Figured we could use a break from all the religious topics...
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Open season on pets
By DEAN SCHABNER
April 12, 2005 -- Wisconsin residents backed a controversial proposal to allow hunters to stalk and kill feral cats, and some naturalists say pet owners should treat the vote as a wake-up call to be more responsible about their furry friends.
The issue of whether to make feral cats an unprotected species, meaning they could be hunted and killed, was put Monday night before the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, an independent organization created by the state 70 years ago to take public input on conservation issues. More than 13,000 residents attended meetings held in all 72 counties around the state.
The state Department of Natural Resources said 51 counties supported the proposal, 20 rejected it and there was no vote in one county. The vote was 6,830-5,201.
The vote doesn't make it open season on cats in Wisconsin, but it does mean the Conservation Congress will consider the proposal at its annual meeting in May. The congress will send its recommendations to its board and the DNR, but any further action would have to be carried out by the Legislature. DNR Secretary Scott Hassett said there were still too many unanswered questions to let the measure go forward.
The proposal, which was raised five years ago and voted down by the Conservation Congress, was revived after a 2004 University of Wisconsin study that found non-native feral cats were a threat to native animals such as lovebirds.
Estimates of the number of songbirds killed each year by feral cats in Wisconsin alone range from 8 million to 217 million, though the number is actually believed to be around 39 million, said Steven Oestreicher, the chairman of the congress.
"When you're talking about millions and millions of songbirds in state, you've got take a harder look at this," he said.
It was raised by a resident again during last spring's Conservation Congress hearing in La Crosse County, after the university's report, and the resolution passed 53-1, which put it on the agenda for this year's congress.
Under the proposal that was discussed Monday night, even domestic cats without a collar could be considered wild and unprotected, which upset many cat owners at some meetings.
"This sort of crosses the line from wildlife management to people's pets," said one person who opposed the idea during a meeting in Madison.
In Brown County, several hundred people filled an auditorium and the crowd was not the meeting's usual mix of outdoors enthusiasts and hunters. The controversial cat issue took center stage.
"Those cats are no different than someone else's children. They're my children," cat owner Denise Servais said at the Brown County meeting.
The issue of feral cats is biggest in rural areas, where some hunters and residents consider the animals a nuisance, not a harmless pet. Studies estimate there could be 2 million feral cats roaming Wisconsin. Though cat owners may consider them a native species, biologists say they are not, and they kill native rodents and birds.
While cat owners rallied to the defense of felines, some outdoorsmen said those people do not have a clear perspective on a problem that cannot be ignored.
"I think anyone who spends time in the outdoors away from your feeders in the city will know that feral cats do pose a clear danger to native species," Tom Tilkens of De Pere in Brown County said.
Simply killing these cousins of the housecat, though, wasn't an acceptable solution for some.
"I do see both sides, but I'm not sure hunting cats is the answer," said cat owner Lisa Hanson of Brown County.
Even some hunters said they do not see cats as a big concern.
"I just don't see a problem with what they're talking about, the feral cats," said Pete Petrouske of the Brown County conservation committee. "I mean, how many people have ever seen a feral cat? I've never seen one, and I've been out hunting a lot."
Because of that, Oestreicher said, people may be overreacting if they imagine that hunters are going to grab their guns and go prowling for cats.
He pointed out that cats are nocturnal predators, and therefore not a very attractive target for hunters.
As he sees it, the issue really is about sending a message to cat owners.
"We are not advocating a hunting season or the shooting of cats," he said. "We're hoping it's a wake-up call to pet owners to be responsible. This is really to get the attention of the pet owner that when you get tired of your cat, don't take it out into the woods and dump it."
ABC News affiliates WISN-TV in Milwaukee, WBAY-TV in Green Bay and WAOW-TV in Wausau contributed to this report.
There are far better ways to control Stray/Feral pet populations than just killing them. Some charitable organizations do Catch Spay/Nueter and Release programs in various cities across the nation. I see both sides of the problem though, I'm a cat lover and owner been around them my whole life so I could not let one just get killed but Stray pets carry disease and sometimes as has happened to my poor Blackie they pass it on to house pets. However if you want to kill the strays why not the stray/wild dogs? Why not the hobos or homeless? Some people see them as a nuisance too. One last thing If your not ready for the resposibility of caring for something for 15-20 years than please don't even bother getting a pet in the first place and castrate yourself as well since children are 100times more work than a pet is.
