Domestic Cats Fair Game in Wisconsin

[moosmom]

I am posting this here pleading to anyone and EVERYONE to sign this petition.

The State of Wisconsin is trying to pass a bill making it legal to shoot all stray cats. :mad: :mad:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/797408228?ltl=1112662087

They need 5,000 signatures.

Please guys, let's pull together and stop this from happening!

[luckies4me]

I posted this a few weeks ago as well. Stupid moron. :rolleyes:

[janelle]

Just get all the pet stores behind it and you will see action. This is their business and they don't want it harmed. Yeah go pet companies with the big bucks to lobby.

[janelle]

There is a petition for almost everything on that site.:eek:

[Pit Chick]

Maybe if people would spay/neuter their cats, there wouldn't be a stray problem.

[Lady's Human]

Feral cats are a big contributor to rabies problems, and should be controlled.

[Pit Chick]

Originally posted by Lady's Human
Feral cats are a big contributor to rabies problems, and should be controlled.

How are feral cats a big contributor to rabies problems?

There are ways to control ferals, but hunting them isn't the answer. There are programs dedicated to feral cat colonies by trapping, fixing, vaccinating, and releasing them back into the colony area they came from. Rodents can also be a big problem, so having feral cats around can keep that problem under control. Killing off a colony of feral cats will only pave the way for yet another colony to take it's place.

[Lady's Human]

Feral cats can easily be a rabies carrier, as they prey on animals who carry rabies. (Squirrels, raccoons, etc) Personnel on military bases are routinely warned not to take in stray cats (which are numerous on base) precisely for that reason.

[Desert Arabian]

Originally posted by Pit Chick
There are ways to control ferals, but hunting them isn't the answer. There are programs dedicated to feral cat colonies by trapping, fixing, vaccinating, and releasing them back into the colony area they came from. Rodents can also be a big problem, so having feral cats around can keep that problem under control. Killing off a colony of feral cats will only pave the way for yet another colony to take it's place.

That would be extremely beneficial for the cats, but it would not do a thing for the animals that are being killed off by these invasive species. Feral cats do an insane amount of damage to songbird, duck, goose, pheasant, grouse, turkey, and other bird/small animal species. They do way more damage than natural predators that usually pray on these animals. They are throwing the numbers out of wack and are causing huge environmental issues. Something needs to be done, maybe hunting isn't the answer. Maybe trapping them humanely euthanizing (done at vet center or humane society) them would be a better option!? Rodents to not pose as large of a “threat” as feral cats- their natural predators do a fairly good job of keeping their numbers low.

The amount of feral cats in Wisconsin is amazing- they are all over the place- about 95% of them are barn cats that reproduce and leave the farms, 5% are household pets that have gotten loose. If only people would leave their cats indoors and have them fixed- this would not be an issue- sadly it is. :( Yes, feral cats can get rabies, but they are not the biggest carriers in the wild- raccoons are the top rabies carriers- they don’t pose as large of a threat. Oh, and just an FYI- squirrels (and other rodents) cannot carry or transmit rabies (stated in previous post). ;)

[Lady's Human]

http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/rabies.htm

every rabies web link I found listed carriers as ALL Mammals, including rodents.

[moosmom]

Maybe trapping them humanely euthanizing (done at vet center or humane society) them would be a better option!?

How about going after the people who dumped them forcing them to fend for themselves and causing them not trust humans anymore???


Rodents to not pose as large of a “threat”as feral cats- their natural predators do a fairly good job of keeping their numbers low

Not sure where you got your information, but I think you need to do your homework.

Rodents do pose a threat. It is a fact that rodents can and have bitten children and adults. Feral cats will not bite due to the fact that they would NEVER go near a human. They are terrified of them. Rodents feces contain a toxic ingredient that can be deadly to any human by simply sweeping up their droppings.

Nature is cruel. That is also a fact. Cats kill birds for food when they are forced to fend for themselves.

