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Topic: Kitty cat hunting (Read 551 times)
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Beermaster
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Now that I got your attention, get your mind out of the gutter and read this story. This one is sure to cause some contriversy.
Thousands Attend Cat Hunt Meetings
Opponents Say Hunting Cats Won't Help Song Birds
UPDATED: 11:14 am EDT April 12, 2005
Hundreds showed up at Wisconsin Conservation Congress meetings around Wisconsin on Monday, many to voice their opinion on a proposal to allow hunting of free-roaming cats.
Video
Advisory Vote Taken On Feral Cat Hunting Debate
Outdoor enthusiasts gathered for spring hearings in every county to vote on hunting and fishing. The results get forwarded to the state Natural Resources Board. The proposal was one of several dozen part on the agenda of the annual meeting.
About 2,000 showed up in Dane County at the Alliant Center. Cat hunt opponents said that hunting cats is not going to fix any problems with declining song bird populations.
"Although feral cats may contribute (to) the problem, the destruction and loss of habitat is far and away the primary reason for the loss of song birds, gamebirds and other birds," one opponent said.
Supporters of a cat hunt said that current programs to control cat populations are not working.
Alliant Center
"Maybe we can figure out something with the Humane Society, but neuter them and send them back into the wild -- I don't think that'll do it," a cat hunt supporter said.
Mark Smith, a La Crosse firefighter, proposed the hunting idea at the La Crosse County congress last year, noting that feral cats killed small mammals and birds. Under Smith's change, which would require a law passed by the Wisconsin Legislature, free-roaming cats would become an unprotected species and it would no longer be a crime to kill them.
At least two upper Midwestern states, South Dakota and Minnesota, have allowed wild cats to be shot for decades, just like skunks or gophers.
Critics of Smith's idea organized Wisconsin Cat-Action Team and developed a Web site -- DontShootTheCat.com. They said they would mobilize cat lovers to attend the congress meetings.
Some estimates indicate 2 million wild cats roam Wisconsin. The state says studies show feral cats kill 47 million to 139 million song birds a year.
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MEDHAWK
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On a Bear hunting trip a while back in upper Canada we went to a garbage site to check for tracks on a huge Brown Bear sited in the area. I was shocked at the amount of cats in this dump site, it seemed like thousands everywhere. I was amazed, I had never seen so many cats in one area in my life, I can understand Wisconsins problems, I say let the shooting begin,lol.
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Beermaster
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Hunting cats sounds kinda cruel. Maybe i think that way because we have two of them. I would be more for neuter and release type of a deal. But what i really think they and (michigan) need to do is make people get a $250 cat license or dog license, and make it a misdeminor to have one without that license. that would keep irresponsible morons from getting a kitten or two while they are cute and all and throwing them out when they turn into adult cats.
Just my 2c.
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Great Lakes Forum - Your Destination For Great Lakes Fun
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MEDHAWK
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What my guides explained to us up in Canada was that people after owning the cats for a while, and not wanting them anymore would just take them to the dump and let them go.
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Beermaster
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They should just sell them to local korean restaurants. Happens al the time in New York. I could swear that I heard my general Tso's chicken meowing when we went t new york  '>
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rockinmichigan
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Okay, have you kids gone to that website yet? I am visiting it now, and I tell you what, its pretty interesting. I, myself, couldn't see myself hunting for domestic cats, but I'm all for going for bobcats, cougers, etc. Here's an interesting quote on the site:
"I don't think Wisconsin should become known as a state where we shoot cats," said Doyle, a Democrat who neither hunts nor owns a cat. "What it does is sort of hold us up as a state that everybody is kind of laughing at right now."
I really don't want to make this a right vs. left thread, nor do I want to see a political thread on this website, but I will say you'll have those far-left activists (a.k.a. PETA) putting up a beef or two (pun not intended) about this.
I think personally that this is a bunch of rubbish. There are a lot of things that kill songbirds, in Wisconsin and everywhere else. For example, snakes, hawks, eagles, owls, you could even put a songbird on a hook and catch a freakin' muskie. Plus you gotta factor in the other variables like pollution, construction of homes, etc. I don't think you can just single out domestic or wild cats.
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