Heh... I read that this morning. I was somewhat disturbed by it because I love cats and can't imagine harming the little critters. But I think it's kind of funny because, along with stray cats running around, Wisconsin will now have stray bullets flying around. Personally, I'll take a stray cat over a stray bullet any day.
But that's just me.
spikej wrote:
There are far better ways to control Stray/Feral pet populations than just killing them. Some charitable organizations do Catch Spay/Nueter and Release programs in various cities across the nation. I see both sides of the problem though, I'm a cat lover and owner been around them my whole life so I could not let one just get killed but Stray pets carry disease and sometimes as has happened to my poor Blackie they pass it on to house pets. However if you want to kill the strays why not the stray/wild dogs? Why not the hobos or homeless? Some people see them as a nuisance too. One last thing If your not ready for the resposibility of caring for something for 15-20 years than please don't even bother getting a pet in the first place and castrate yourself as well since children are 100times more work than a pet is.
- Catch Spay/Neuter is too expensive
- Dogs are not as much as a nuiance
- a hobo is a person while a cat is an animal, so that argument is dumb.
And besides, like the hunter said, how many times have you seen a stray cat? And who would think to themselves, "I'm going to hunt a cat today!" anyway?
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ToBoGgAn wrote:we are gonna take it in the ass and like it, cause thats what america does.
Slo2pt2 (Projekt Unknown?) wrote:One my SON is ADHD N.O.S and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I will nto medicate him he will battle throught this himself and learn to control it.
I don't think this is meant for city or even suburb use. Mainly out in the country where they more or less run wild and basically a nuiance. I'm a cat person myself, but i can see a certain need for this.
Wasn't it restrected to wild, non-domestic cats?
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^^ I agree to a point. Killing every last furball is not the answer, but controlling their numbers to make sure that there is a healthy bird/rodent population is important.
Goodbye Callisto & Skaši, Hello Ishara:
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The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.
Antifreeze..Kills cats dead...
yea, i left a container of antifreeze out overnight as i was working on my 87z28(pulling the motor..) I thought nothing of it....
One day later, 3 of my cats were dead(frozen stiff).....some much for "antifreeze".....
Yea, i really wouldn't reccomend that..I'm sure it's not a humane way to go..
Glace (GP) wrote:- Catch Spay/Neuter is too expensive
Like I said Charitable organizations do it, that's why you donate money to them to keep their work going.
Glace (GP) wrote:- Dogs are not as much as a nuiance
Tell that to somebody who's been bitten by a stray dog, I bet the answer will the opposite.
Glace (GP) wrote:- a hobo is a person while a cat is an animal, so that argument is dumb.
So what.?. We're all mammals. We all bleed red blood, we all think, we all feel and understand languages although they are different from what humans speak. We humans need to learn We are not the only intelligent Species on this planet and we need to respect the other species as we respect ourselves.
EastCoastBeast II wrote: Yea, i really wouldn't reccomend that..I'm sure it's not a humane way to go..Quote:
It isn't. 10 years ago I had a kitten that some sick bastard thought it would be funny to feed him antifreeze, couldn't get him too the vet in time to put him out of his misery. God help me if I ever catch that @!#$ if he ever gets out of prison.
Seriously, what would require less work? Raising funds to spay a cat, or getting some guy to kill them? I'm not saying I like it, but from a financial and efficiency standpoint, killing is way easier and more effective.
What do you do with a dog that bites someone? 9 times out of 10 you put them down.
spikejSo what.?. We're all mammals. We all bleed red blood, we all think, we all feel and understand languages although they are different from what humans speak. We humans need to learn We are not the only intelligent Species on this planet [/quote wrote:
I understand your argument, but you are trying to get technical on me. Are you now saying that it's ok to marry my cat/dog? I can have sex with them? It's ok to eat my neighbor? Euthanizing a dog/cat will go through the same media coverage as Terri dumbass Schiavo? Should I be allowed to cage and leash my grandma? We should be allowed of these things because we "all bleed red blood, we all think, we all feel" right? Of course the answer to my questions is a "No" because we are PEOPLE. Stop hugging your tree for a second and think about it, people and animals are different and as such are treated different.