Until the laws change DRASTICALLY on not only animal cruelty/abuse, but also making it a LAW forcing people to spay/neuter their animals, stupid laws like open killing on domestic cats will continue to be brought up. They need to hold pet owners more responsible for owning a pet, especially the ones that force people like us (animal rescue) to take in homeless and stray animals. Requiring breeders (UGH!! :mad: How I hate them!!) to be licensed is also a great idea.

Killing domestic cats is not the answer. Better Legislation is!

[Desert Arabian]

Originally posted by Lady's Human
http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/rabies.htm

every rabies web link I found listed carriers as ALL Mammals, including rodents.

Yes, they can CARRY it, however the chances of contracting it from a rodent is extremely, extremely rare. If rodents are infected with rabies they usually die before they can trasmit it because they are too little and fragile to handle the disease compared to a rabid cow or dog.

Rodents/small mammals:
Providers are often asked about the risks associated with small wild mammals -- such as rats, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits and hares. Rodent bites are common, so rodents are often tested for rabies in the United States. Despite the large number of rodents examined, it is exceedingly uncommon for one to be infected with rabies virus. It has been postulated that these animals are so small that they are unlikely to survive an attack of a larger rabid animal (such as a raccoon, skunk, or fox). No rabid rodents have ever been identified in Washington. Furthermore, although there have been several case reports of humans infected by rabid rodents in other countries, no transmission of rabies from a rodent to a human (or any other mammal) has ever been documented in the United States2.
http://healthlinks.washington.edu/nwcphp/rabies/animals.html

Very few rats infected with rabies have ever been found in the United States. Winkler (1973) reviewed the literature on rodent rabies in the United States. He found that during the 18-year period of 1953 and 1970, a small number of rabid rats (39 rats) were found in the United States. The numbers were extremely small: only 11 rabid rats were found in the U.S. during the three year period of 1953-1955. The number of rabid rats declined during the period of time covered by the review, and by the three year period of 1968-1970 only 2 rats were found to be rabid. This decline in the number of rabid rats is probably due to an improvement in diagnostic techniques which led to fewer false positives.

In other countries, no rats were found to be infected with rabies in surveys of wild rat populations in Sri Lanka (Patabendige and Wimalaratne 2003), Poland (Wincewicz 2002), and Bangkok, Thailand (Kantakamalakul 2003). In Thailand,, 4.7% of Norway rats (9 rats out of 192) were found to be carrying rabies (Smith et al. 1968).
http://www.ratbehavior.org/WildRatDisease.htm#Rabies


http://www.wvdhhr.org/phs/forms/Rabies_Pamphlet.pdf

[Desert Arabian]

Originally posted by moosmom
Not sure where you got your information, but I think you need to do your homework.

I have done plenty of homework, it's not like I am speaking out of my toosh.


Rodents do pose a threat. It is a fact that rodents can and have bitten children and adults. Feral cats will not bite due to the fact that they would NEVER go near a human. They are terrified of them. Rodents feces contain a toxic ingredient that can be deadly to any human by simply sweeping up their droppings.

Yes, they do pose a slight threat, when it comes to rabies they pose nearly no threat. Rodent populations are a little heavy in some places and it would be nice if they were thinned out; however, for the most part their population is healthy. Rabbits are probably at the top of the list for "overpopulated" and they do a fair amount of damage.


Nature is cruel. That is also a fact. Cats kill birds for food when they are forced to fend for themselves.

Cats are not part of "nature", they are an invasive specie and are messing up the local ecosystem because it wasn't formed to support feral cats in the niche. Nature wasn’t set up to support feral cats. They are becoming an invasive species in Wisconsin just like zebra mussels, carp, Asian lady beetles, gypsy moths, wolf-hybrids, etc.




Killing domestic cats is not the answer. Better Legislation is! [/B]

We are not talking about domestic cats, we are talking about feral cats- there is a drastic difference.

[Pit Chick]

Originally posted by YellowLabLover
Maybe trapping them humanely euthanizing (done at vet center or humane society) them would be a better option!?

