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Report: Kill the Feral Cats
AP via WOWT ^ | Posted: 5:04 PM Nov 30, 2010 | AP

Posted on 12/01/2010 9:31:05 AM PST by TSgt

A new report by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that recommends killing feral cats as a way to control the wild animals has bird lovers crowing and cat lovers hissing.

Most likely to stir debate is the report's finding that a practice commonly used to control feral cats is ineffective at eliminating their colonies. ADVERTISEMENT

The practice of trapping homeless cats, neutering or spaying them and then returning them to the area where they were found has gained popularity across the country. Scores of organizations in cities and communities are dedicated to the trap, neuter and return effort.

The American Bird Conservancy lauds the report.

But Phyllis Larsen, a member of a feral cat management group on the UNL campus called Husker Cats, believes the report is flawed.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: feralcats
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To: TSgt

I live next to a ravine in No. Cal. My cats have claws, go out, occasionally bring back lizards, rats, and rarely a bird. However they are not allowed out at night because of the coyotes. The yotes seem to have pretty much eliminated the feral cat population.


41 posted on 12/01/2010 10:05:46 AM PST by Hugin ("A man'll usually tell you his bad intentions if you listen and let yourself hear it"--- Open Range)
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To: TSgt

No problem with feral cats here. The fisher cats take care of them—and occasionally someone’s pet cat as well.


42 posted on 12/01/2010 10:07:51 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius.)
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To: TSgt

While in Hawaii I complained about the feral cats. I was told that if they got rid of the cats I’d be complaining about rats. They eventually started trapping the cats, sterilizing them and releasing them. Worked for me.

Once in a while they’d get a mongoose in a trap. They are vicious when trapped.


43 posted on 12/01/2010 10:08:52 AM PST by rfreedom4u ("A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.")
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To: EEDUDE

Works for me. Quick and painless. Anything else is just wrong. Goes for squirrels and other “pests”, too.


44 posted on 12/01/2010 10:10:09 AM PST by coop71 (Being a redhead means never having to say you're sorry...)
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To: hosepipe

That’s pretty funny. (Even though I like cats.)

There used to be a book, “101 uses for a dead cat”, and another one by the same guy that involved appropriate crimes for cat transgressions. Example:

CRIME: cat that jumps in the laundry basket on top of your clean clothes and gets hair all over them.
PUNISHMENT: Put clothes away. Then place cat in bathtub with laundry basket upside down over it. Weight top of basket with brick. Slowly fill bathtub with water.

Those books were funny too. Even though I like cats.


45 posted on 12/01/2010 10:10:20 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Trust in God, but row away from the rocks!)
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To: Cicero

big problem with them, up here in the mountains, where I live...

it’s very humane, in my opinion, to put them down.. I have 2 cats in our home, indoor cats. I’m a cat lover. just sayin..


46 posted on 12/01/2010 10:10:32 AM PST by Chuzzlewit
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To: TSgt

I’ve got six feral cats (all have been trapped, spayed and neutered)now. Three grew up here, their momma brought them in as kittens eight years ago, three more I just got from the city animal control. My house, barn and sheds are free of mice and I have no snakes. They are working very hard patroling the yard and garden area to kill the influx of voles I got this year.

I feed them every morning and make sure they have fresh water. I also have hundreds of quail, millions of starlings it seems and half the pigeons in northern Nevada. They only kill birds that land on the porch to eat their food.

They go out to the dirt road to do their business,my flower beds, yard and garden are not used as a litter box. All in all, I really appreciate them being here.


47 posted on 12/01/2010 10:11:39 AM PST by Duchess47 ("One day I will leave this world and dream myself to Reality" Crazy Horse)
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To: goldstategop

Wait until they start having a terrible rodent problem. Cats hunt their own eats. Plus, rodents are harder to hit with a shotgun.


48 posted on 12/01/2010 10:12:05 AM PST by Twinkie (Two wrongs don't make a right.)
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To: ChurtleDawg
In young cats the tendons in the front paws are not connected to the claws, so it is a simple procedure under anesthesia to remove them. In all cats the tendons in the back paws are connected to the tendons, so no cat should have their hind feet declawed. In older cats, about 10 or so, the tendons in front and back paws have connected and so no older cat should have back or front feet declawed. Declawing the back feet of any cat or declawing an older cat would be cruel.

