Is it moral to shoot stray cats?

[Melensdad]

OK here are the facts.

• I live out in the country 5 miles outside of the nearest town, shooting pests is perfectly legal.
• Cats are NOT a native predator in this area.
• The native birds, squirrels, etc are easy pray for cats and the cats are killing the natural species.
• The balance of nature is being thrown off by stray cats and it is even affecting plant species.

I get no pleasure out of killing a cat (or any other animal). But they have effectively become the "top of the food chain" and are having a devastating effect on the wildlife. The pheasant population has plummeted. The woodcocks are all but gone. Even squirrels are not very common in the woods and that will affect many trees over the long run.

I know of no county animal shelter that would take a feral cat that cannot even be approached by a human and keep it alive. These cats are nature hardened, they are not the sweet little tabby cats we keep in our homes.

Realize also that if these cats are not destroyed then we are valuing their lives above the lives of the native species. Which animal has more rights, those native animals that live in the wild habitat, or those that are not native and are destroying it?

So is it moral to shoot the stray/feral cats?

If not, why not?

 

[Bobcat]

Danny troll?

 

[Melensdad]

Danny troll?

No, actually an old neighbor set about a half-dozen of them loose. They lived on/under their porch and multiplied. There was always food on the porch for the cats, but they roamed and multiplied freely.

The family then moved.

I'd guess that there are at least a few dozen of them roaming around now and they have really become a problem for the wildlife. We see far fewer birds over the past few years. Far fewer squirrels and chipmunks. This has been a growing problem and getting worse every year for the past 3 or 4 years. I figured winter would kill them off but they seem to have adapted and are now wild/feral and impossible to approach.

 

[daedong]

Danny troll?

Not Trolling Danny just my opinion.

If a Domestic cat is outside of owners property or a feral cat is spotted it should be fair game.

 

[Doc]

Not Trolling Danny just my opinion.

If a Domestic cat is outside of owners property or a feral cat is spotted it should be fair game.

Yep, I have to agree Vin at least on the feral cats. Domestic cats rarely learn boundries.

I've been trying to catch a raccoon for a friend. I'm using a live trap. The only thing I've caught so far is one of our cats.
Live traps might help you to catch the rascals.

 

[ddrane2115]

No, actually an old neighbor set about a half-dozen of them loose. They lived on/under their porch and multiplied. There was always food on the porch for the cats, but they roamed and multiplied freely.

The family then moved.

I'd guess that there are at least a few dozen of them roaming around now and they have really become a problem for the wildlife. We see far fewer birds over the past few years. Far fewer squirrels and chipmunks. This has been a growing problem and getting worse every year for the past 3 or 4 years. I figured winter would kill them off but they seem to have adapted and are now wild/feral and impossible to approach.

your neighbor should be beaten silly with whatever you can find then left for the cats to claw. he did a diservice to your neighborhood. We had the same thing at my dads at one time. how many are in the colony Bob? We have a service here that traps them, spays or neuters them then returns them.........at least that way you cut down on the numbers in the future.

 

[Melensdad]

your neighbor should be beaten silly with whatever you can find then left for the cats to claw. he did a diservice to your neighborhood. We had the same thing at my dads at one time. how many are in the colony Bob? We have a service here that traps them, spays or neuters them then returns them.........at least that way you cut down on the numbers in the future.

I totally agree the old neighbors were wrong to allow the cats to breed and roam. But that is now past, they moved 3+ years ago. At they time they moved the cat population was probably more than a dozen. The epicenter of the population was their property, but they radiated out from there and it was common to see them all over the neighborhood . . . and spreading into the farms and woods.

These are NOT domestic cats. A small % of them WERE domestic, but the cats out there now, and there are probably a few dozen, are feral and have never lived in a home.