And if feral cats are as big a problem as you say, hunting them or trapping and euthanizing an entire colony will only allow another colony to move into it's place and start all over. When the population can be controled through spaying/neutering, the colony will die out on it's own within 2-3 years. If people would feed the feral cats then they wouldn't have to prey on the native wildlife as much.
I used to work at an auto parts warehouse that had a feral colony outside. The workers would always bring me a litter of kittens since I was the animal person of the shop, but at the same time (unknown to me) there was a woman taking care of the colony by feeding them everyday and having them trapped, fixed, released. By me taking the kittens and her fixing the adults, together within a year we had the population under control and eventually the cats will die out on their own naturally. (Any tame ones were taken out of the colony to find a home.) There are ways to handle situations like this, but mass slaughter isn't the answer, that's just the lazy solution for the actions of irresponsible pet owners who didn't spay/neuter and keep their pets indoors.

[moosmom]

We are not talking about domestic cats, we are talking about feral cats- there is a drastic difference.

Yes, we ARE talking about domestic cats.

Feral cats ARE domestic cats that have been forced by irresponsible pet owners to revert back to a wild state, living outside and fending for themselves.

Feral cat: An untamed domestic cat living in the wild.

Killing domestic cats is not the answer. Better Legislation is!

[Barbara]

In nature there is no predator whose killings lead to the extinction of the prey. Because then the predator would also be threatened by extinction.

So feral cats- and Donna is right: feral cats are domestic cats -they are not an extra species- are not the reason why birds are threatened by extinction. The main reason are humans: they seal more and more territorries by concrete and asphalte. They have been killing bigger predators for sports- so everything is out of balance.

The answer for feral cats is known and many people at PT do it: TNR!

And of course it may happen that a coyote kills a cat- this is the way of nature.

[moosmom]

Thank you Barbara!! ;) TNR IS the best solution to an overwhelming feral population. But I also believe that changing the laws by requiring people to spay/neuter their animals in addition to TNR would definitely help.

[Pit Chick]

AMEN!

[IRescue452]

Changing the laws won't help because nobody will get their cats licensed, and who could possible enforce cats spays/neuters on all the cats owned in Wisconsin? Sometimes you don't even know that a person has a cat because they don't take them to the vet and they let them run around outside most of the day. Personally I've seen a lot of feral cats that are starving or have been hit by a car and are dragging legs but won't come near people for help. I'd rather see that cat put out of its misery than to live like that. BTW how many people do you think that are voting for this don't shoot the cats already?

[LKPike]

I signed :p .meow.

[Pit Chick]

Originally posted by IRescue452
Changing the laws won't help because nobody will get their cats licensed, and who could possible enforce cats spays/neuters on all the cats owned in Wisconsin? Sometimes you don't even know that a person has a cat because they don't take them to the vet and they let them run around outside most of the day. Personally I've seen a lot of feral cats that are starving or have been hit by a car and are dragging legs but won't come near people for help. I'd rather see that cat put out of its misery than to live like that. BTW how many people do you think that are voting for this don't shoot the cats already?

So changing the laws to enforce responsible pet ownership won't work, but changing the laws to allow knuckle dragging, trigger happy barbarians to hunt domestic animals will? I can see the logic in that since unaltered cats will continue to reproduce which will keep the cycle going. :rolleyes: And how many of these morons are crack shots that will hit their target everytime? How do you know those ferals dragging their legs were hit by a car and not a bullet? What a great idea it is to let people start shooting stray cats, that may actually be someone's pet and God forbid a bullet misses a cat and hits a kid.

[moosmom]

So changing the laws to enforce responsible pet ownership won't work, but changing the laws to allow knuckle dragging, trigger happy barbarians to hunt domestic animals will? I can see the logic in that since unaltered cats will continue to reproduce which will keep the cycle going. And how many of these morons are crack shots that will hit their target everytime? How do you know those ferals dragging their legs were hit by a car and not a bullet? What a great idea it is to let people start shooting stray cats, that may actually be someone's pet and God forbid a bullet misses a cat and hits a kid.

VERY well said Pit Chick!!!