I find this upsetting.

[kyrielle]

News story.

I can see that feral cats can become a problem / are a problem.

But I do not think this is a good or right way to address it. It could too easily affect a pet...even one that was chipped; how would anyone know, at a distance?

I do not like the idea of killing a cat, for any reason except mercy, in any way; they are the ultimate pet and protected-childlike-animal to me, because I grew up with them. I realize that is not a realistic stance. I recognize that it may be necessary to kill some. I do not think this is the right way to do so. I do not find it acceptable. At the very least, trap and determine if they are chipped, or an un-collared pet that escaped, or a collared pet that escaped and eluded the collar (many pets who are collared, if the owner expects them to go out, the collar is tear-away so it won't choke them if it catches on something - shall these animals now be shot for not strangling themselves?).

I suppose it's one way to also encourage greater responsibility among pet owners, but accidents happen, and this still seems utterly wrong to me.

I'm going to bed now. And blah on today in general.

Comments

[leora.livejournal.com]

Do you have any statistics? I have experience with feral cats, and they tend to be afraid of humans, so they don't attack them. Feral cats aren't a particular danger, except when they pose an imbalance in the ecosystem because of killing birds, mice, etc. If you neuter and release, you decrease the size of the feral cat community, which is useful as being a feral cat is a sad life most of the time. But I don't see any need to kill them.