Danny, no way in hell am I going to call a service to come here to catch the cats, 'fix' them and then return them to the wild. That is just a horrible thing to do to the birds, squirrels and native animals of this area. The cats, as stated before, are now at the top of the food chain in the woods near the houses (those that get caught in the fields are fair prey for coyotes). I don't value cats above the native animals. In fact I'd say the native animals should be placed above the value of cats because the native species belong in the woods/fields. But the problem with that is they are killing the songbirds, gamebirds and other fuzzy animals . . . which were plentiful when we moved here 13+ years ago and now have been decimated by the cats.

There is a service that does trap & relocate and to me that just shifts the problem to other people, again not a good choice.

I've not hunted in many years. I will kill what needs to be killed, if and when it proves itself a real pest, and I generally say that whatever is in the woods is safe there because it is in the woods were it belongs. But these cats don't belong, they are killing/have killed that which does belong.

 

[Erik]

I'm a firm believer that there's a special place for folks who abandon animals, especially fertile ones. Barn cats should be neutered or spayed - there's always a city dweller willing to dump their litter (dogs or cats) out our way, so they're easy enough to replace. My wife - the vegetarian, animal loving, non-hunter she is - has given me instruction that any adult stray dog not obviously well fed/cared for is to be potted. puppies can be taken to the local slow kill shelter, because they have a chance of being adopted. Cats - especially in your case - should fall under the same rule. We have enough of a coyote population to keep the feral cats in check, but I wouldn't have a problem with controlling a vermin population like that any more than I do with live trapping raccoons & opossums who think our barn cat food storage area is their private larder.I don't see a moral issue here other than the one that dictates you SHOULD do whatever you're willing to do to control the population of feral cats within your own moral code. (unfortunately, the eat what you kill rule doesn't apply, since cats tast bad - and the practice is frowned on in most of this country.)

 

[urednecku]

To "catch, 'fix', & release" would be expensive, and you would never catch them all. You would have a battle as long as you lived there. A .22 short doesn't make much noise, and would be very effective.

 

[Melensdad]

To "catch, 'fix', & release" would be expensive, and you would never catch them all....

There are actually organizations that claim to be humane type organizations that exist to catch/fix/release wild cats. They do it free of charge. I simply think it is WRONG to do so, I think it is STUPID to do so, and I think it is IMMORAL do so.

Here is my logic.

WRONG to rerelease 'fixed' cats simply because it does not address the problem of the cats destroying the native animals. The released cats will continue to hunt, continue to kill, and continue to destroy the natural balance in the ecosystem. I've read some of the literature from the catch/fix/release groups that suggest that the released cats will live for an additional 3 to 6 years. And none of the groups suggest they will catch all the cats. So the problem still exists!!!

STUPID because it is done out of 'compassion' for the cats, but what sort of life it it for the cats? And why is it compassionate for the cats to remain alive but not compassionate to the Robins, Bluebirds, Chipmunks and other animals that actually belong there to remain alive? So now we are valuing cats above other creatures, we are giving them free reign over the woods, and the problem still exists!!!

IMMORAL because God says we have dominion over the earth, and part of that dominion is to be good stewards of the natural resources. Hunters and outdoorsmen pride themselves in the fact that they support natural habitat restoration, reintroduction of native species, etc. But under no logic that I can come up with, be it from the spiritual or the secular points of view, can I find any logic for the introduction of a non-native predator into an environment where it can run amok and kill at will. And we have not actually resolved the problem so we have done nothing about resolving the real problem, since the problem still exists!!!

 

[Av8r3400]

First, I'm a cat person. I have two wonderful feline friends that live in our home with us and they are valued members of our family. Therefore they do not leave the house.

People that let their cats wonder, are doing a cruel disservice to not only their animals, but the native prey that they will kill. Cats are very good at this. Letting a fertile cat wonder is even worse. They will breed quickly. They are also very good at this.

Feral (wild domestic) cats should be HUMANELY dispatched. A shot to the head will do this quickly and painlessly to the animal. They can not be rehabilitated, or re-domesticated.

I hate to see animals needlessly killed or destroyed, but ferule cats are a pest species and do great damage to the habitat they live in.