Stray Animals?

[Teddscau]

Okay. So, if you see a dog outside, unaccompanied by a human, you assume they're a stray and take them to the animal shelter, right?

So, when you see a cat without their guardian, why don't you take them to the shelter? Any animal, EXCEPT for cats, are considered strays when just wandering around. Why is that?

I live out in the country, and our house is less than 5 minutes from a highway, a rocksthrow away from a farm, and our house backs onto a conservation area. There's coyotes, foxes, bears, raccoons, fishers, and a highway. More than half of these cats aren't fixed, so the kittens are left to starve, succumb to disease, or make a meal for another, NATIVE species.

So, it ticks me off that people just let their cats wander around. This summer, I thought it might be fun to set some live traps, then bring the cats to the non-kill shelter that I volunteer at? Despite the large number of cats they get in each year, they fix them all and find them all homes. I mean, how am I supposed to know if one of these unaccompanied cats has a guardian? What do you guys think?

 

[SailBoat]

Your location implies that a large number of those cats are being dumped and left. Take the total number of homes around you and divide by 7 and that is the maximum number of homes that 'may' have a cat or more of their own. The numbers that you are seeing defines that the vast majority represent feeding opportunities for those up the food chain and a death sentence for those down the food chain.

Take them to the shelter and have them do their thing!

Those homes around you that are letting their cats stray about, geeee sorry about that!

 

[Teddscau]

Well, there are far less cats now. Several years back, a fisher killed at least a dozen cats, including two of the ferals we'd fixed and had been caring for. The fisher also killed a chihuahua. For at least two years, we didn't see squirrels or chipmunks anymore. The fisher had killed them. We don't see porcupines anymore, either, and we rarely see raccoons now. The Ministry of Natural Resources had "reintroduced" fishers to the area, but as PETA says, things turned out terribly. Obviously, the Ministry denied they had reintroduced fishers, but it turns out they were lying.

Anyways, my parents don't want to set up live traps because they know one of the reasons I want to set them up is to teach our idiot neighbours a lesson. But another part is because not all of these cats are fixed. And it isn't safe for cats to be wandering around.

 

[SailBoat]

Clearly, you need more Fishers in your area!

Maybe you could convince that Government group to drop a couple by your place (late at night of course). And that way, they would have plausible deniability! As I hear it, they love plausible deniability!

 

[sonja]

Set up the traps!! Cats are the by far the biggest invasive species problem. They decimate wild bird populations as well as small critters. The only way to chip away at the problem is to one by one remove them from the environment. It's a long slow battle, but every cat you remove saves the lives of exponentially more animals in the long run - including more cats that would be born as the offspring of the original.

 

[Teddscau]

Hey, don't be mean SailBoat. The cats (or any non-native species) can't help it if humans are idiots.

I talked to one of the staff at the Humane Society today, and she said to bring in any "friendly" cats. They aren't equipped to deal with ferals right now, but apparently they're in the process of developing a program for feral cats. Honestly, I've been wanting our area to have a free spay and neuter clinic for ferals (and our neighbours' un-fixed cats). There should be a law that all cats and dogs have to be fixed.

 

[SailBoat]

Hey, don't be mean SailBoat.

What? Now ghoulish humor laced in bad taste is out? Maybe the script for a Horror Movie? Oh, that's another Thread.