Feral cats, even ones found as kittens will always act "wilder" and be more destructive. Even when supplied with scratching posts, they will still tear up stuff, including your hands and arms when you try to play with them. My young cat is an indoor cat and will always be so. I've had indoor cats before and they've never gotten out because I'm careful and aware that it could end their life to get out. It was either the kitten was declawed or she went to the shelter with her siblings. I most likely saved her life as only feral kittens younger than 6 to 8 weeks are salvageable. She was borderline.

49 posted on 12/01/2010 10:12:12 AM PST by My hearts in London - Everett (You will try to nudge commies toward the truth, while they try to nudge you toward the cattle cars.)
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To: TSgt

Well..we are now the proud owner of a new kitten, thanks to its feral mother who dropped it in our backyard and ran (we were thinking of getting a kitten anyway.) However, his mother still is hanging around...we are trying to get her caught and spayed...and then? Not sure....but, we know she will not be INSIDE our home....where our new kitty will always reside. (This is the suburbs....not a farm area.)


50 posted on 12/01/2010 10:13:10 AM PST by goodnesswins (You deciding how to spend your health care $, thatÂ’s freedom. Govt deciding, thats a death panel)
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To: TSgt

If we had more Chinese Restaurants, Feral Cats would not be an issue.


51 posted on 12/01/2010 10:14:05 AM PST by ZULU (No nation which tried to tolerate Islam escaped Islamization.)
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To: Nervous Tick; Turbo Pig

Had a kitty bring me a mouse, he was sure I would love. He came in the dog door with it and dropped it at my feet. It got loose so I set traps up around the house. That morning I was fixing breakfast for the kids and all of a sudden the insides of the toaster started jumping all over the place. I flipped up the toast and out came a smoking mouse. He disappeared again to be caught in a trap a few hours later. The hair on his tail was completely gone, along with brandishing a few scars on his back. Needless to say the toaster was toast. No one would eat anything from it, had to buy a new one!


52 posted on 12/01/2010 10:15:44 AM PST by united1000
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To: Mrs. B.S. Roberts

53 posted on 12/01/2010 10:18:08 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (NASA? Muslims? Muslims will want to go to the moon only when Israel sets up shop there.)
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To: Cicero

We have coyotes and the occasinal fox here. But what is a fisher cat?


54 posted on 12/01/2010 10:18:46 AM PST by Hugin ("A man'll usually tell you his bad intentions if you listen and let yourself hear it"--- Open Range)
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To: goldstategop
I started seeing rat pop in my barn, so I got a couple of feral cats from a place that fixes them and returns them to the wild.

I was told that if I kept them in a cage for about a month, they would consider my barn their home and wouldn't run away.

It worked like a charm, they hang around the barn and keep it rodent free. They have actually become pretty friendly too.
I tell them all the time, "Okay, I'll feed you, but I better not see any rats." LOL

I think using them as barn cats is a good way to save a lot of these animals. Every barn I have been to either has cats or rats. Most people prefer cats.

55 posted on 12/01/2010 10:18:46 AM PST by kara37
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To: ChurtleDawg

I’m completely against de-clawing.

But I do have a de-clawed cat that I rescued, and I can assure you that he is the toughest cat in our neighborhood.

He grew up as an outdoor cat in Wyoming and just won’t back down from anything.

Haven’t had any feral cats in our yard since we got him.


56 posted on 12/01/2010 10:19:01 AM PST by Retired Greyhound
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To: united1000

That’s a hoot. But I bet you didn’t think it was so funny at the time it happened!


57 posted on 12/01/2010 10:19:44 AM PST by Nervous Tick (Trust in God, but row away from the rocks!)
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To: TSgt

My neighbors went into a rage on me for cage-trapping many litters of Feral kittens and turning them over to animal control. The kittens were credited to their un-neutered male. The neighbors were not willing to be responsible for the Feral litters. The lady of the house, would run around the yard holding the kittens, saying..”I’m a Grandma!” Then release the kittens to the neighborhood. Never once taking responsiblity for the animals. After a near knock down drag out, he called apologized for loosing his cool, and took his cat in for a neuter job. No more feral litters for now.


58 posted on 12/01/2010 10:21:34 AM PST by gitmogrunt (WTF?................... Connect the dots)
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To: Nachum
had a huge rat problem ... They took some feral cats, nuetered, spayed them

There in lies a solution, rather than the creation of another problem.

59 posted on 12/01/2010 10:22:28 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: kara37

That’s pretty much how cats became domesticated.

They started hanging around humans because there were rodents aplenty.


60 posted on 12/01/2010 10:23:10 AM PST by Retired Greyhound
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