CAT LOVERS - please sign

[neutrino]

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/797408228?ltl=1110468947#sigs


http://www.dontshootthecat.com/

Pity they won't pass a law forcing these sadistic redneck hunters  to shoot each other!  

[alexd]

I love cats.
If someone shot my cat they would regret it.
I'm glad I don't live in the US, who knows what laws they will pass next.


Alex

[greatoutdoors]

This is going to be a long post, so I apologize in advance. But I'll keep my part short. I have no problem with cats, so long as they are kept indoors. Outside, whether feral or "pets" they are an added strain on an already unbalanced ecosystem. I could go on, but I'll stop there.

Now, here are excerpts from a 2004 National Geographic article I found on the web. It summarizes the impact and problems pretty well.

Ron Jurek, a wildlife biologist for the California Department of Fish and Game, has kept a close eye on the impact feral and free-roaming domestic cats have on native species, like the California least tern, a federal endangered bird that nests along the coast.

"Cats do kill wildlife to a significant degree, which is not a popular notion with a lot of people," he said.

In urban areas, he said, there are hundreds of cats per square mile (1.6 square kilometers)—more cats than nature can support.

Exact numbers are unknown, but some experts estimate that each year domestic and feral cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, and more than a billion small mammals, such as rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks.

Feline predators are believed to prey on common species, such as cardinals, blue jays, and house wrens, as well as rare and endangered species, such as piping plovers and Florida scrub jays.

For more than ten years, Jurek says, feral and domestic cats have been a persistent problem in California, killing one or two colonies of least terns each year. The small white birds are part of an intense monitoring program with a tremendous number of volunteers who watch the colonies throughout the six-month nesting season.

"If a cat finds the colony, it can destroy the colony in a few days, if not overnight," Jurek said.

Linda Winter is the director of the American Bird Conservancy's (ABC) Cats Indoors! campaign. The conservation group, based in Washington, D.C., started the program seven years ago to educate the public that free-roaming cats pose a significant risk to birds and other wildlife.
The conservancy believes feral felines should be removed permanently from the environment and taken to shelters. The majority of wild cats, though, cannot be domesticated. Consequently shelters kill them, sometimes minutes after the cats are dropped off.

Julie Levy is a veterinarian and professor at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville. She says the answer to permanently reducing wild cat populations is through the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) method, in which entire colonies of cats are trapped, vaccinated, and sterilized by a veterinarian.

Homes are found for young kittens, which can be tamed. Healthy adults are returned outdoors, where volunteers feed and look after them for the remainder of their lives.

The method, though, is neither quick nor simple. n a study conducted by Levy over an 11-year period, she found the cats lived an average of 7 years after being spayed and brought back to their territory.

"It's become a double-edged sword, because we're happy for the cats that they're living life and in good health," Levy said. "But it also means that we can't expect our neuter programs to work really quickly."

Levy is also the founder of Operation Catnip, the largest TNR program in the country.

The ABC's Winter, who is vocal in the battle between wildlife groups and feral advocates, says she opposes the TNR method because the released cats continue to kill wildlife. Another problem, she said, is that feeding stations maintained by caregivers attract animals like raccoons and skunks that carry rabies and other diseases, creating a public health threat.

The cats can also transmit diseases. In August, animal control officials in Eugene, Oregon, reportedly discovered more than three dozen feral cats infected with salmonella, which is contagious to people and pets. No humans, however, were reported to be infected.

"TNR is just not a solution that helps everybody and all animals involved," said Winter, an owner of two indoor-only cats. "They need to figure out another way."

Levy hasn't come up with another way. But she is currently working with a wildlife research group to develop a sterilization vaccine for female and male cats.

"We're on the trail of a good one," she said. "We're now one year into a two-year study with male cats, and it's looking extremely promising."
If the vaccine is developed, she said, trained technicians would go into the field and inject the cats. The vaccine would make TNR programs more efficient by helping reduce costs and labor.

[alexd]

Cats are not meant to be kept indoors.
My cat doesn't kill wildlife, or pose any threat to the environment that I can see, even though he spends most of his time outside, sometimes quite far from home.
I don't think it is a moral thing to do to kill someone's pet, I'll stop at that.


Alex

[neutrino]

The feral cat problem is caused mainly by ignorant owners who fail to have their pets neutered. It's unfortunate about the birds, but cats are natural hunters and should not be made to suffer for human stupidity.  (And they're not the only animals who prey on birds & small mammals either.) I agree that neutering is the best solution for boh cats (in the longer term) birds too - not killing.
I don't think the hunters are genuinely concerned about birds or other wildlife (they're hunters after all, not animal lovers). This is just another pretext to justify their bloodlust IMO.

