Feral cats sitting in intercooler duct.

[michaelwfox]

[Monk_Knight]

Sorry if you support PETA or the like...but it is not a domesticated species. They were once from a domesticated family perhaps, but they are nothing like that. I guess we shouldn't shoot and kill the feral hogs that plague the south by destroying crops, other species, and land. I guess we shouldn't kill the dingos in the outback of Austrailia that are basically a type of feral species that steal, run off, kill and maim babies. I mean that's not the extent of a feral cat of course...but I bet if you went to pet it, it'd more than likely bite your ass and give you rabies.

And there is quite a little bit of difference. If I were to just sneak into your house, claiming not to speak English, just to take a nap in a warm place, how would you take it? For granted I'm not the first person to just go shoot anything. I don't even have a gun of my own and what I said was more of a joke than anything. Seriously who would even shoot a gun towards their car in the first place??? Guess we just have some differences here though and we'll have to deal with them. I do offer you empathy simply because it's your opinion and I respect that.

I think there's a bit of a difference between something killing babies and sleeping on the hood of your car...

One of my first thoughts though was towards an airsoft gun. You can get a CO2 powered one pretty cheaply that would be quite accurate and shoot at ~350 fps. Not enough to break the skin or do any real damage, but definitely enough to sting and get a cat to move along.

[Rambo]

Soobvirgin and I are the same. Yes, they may be pests, but I've always liked cats and I just couldn't bring myself to hurt them. All the cats in our area are pets, though, and mind their own business. I might have a different opinion if I was in the OP's situation. Plus, I live on the edge of town, so that cats that do hang around seem to do a decent job of keeping the rodent population in check, which brings me to my next point.

Mice are a different story. We had mice get into our kitchen, and I kept a zero tolerance policy. I used poisons, several varieties of kill traps, and steel wool to plug their entrance. I think I caught 3 the first night, then one a week later, and haven't seen any for the last 6 months.

My dog even chipped in and caught one. He killed it cleanly, leaving it intact, then stood over it with this huge stupid grin on his face. He was clearly extremely proud of himself, and got an extra rawhide as a reward.

[mycologist]

I missed the part about it being at work.

I have shot European Sparrows. Why, because they peck the eyes out of the native bluebirds that live in our birdboxes. Life isn't always the merry ferry land people raised in urban/suburban environments think. I have never shot a cat but I most certainly would. Same for a feral dog, coyodog, pig, python etc.

I specifically qualified my statement that these had to be known to be feral. Not pets. In the areas that are saturated with them, the people there know.

Dogs and wolves are the same species - there is no "domesticated species" really. Animals fit in the biological species concept - if they can breed and have fertile offspring they are the same species. They aren't defined by people in that case.

People need some perspective. A predatory carnivore converts at best 10% of the biomass it consumes into its own useful energy/nutrients. That means it takes a renewable population 10x its own size to support it. That means it is wreaking havoc on the things that actually belong there, and actually have benefits. Because it is the third generation of an escapee from someone's care doesn't give it any rights.

"Feral cats in Australia have caused the decline and extinction of animals on islands as they have been shown to cause a significant impact on ground birds and small native mammals.[10] Feral cats have also stopped any attempts to re-introduce threatened species back into areas where they have become extinct as the cats have simply hunted and killed the newly released animals.[13] Numerous Australian environmentalists claim the feral cat has been an ecological disaster in Australia, inhabiting most ecosystems except dense rainforest, and being implicated in the extinction of several marsupial and placental mammal species.[14] Although a researcher disagrees with this view (Abbot 2002)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_c...ts_on_wildlife

[11blackSTi]

http://columbuser.com/wp-content/upl...wanted-cat.jpg

[rage-wrx]

On the topic of ecological disasters in Australia I was watching this documentary the other day. Everything in Australia seems to be an ecological disaster,even camels.

[RayfieldsWRX]

I hear the arguments, John, and see the logic to it. I simply refuse to play executioner unless the reason for doing so is completely clear to me and the facts are known. If I go outside and see an uncollared cat on my car, I have no mystical way to know that he is or is not feral, therefore I won't pick up my rifle and end its life. This seems analogous to the OP's situation.

I freely admit it..compared to some folks on here, I'm quite the hippy weirdo. It's just not my way to take potshots at other living things unless there is a a proven, clear threat to me.

Obviously, if a wild animal enters my house, and presents a threat to my family, I'll put a crazy amount of buckshot into him before you can say "lock and load"!

[mycologist]

I hear the arguments, John, and see the logic to it. I simply refuse to play executioner unless the reason for doing so is completely clear to me and the facts are known. If I go outside and see an uncollared cat on my car, I have no mystical way to know that he is or is not feral, therefore I won't pick up my rifle and end its life. This seems analogous to the OP's situation.

I freely admit it..compared to some folks on here, I'm quite the hippy weirdo. It's just not my way to take potshots at other living things unless there is a a proven, clear threat to me.

Obviously, if a wild animal enters my house, and presents a threat to my family, I'll put a crazy amount of buckshot into him before you can say "lock and load"!

Yeah, having as much education as I do in the matter makes me feel ethically obligated. The situation has to be known clearly though. Shooting little birdys sucks more than I can say though. I have never been conflicted on it as they can't be a pet. Most of the really feral cats I have seen are quite obvious.

[rage-wrx]

I freely admit it..compared to some folks on here, I'm quite the hippy weirdo. It's just not my way to take potshots at other living things unless there is a a proven, clear threat to me.

Obviously, if a wild animal enters my house, and presents a threat to my family, I'll put a crazy amount of buckshot into him before you can say "lock and load"!

Did you shoot this thing that entered your house & was bothering your car?

[RayfieldsWRX]

Yeah, you got me thinking, and I came up with my own situations where I'd pull the trigger. If there's a dangerous snake in the back yard, I will go ahead and eliminate him, because soon or later my kid is liable to run right over the top of him. I concede that you know much more about the environmental threats than I.

[RayfieldsWRX]

Did you shoot this thing that entered your house & was bothering your car?

Many times...but it keeps coming back.
..

[mycologist]

Yeah, you got me thinking, and I came up with my own situations where I'd pull the trigger. If there's a dangerous snake in the back yard, I will go ahead and eliminate him, because soon or later my kid is liable to run right over the top of him. I concede that you know much more about the environmental threats than I.

See if it were native (or even just not a problem) it would have to go, but not dead. Also, if hypothetically a family of four possums moved in under my house I would go to great efforts to keep them comfortable when I moved them. With the sparrows, for me it is all about if they drop dead right there instantly. The one time that didn't happen I spent $600 on a new pellet gun. The funny part is I got into all this ecology stuff from being a hippy vegetarian.

[RayfieldsWRX]

If I'm able to move it safely, I would do so. I don't have a lot of confidence in my ability to capture and release a pit viper without taking a bite.

Hippy vegetarian? Pssh. You were a weirdo.

(this month makes 27 years for me...sheesh...)

[mycologist]

If I'm able to move it safely, I would do so. I don't have a lot of confidence in my ability to capture and release a pit viper without taking a bite.

Hippy vegetarian? Pssh. You were a weirdo.

(this month makes 27 years for me...sheesh...)

I grabbed a rattlesnake by the tail once but quickly thought better of it.

[Mikie13]

The more I think about it...some well placed C4 might do an even better job.