Cats v Wildlife

[matelot]

I understand you can shoot cats if they are over 200m from the nearest house. Something about them being classified as feral.

 

I have to admit that I can't think of any other pet where it's "OK" for the pet to cr4p in gardens and kill wildlife because it's "natural".

[born2trot]

Cats are wonderful pets for some people and possibly through circumstances maybe their only companion . They cannot be trained like dogs ( although most of them aren't ) but definitely can have a bond with their owner if treated right . Too many in a household I feel is wrong but that applies to dogs to . Sometimes I think people say they will shoot them just to sound the big man and stroke their ego .

[felixthelogchopper]

I never worry about my cat killing things. He's normally too busy licking his hoop in front of the telly.

[eldon]

Well this threads on fire and the opinion is divided and always will be but cat owners have no responsibility and that is where the problem lies.................

[Secretarb]

Try this:

 

Get a kitten, love it as much as humanly possible (which isn't hard), when it has grown up and you've fallen in love with it even more, see it's little furry face be so proud that it caught you a bird.

 

It may not eat it but it killed it and while I don't like it there's nothing I can do. I am not going to keep my cats a prisoner and nor can I teach it the error of it's ways. A cat is a cat to people who don't own cats. To a cat owner a cat is their best friend, their comforter, my cats are pure entertainment, I have taught them to ask for things and one of them is a YouTube star. So when a person gets so much enjoyment out of a mere cat and someone else comes along and says they are going to murder cats THEN people get annoyed.

Some peoples cats are like their children. Would you kill their children if they did something you didn't agree with?

There are plenty of things that outrage me enough to wish there was a purge night and instead of it being cats doing the occasional bird kill it's people who mis treat their kids or animals and while I want to back my car over them or chop their heads off because I don't agree with their behaviour, I can't. Because that is how the world works.

Cats have hunted wildlife for thousands of years. It's just a fact we have to get used to.

I, being a woman and an owner of 4 hilarious and loving cats have been horrified by this thread.

I'm off to see what carnage is downstairs after a nights worth of cat play and then enjoy them for what they are. Big personalities in little bodies.

And mr secretarb can enjoy his cat that he got from a scrap yard who yowls like a nazi and nicks your pork chop while you aren't looking

[IanW]

I never worry about my cat killing things. He's normally too busy licking his hoop in front of the telly.

 

 

hahaha

[skyhuck]

The hypocrisy on this thread is staggering.

 

Must of us destroy habitat for a living, we drive cars and trucks that kill all manner of wildlife, we use plastic and lots of other man made products that destroy our environment, not to mention energy production………….you could go on for pages describing the impact of modern life on the planet, and we are obviously fully participating in this modern world or we would not be on the internet reading and posting here.

 

But oh no all thats fine, its cats that are the despoilers of the planet and they and their owners should be taken out and summerly shot!!!

[roseyweb]

 

, its cats that are the despoilers of the planet and they and their owners should be taken out and summerly shot!!!

 

Most sense I've ever heard you say

[stuartc44]

For me the problem is it's ok to release a non native mammal to do whatever it wants, because it's a pet and usually comes home when it's ready that makes it 'doing whats natural'. I believe cats should have the same controls put upon them as dogs that is where the hypocrisy is.

[countrryboy]

There is a lot of hypocrisy on this thread, but possibly because of the fact that generally on this forum we do cut trees down but we also plant and look after them and appreciate the value of nature.

 

Cats are not evil and are just doing wot is natural to them, but i find it staggering that a cat owner thinks it is ok for there cat to go around the neighbourhood eating birds anywhere.

Do u not think the neighbours kids may have watched a nest of song birds hatch and fletch only to be ate (sorry forgot they don'y usually eat them) to be injured then played with until if the bird is lucky the cat will actually kill it and end their suffering. s was highlighted in a post earlier about the blackbird hand reared, wot about ur neighbours right to have fish in a pond, or do a cat's owners rights over rule everyone elses. Lost a young red squirrel in my garden this year to a neighbours cat

Most song bird species are on amber or even red list's due to their massive decline in numbers over the last 30yrs.

Over the past 30yrs there has actually been very little loss in habitat over most of the country and infact habitat will generally have been improving in that timescale due to grants etc for planting new hedges.

The main problem facing most uk species is Predatation wether from cats, corvids, BOP, mustieds or badgers, but most of the bunny hugging alleged 'conservation' charities will never admit that 'tiddles' causes damage as it will cost them money in memberships. And that is sadly more important to them now than conserving birds/animals

 

At the very least ALL cats should were bells on there collars if allowed out, dogs have to wear collars

 

Up in the Aviemore/Grampian region of scotland is the last stronghold of the Scottish Wild cat which is probably going to become extinct in the next 10-20 years mainly due to cross breeding with domestic cat's.

They estimate their is only 400 left, but that could be massively over estimate of their numbers, makes polar bears, rhino's and snow leopards look common.

Yet cat owners up there will still not get there cats nuetred to save a species yet there probably donating 5 quid a month to save an exotic species (same as all the rspb members that fed birds and have cats)

 

Finally it is NOT LEGAL in the UK to shoot a cat, no matter how near or far from a house, there is a slight grey area over ferals more a matter of ownership criminal damage. So do not go shooting cats no matter wot ur opinion of them is.

In NZ and OZ cats are routinely shot/hunted and poisoned to save the native species and in some cases in oZ the army has came out to shoot them.

In Germany cat is considered vermin/quarry when off ur property and some dog breeds have to kill a cat before they are allowed to be bred from (or atlest that used to be the case until fairly recently)