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.
>>I’m giving RobRoy the benefit of the doubt and assuming he meant he euthanized the kittens first, and then put them in a plastic bag to discard them.<<
You are correct. I put them in a bag so a meddling garbage man wouldn’t possibly turn me in for “killing kittens”..
It is interesting. you can throw away five pounds of leftover turkey, but throw away two pounds of cat and people get squeamish and think you should be incarcerated.
Is NOBODY from the farm anymore?
>>Have you ever been sealed in a plastic bag until your oxygen ran out? Obviously not so how can you tell me it’s not painful, or even humane, what Robroy did amounts to animal cruelty where I come from, people in this world are sick and getting sicker, and you sound just as bad, as an ‘enabler’!<<
What you inferred is not what happened. It is not what I said happened.
And your first sentence infers human consciousness onto the cats - also an incorrect inference. Pain is perception. Human have significantly more - by an order of several magnitudes - developed brains and nervous systems. Even if a cat can “feel pain” it is most definitely not the same as what a human feels
In fact the human sexes feel things differently. This is why men ENJOY the bumps and collisions of playing football where as women hate it.
They are animals. We eat MUCH MORE intelligent and aware animals than cats all the time. My brother used to work at a plant where they were slaughtered. Trust me, if ramming a knife up your throat until you die isn’t painful, I don’t know what is.
>>Would you have felt better if he said he chopped their heads off?? Thats kinda quick too.<<
You’re close.
I used one of those bats you get at Mariners games on “Bat Night”.
And like you said, it was quick. Like flipping a switch.
>>Gees, give me a break and quit letting your emotions wreck havock on your life. No, cruelty is taking pleasure in taking a life or knowingly abusing or depriving an animal of food or shelter.<<
You nailed it. Cruelty isn’t about what you do. It is about why you do it.
All of life is about why. e.g. It is literally the difference between killing in self defense and cold blooded murder.
>>Killing kittens is not the same as euthanizing them<<
You are now arguing semantics. Euthanizing is a word for kill.
Are the highly intelligent beef cattle we eat killed or euthanized?
>>Either you believe that the feral cats are God’s creatures or you don’t. If they are God created, then we are wrong to kill them. They serve a purpose; we just aren’t privileged to know what that is. Our killing them is not a natural part of our being human, it is an intellectual reaction to what we think is in the best interest of nature. Maybe right, maybe wrong.
I think I’ll go with the God thing.<<
Trees are God’s creation as well. Is there wood in your house.
You will have to show me where the bible tells us that killing aninals is bad. In fact, I seem to remember something about a herd of swine.
>>We have control over all of God’s creatures, learning to appreciate them and treat them ‘humanely’ is really not too much to ask of those who ‘CARE’, unfortunately more people would rather just go to Disneyland than to do a good deed and I think your moral compass could also use a little tweaking.<<
“Humanely” is a word. Words are symbols for thought. And often the word conjures up different thoughts in different people.
I euthanized them in a way that was quite like flipping a switch. Some would call it humane. Most PITA members would not. But then, I don’t really worry about what they think.
Gosh, some here would argue that since gas chambers were used, Hitler was “humane” when he tried to exterminate the Jews. That is, of course, ludicrous on the face of it, but it brings up a valid point. There are different rules of humaneness regarding animals than regarding humans.
Of course, if you are a PITA member and believe a dog is a boy is a pig, then your opinion would be different than mine. Fortunately, PITA does not write the laws.
>>I suppose you feel the same way about homeless people.<<
Only the ones that are cats.
>>You are a p.o.s. <<
Let me make an equally lucid statement: I disagree.
Feeding feral cats is wrong. The cats need to fend for themselves in the surrounding terrain. I know that probably means that they will be a meal for some other bird or animal. That’s how it is supposed to work.
I run in the hills. Wild turkeys, coyotes, hawks, owls, deer all fend for themselves. I’ve seen it. The coyotes, hawks and owls could use a little feline cuisine now and then.
If you did what you said you did (killed kittens because you didn’t want to be inconvenienced with a trip to disneyland looming), you should be prosecuted.
Maybe you shouldn’t admit to committing crimes on online forums. Hopefully, someone will be knocking on your isp (or actual) door soon with some questions for you.
You can disagree all you want with my opinion of you. I couldn’t possibly care less. It is what it is though.
You and I have the same theory about caring for cats. I have three, all started out as rescues- one we raised on a bottle. We feed them, take care of their vet needs, love them to death. They come and go as they choose to. I try to get them all in at night because of the owls and coyotes, but they don’t always cooperate. A few years ago we lost one that was 17, and had always been cared for this way.
>>If you did what you said you did (killed kittens because you didn’t want to be inconvenienced with a trip to disneyland looming), you should be prosecuted.<<
Baloney. Pure and simple. But thank you, PITA, for your opinion.
>>You can disagree all you want with my opinion of you. I couldn’t possibly care less. It is what it is though.<<
I only value the opinion of those that come from a position backed by a certain minimum threshold of knowledge on the subject. You haven’t a clue what you are talking about here.
You don’t know enough about me to have a valid opinion.
>>Maybe you shouldn’t admit to committing crimes on online forums.<<
I haven’t. I said I euthanized some kittens. And they were MY property. Maybe if I had killed YOUR kittens, a law would have been violated.
After all, if I take a baseball bat to my own car, it is strange. If I take a baseball bat to YOUR car, I have damaged your property and, therefore, broken a law.
btw, thanks for the ping.
>>And here I thought you were an idiot based on your signature alone.<<
So, I disagree wih you and that makes me an idiot?
K.
>>Killing kittens is not the same as euthanizing them, you’re a sick puppy!<<
I think we are seeing a culture clash here. Although I have lived in the Seattle area since 1966, I spent some time on my relatives farms and ranches in the early 1960’s, and something just happened to drive the significance of that point home. The pint I am speaking of is that we are apparently seeing a clash of urban culture (animals are either pets or talking CG characters in movies) and agricultural culture (animals are workers or butchered).
What just happened, you may ask?
While writing my last post, I got a call from my 12 year old granddaughter in South Dakota. She just shot her first doe. And on Thanksgiving! As she described it: She got it in the spine so it was paralyzed, so the top of the body was still trying to run away. Her dad shot it in the head and then sliced it open. The heart was still beating and he had her hold the beating heart and then pull it out to get the deer to stop moving.
My wife asked her if it made her feel queasy. She said, “No, it was COOL!”
Now I ask you, who has the more “real” perspective on animal cruelty? Those that deal with them on a daily basis as work animals (sheep dogs, guard dogs, mousers) and a food source, complete with butchering beef, cutting the heads off chicken and then scalding and removing the feathers? Or is it those who think Donkey and Puss-n-boots on Shreck represent the animal kingdom?
At least one is in the real world where the rubber meets the road.
Caveat: I love Shreck, but I know the animals are really just humans dressed up as animals. ;)
Oh brother.....these bird people are annoying...not to mention ignorant and need a life. LOL
GOD BLESS YOU For doing the right thing!!
Period.
F
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