wildlife, when an unknown predator such as a feral cat bats them, digs its claws into them, sinks its teeth into them, and chews their head off. I believe those who release cats think of their victims as sticks or rocks, not the beautiful, feathered gems many of us are trying to preserve.
This is now a call to (political) arms. The city needs to enforce existing codes, the two wildlife agencies need to enforce those two acts, Animal Control needs to continue rounding up feral cats — and maybe we could even get the police to enforce the laws about vehicles driving over and destroying our dunes.
Indeed, vigilantes are generally born when officials fail to do their jobs.
Jim Stevenson is president of Galveston Ornithological Society.
Too bad we don’t have the original story to comment on.
It’s hard to make out what exactly happened from this commentary.
The man is correct. I own and love two cats, and I enjoy bird feeders, all wildlife, and have been a hunter most of my life. All said, I'm growing tired of human callousness and stupidity. Getting old I suppose.
“Too bad we don’t have the original story to comment on.”
You mean this?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1925615/posts
Enjoy. (If that’s the word for it.)
Pinging some of those active in the first thread.
My friend has a cat that runs loose all the time and I’ve never understood that concept. Why have a ‘pet’ that you don’t ever care for?
I have a farm. People drop off cats. They see a barn, shelter and possibly a life of freedom. Every time I find a kitten or cat I capture them and bring them to my vet. He neuters them at my expense, worms them and gives them innoculations. Some stay and enjoy years of shelter, food and vet care. Others wander off and vanish. They cannot breed. One vehicle with Delaware plates dumped 4 kittens in Pennsylvania. I saw the 2 women as I came down my road and did not realize what they were doing until the darn things were crying on my back porch. I am sick of the nasty idiots dropping off cats ( and dogs) because they see a white barn in the country. I tend to have any critter neutered that walks on my farm. I have been doing it for years.
I beter not comment on the article. I almost lost a good freeper (female) friend when posting on this subject many months ago.
Period.
L
My thoughts exactly. We have 6 cats all dropped off by well meaning idiots. All are fixed and they’re ours now. We were sitting out back after dinner one night when a car with two young ladies drove into the back yard, stopped and placed a card board box with three kittens on the ground, turned around and drove off. They’d opened two gates to get there and never said a word.
Peopld drop kittens and puppies at our farm as well. What the coyotes don’t get, the hawks do.
Our dogs keep the coyotes far afield, the cats take care of the mice and so far, it all evens out. We smile and love them all.
“predators such as coyotes, automobiles,...”
Automobiles are the worst kind of predator. They don’t even consume their prey, they just keep going, on their mission to destroy the ozone.
/s
A friend and I were driving down a very busy highway a couple of summers ago. A car passed us on the right and we saw the driver, a female, throw something white out the window. I looked in my side view mirror and realized it had been a small kitten. I stopped as soon as I could, got out of the car and looked around for the kitten. We figured it must have taken off into the high grass to our right as there was only a median to our left and no kitten was visible there. Fortunately, no other cars had been behind us as they were all stopped at the light back down the road behind us. My friend had been able to get the make of car. While we were stopped, another car came up behind us and said they had seen the woman throw at least two other kittens out the window (in traffic), and had followed her and gotten her license plate number. They were from out of the area, but said they would report it to the police when they got to the indian casino down the road.
After we got back home, I decided to call the State Police whose barracks weren't that far from where the incident had taken place. I was interested to see if they had gotten a report from the people we had talked to. The Trooper said he did, but that they didn't leave their name. They had however, given him the license number. When we gave him the make and color of the car we had observed, he said it matched the car registered under that license number. He asked me if I would mind coming in the next day and giving a deposition, which I did. My friend, who was visiting me from out of state, gave a statement to him over the phone.
The next day when I went to give my deposition, the Trooper told me that he had gone out to the driver's house and of course she denied throwing any kittens out of her car window into traffic. However, he said he knew she was lying as there were cats crawling all over the barn and there were other kittens there as well. Nothing ever became of the incident as the DA's office decided not to press charges.
Being a cat lover, and seeing a kitten being tossed into the middle of a heavily traveled road made me sick to my stomach. It took me a long time to get over it. I'm far from being a wuss, being a 60 year old female who worked in uniform behind bars in maximum and medium security prisons (male convicts) for 23 years. I could have cared less if someone had tossed one of the felons into traffic, but it really bothered me to see a kitten treated that way.
Yep; it gets tiresome paying to clean up other people's messes & problems that they blithely foist upon us country dwellers.
Neutering/spaying; shots; wormings; annual vet visits, and all the rest isn't free.
We love the ones (four currently) that stay; but we'd also love it more if people used the vet to prevent their kitten problems before they start. It would also be nice if they started using the privately-funded, no-kill Humane Society sanctuary we're helping pay for.
People dump many different kinds of pets like this. I am a rabbit guy and people dump their pet rabbits out the car window, in parks, in the ‘neighborhood’, etc. It’s very sad. I’ve saved a couple rabbits already and one of my friends adopted one who is doing just great.
5 of our guys are from rescues and shelters. They are the most awesome animals. It’s amazing what people throw away.
I’m surprised your vet doesn’t give you a break on spay and neuter charges, considering all of the business you give him/her. Thank you for doing what you do.
These people have a barn and they resort to throwing unwanted cats out a car window? All they need to do is walk out to the barn and shoot a few.
This is real simple to me with the answers to two questions:
1. Was it illegal to discharge a firearm in the vicinity of where the cat was shot?
2. Was there evidence on the cat that would cause a reasonable person to assume it was someones pet.
If the answer to both questions is “no”, there is nothing here to prosecute.
This government and it’s laws were not designed to protect animals. They were designed to protect humans and their property. If no human was harmed, and no humans property was harmed, there is simply no crime. Further, if a human has taken in a wild animal (or feral “pet”) as a pet yet not clearly marked it as such, the animal is fair game.
All is black and white here.
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