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ToBoGgAn wrote:we are gonna take it in the ass and like it, cause thats what america does.
Slo2pt2 (Projekt Unknown?) wrote:One my SON is ADHD N.O.S and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I will nto medicate him he will battle throught this himself and learn to control it.
Glace (GP) wrote:I understand your argument, but you are trying to get technical on me. Are you now saying that it's ok to marry my cat/dog? I can have sex with them? It's ok to eat my neighbor? Euthanizing a dog/cat will go through the same media coverage as Terri dumbass Schiavo? Should I be allowed to cage and leash my grandma? We should be allowed of these things because we "all bleed red blood, we all think, we all feel" right? Of course the answer to my questions is a "No" because we are PEOPLE. Stop hugging your tree for a second and think about it, people and animals are different and as such are treated different.
Somebody here seems to have an animal fetish (cough) FREAK (cough). My point was and still is Humans are not the only Sentient beings on Earth however Humans seem to think they are. Of course we're different, we evolved differently, we evolved into a more intelligent (at least some of us have) mammal. However humans are the cause of this problem and we should not take the easy way out, if we did that all the time we wouldn't have cures for diseases that make us ill.
Glace (GP) wrote:Stop hugging your tree.
Debate like an adult and you'll get treated as such, and don't judge a book by its cover.
spikej wrote:However humans are the cause of this problem and we should not take the easy way out, if we did that all the time we wouldn't have cures for diseases that make us ill.
Seriously, what does this mean? We are talking about a method of pest control, not finding a cure for cancer.
spikej wrote:Somebody here seems to have an animal fetish (cough) FREAK (cough).
Debate like an adult and you'll get treated as such, and don't judge a book by its cover.
lol........
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ToBoGgAn wrote:we are gonna take it in the ass and like it, cause thats what america does.
Slo2pt2 (Projekt Unknown?) wrote:One my SON is ADHD N.O.S and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I will nto medicate him he will battle throught this himself and learn to control it.
kill all the damn things,, theyre nasty, they @!#$ in a box ,,hack up furballs ,,scratch the hell out of you, are tempremental as @!#$ ,you cant wrestle around with them ,you have to be g e n t l e with them, , they smell ,and the cat litter is bad for pregnant women at least my dog @!#$s on the floor where he knows it'll be cleaned up quickly and not just let it sit there
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PSHHHTTT NOT ANY MORE!!!!!!!
Ovbiously none of you people live out in the country. If you see an animal, a domesticated (and probably declawed no less) cat walking around out in the woods, looking like its starving half to death, wouldn't it be merciful just to do it in? I mean, you have an animal that can't fend for itself, and you don't know if it has rabies or not. It's just safer, besides, wouldn't you rather wake up to birds chirping, or cats howling? Just my country v. suburb rant...
I like cats, but I belive they should be kept indoors where they are not any one elses problem. The cats they are talking about "hunting" are not your normal fluffy. They are cats that have taking the call of the wild they will kill your chickens and your live stock.
Also my cat smells good. My dog smells like a strinky dog. I wash my cat twice a year and the dog every month or so and my cat smells way better.
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CRAZY!!!!!!!! Chees heads!
" Im 18 more mature than you" - Bortsy!!
OMFG - I cant beleive they would do such a thing to those poor cats.
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We humans need to learn We are not the only intelligent Species on this planet and we need to respect the other species as we respect ourselves.
Thank you - We seriously need more people like you in this world..
~*Gilles*~
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Mainly out in the country where they more or less run wild and basically a nuiance. I'm a cat person myself, but i can see a certain need for this.
i have lived "out in the country" all my life and i have never seen a stray cat in the woods being a nuisance. who would they be a nuisance to in the woods anyways? you cant hunt in citys and suburbs anyways so the law wouldnt be helping with nuisance causing city strays.