[Frank]

Hi:

I rather think we humans should look at the damage and consider the species we ourselves have "wiped out" and the sheer numbers of animals we slaughter every year of our residency on this planet.

If you are talking about animals preying on other species then we are the all-time number one at that. We slaughter billions and billions of animals every year. We have destroyed vast tracts of this planet and wiped out the habitats of countless animals and plants. Not only that, animals suffer horrendous deaths at the hands of people who enjoy the SICK fetish of murdering and torturing other species in the name of sport, or for a bit of fun and enjoyment.

As a species we murder, maim and destroy like no other. How dare we point the finger at another species! We not only engage in the widespread slaughter of billions and billions of innocent creatures every year, but we rape, torture and murder our own as well! And at the same time we call ourselves civilised!

Yours,
Frank

[patapouf]

How irresponsible. Like Frank says, this is the ''civilised'' way of dealing with things..... There are other approaches than this one to deal with the problem!

[greatoutdoors]

alexd, I tell you now, I am a true animal lover and a lover of our natural environment. There are some who may like to wear that name, but they are far from "walking the walk'. Case in point:

Cats are not meant to be kept indoors.
My cat doesn't kill wildlife, or pose any threat to the environment that I can see, even though he spends most of his time outside, sometimes quite far from home.

The foolishness of this post is past bearing! If you are over ten years of age you should know better! Has your cat been touched by some devibne spirit that it is exempt from the instincts of other cats? All cats hunt, period, end of sentence!  My indoor cats hunt -- sometimes catching mice, but mostly hunting their toys, or dust-bunnies, etc. If yours is not bringing its catch back to share with you I could tell you why, but you wouldn't like it.

I had some "outdoor" cats in my youth. I had a very pretty black kitten and and a beautiful grown female gray tabby both killed by a neighbor's tomcat because I was too stupid to realize cats do not belong outdoors. In later years I had the dubious honor of climbing into a roadside gulley to rescue a cat with a broken pelvis, apparently hit by a car. I'm sure that cat, who, of course, belonged outdoors, would have survived for a week or more longer had I not heard its cries and gone to investigate. The vet said the cat had other broken bones in the back legs, but wasn't feeling that pain because a spinal injury. That pretty white cat, a long-hair, was about a year old.

Now, let me ask a question -- has your "outside" cat been neutered? Likely not. And of course this has no impact on the environment. Like the people I visited who had achieved their dream of moving into the country, along with one female cat. At the time of my visit they had four females, all pregnant, outside, of course. The guy said he had tried to shoot all the males he saw, but apparently missed one. Ohh yes, good solid, nature loving logic -- better to shoot some, leave others to breed uncontrollably, than to at least have your initial cat neutered!

And more, if it's needed -- feline leukemia is a highly contagious, frequently fatal disease of cats that can be avoided by keeping your pet inside. Odds are good your cat has been exposed. A simple blood test can confirm or deny any exposure -- if you care enough to have it done. By the way, there is no cure. I saw another "not meant to be inside" cat who came to my porch one evening and turned out to have the disease. It was a walking skeleton, barely able to stand. At one time, it had been a pretty orange tabby.

I can tell you many more stories, but you don't want to hear them. It won't happen to your cat, and doesn't impact the environment. IMO, your comment about cats not being meant to be inside is just a cop-out for your own failure to be a responsible pet owner!

Frank, I agree with you whole-heartedly that man has been a huge blight on nature. Not the only one, but huge. However, what are you saying? Are you saying that because there are many other problems to deal with, that we should just sit and do nothing about problem we can control? That makes a lot of sense!    If each of us would "do" rather than "talk", to minimize our impact on the environment, then we might have a planet we can pass on to future generations. As it is, I hope everyone is fond of concrete and steel, because that's all that will be left before too long. Yes, I am opposed to feed lots and "mass produced" livestock, but other than refraining from supporting them, there is nothing much else I can do. But I can act responsibly myself, and preach the message to others. And if idiots too foolish to see their own contribution to the  problem choose to shoot the messenger, then so be it!

[Makaveli]

It could work in rural areas but if they're talking about shooting cats in cities, that can't be safe.  I'm for hunting but not just for sport and not cat hunting especially when they could be people's pets.

[greatoutdoors]

Alexd,

Haven't heard much from you on this subject, like an answer as to whether your cat has been neutered. Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

By the way, one very recent additional example of domestic pets

not meant to be kept indoors

A friend's dog accidentally got out. It was apparently hit by a car but fortunately some folks found it, with serious injuries, and took it to a vet. It's now back with its owner.

I am really not picking on you -- just trying to get you to take better care of your pets.   [/list]