Posted on 03/06/2005 8:32:04 PM PST by esryle
MADISON, Wis. Hunter Mark Smith welcomes wild birds onto his property, but if he sees a cat, he thinks the "invasive" animal should be considered fair game.
The 48-year-old firefighter from La Crosse has proposed that hunters in Wisconsin make free-roaming domestic cats an "unprotected species" that could be shot at will by anyone with a small-game license.
Hunters will vote on the proposal on April 11th during hearings for the Wisconsin Conservation Congress across the state.
Smith's proposal has horrified cat lovers, but some see it as a way of stopping cats from killing wild birds.
Department of Natural Resources attorney Tim Andryk says the vote would simply be an advisory recommendation to state lawmakers.
He says that to have open season on roaming cats, laws that relate to abuse of domestic animals may have to be amended.
Thanks for updating me on what type of cats they are. Wild cats would not survive long where I live do to the cyotoe
Population plus many cat owners have total inside cats...
Lions and Tigers aren't nothin'!!!!!
It's been 18 years since the Tigers made the postseason, and the Lions were last NFL champions around 8 years before there was a Super Bowl!
Why are you addressing that to me? I'm just against declawing.
If you want a happy, healthy cat, keep it indoors!
Here kitty..kitty..kitty.. BANG! Oh sorry neighbor I thought she was a stray! I see this law working well. Not!!
I have one half track cat and one 4 paw declaw in the house. The 4 paw is old, ill, and slow now, but in her youth she could jump and run with the best of them. The half track at age 17 or so still can jump up to most places she used to, as well as blowing through the house like her tail is on fire.
"No need to kill 'em. The mother of a coworker humanely traps the cats and turns them over to the humane society. Costs the owners big bucks to retrieve their pets."
We tried this and a person who loves feral animals would open the trap and release the cats.
Wow...
It's dogs roaming free (and I mean inside the city limits) that attack children and livestock here in NM, but this guy is worried about tweety?
What people really don't like about cats is their independence - their "you can go to h*ll" attitude. Cat haters prefer the worship of dogs which says a whole lot.
Oh, and I have both dogs and cats - they're both great - different but great.
And I have a full clawed kitty who sometimes gets a notion to zip across the kitchen at the speed of sound on the way to the basement. The sight and sound is comic, as she vainly tries to sink her claws into an unyielding hardwood floor, and skids and caroms off the refrigerator.
Take away "Tabby, Ginger, and Cuddles, and see what happens to your "vulnerable native species" such as rats, mice, mole, snakes, as well as birds.
They got rid of wild street cats in New York City years ago because they were pests, and they've had a rat infestation ever since.
A farmer down the road from me has a "treat" for any stray tomcat he catches on his property - puts it in a box and neuters it - less in-humane than what you have described.
Yeah... some people don't learn from history. Black Plague, anyone?
I'm going to have to call BS on you. NYC has never not had a rat problem.
Ain't it great the way nature works?
I didn't mean to seem rude to you, but in my neck of the woods feral cats do a lot of damage. I've nothing against cats. I've got a 17 pound lap kitty purring away contentedly as I type. But in a lot of suburban and rural areas, feral cats are a very real problem.
Having spent more than a little time in Wisonsin, I can certainly sympathize with this mans desire to have them listed as a pest.
Thank you for the polite discourse.
Regards,
L
The problem is house cats allowed to roam. They kill for sport and should similarly be killed for sport. A sewer rat could stand most of them down so they hunt baby birds in nests.
Are rats a problem in any suburb you've lived in? Did they remain a problem for long (assuming you are among the few who run into them)?
And neutering involves the cutting off of something(s) that males regard very dearly as a part of their anatomy, but we never see fit to think of it as a problem.
And mice.
Cats around here suck at getting birds, probably because they have to spend a lot of time keeping an eye out for coyotes...
Not all strays are feral.
A feral cat is wild, not domesticated.
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