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kill all the damn things,, theyre nasty, they @!#$ in a box ,,hack up furballs ,,scratch the hell out of you, are tempremental as @!#$ ,you cant wrestle around with them ,you have to be g e n t l e with them, , they smell ,and the cat litter is bad for pregnant women at least my dog @!#$s on the floor where he knows it'll be cleaned up quickly and not just let it sit there
my cat doesnt smell nor scratch the hell out of me and i can easily wrestle with her. also i would much rather have my cat @!#$ in a box than a dog @!#$ on the floor...a good dog should @!#$ in the damn woods.
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Ovbiously none of you people live out in the country. If you see an animal, a domesticated (and probably declawed no less) cat walking around out in the woods, looking like its starving half to death, wouldn't it be merciful just to do it in? I mean, you have an animal that can't fend for itself, and you don't know if it has rabies or not. It's just safer, besides, wouldn't you rather wake up to birds chirping, or cats howling? Just my country v. suburb rant...
once again i very rarely see cats walking around in the woods. and around here a declawed cat wont last more than two nights in the woods anyways...between the eagles, fishers, and coyotes.
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I like cats, but I belive they should be kept indoors where they are not any one elses problem. The cats they are talking about "hunting" are not your normal fluffy. They are cats that have taking the call of the wild they will kill your chickens and your live stock.
feral means that they were once domesticated and then turned wild. i somehow dont see fluffy gone bad taking out cows or sheep....or even chickens for that matter
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The thing that worries me is if this gets legalized in Wisconsin, then it will become legalized in other states as well. If it became legalized in Ky, I honestly don't know what I would do. Most of my cats are outside cats and go in the hills as they please. People will not take the law seriously--- most people are stupid. They would kill cats that are domestic just because they feel like they can. How would I ever know about this? I would never know what happend to my babies. How would someone even know the difference between a domestic or wild cat? Most of my cats are afraid of people they do not know. I've seen wild cats who appear as healthy as my cats.
This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I can understand why they feel the need to do this, but there are other ways of taking care of it. I cannot think of how many cats I have picked up and gotten spayed/nuetered in my area (well over 30) and there are other people out there who do it as well~ there are also numerous programs that do this. I think animal shelters should start charging an extra fee of $50~ which would be paid back after the owner shows proof that his/her animal has been fixed. There's NO reason to not get an animal fixed~ unless it's pure bred. If you want a kitten or two, get some from a shelter.
There's a program that helps people in my area who pick up a lot of strays or aren't financially able to get the animal fixed themselves. The program is called S.N.O.O.P. It pays for most of the cost of spaying/nuetering. The person who owns the animal/animals only has to pay $10... that program takes care of the rest. Why can't our government start simple programs like these? Millions a year is wasted on pointless stuff.
There are also numerous vets who do spaying and nuetering for free. If I were one, I would do it for shelters. I am sure there are many others who feel the same because most vets don't become vets for the money~ they actually do truely care about animals.
I believe a simple program or two would solve the problem. Or perhaps more human societies? We have animal shelters around my area, but they don't pick up animals. They simply take in the animals that are brought in only. We need more stray animal pick ups and we need better, larger shelters. Most humane societies in bigger cities catch strays, abused animals, etc-- fix them-- put them up for adoption. The animal shelters in my area~ take them in~ put them up for adoption~ then make it our responsibility to take your animal to get fixed. They should fix them before they put them up for adoption and simply charge a little more.
I personally feel wild dogs are more of a nuisance than wild cats though. We have wild dogs in my area and wild cats. The wild dogs are scary. I am afraid to visit my public grave yard because of wild dogs. Dogs can bite~carry/spread disease~destroy garbage bags/cans~kill domesticated animals~etc. The only problem with wild cats is they are killing song birds? Yes, the cats can carry disease as well but it's less likely for a cat to attack someone and spread it to a human.
There are just tons and tons of things that could be done to avoid hunting cats... why doesn't our government step in and take control. Think of something better than hunting cats?! Our government is full of problem solvers.... there is a so much better soluton out there.
hey CrSublimeJLC i didn't say they were fluffy this is what I said "The cats they are talking about "hunting" are not your normal fluffy. " As far as killing chickens that is what I heard. I also said they took the call of the wild remember the book?
Stop repeating what i said
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