One reason anyway. My son came across a bunny nest in his yard while mowing last week and noticed some cats were stalking the mother while she was on the nest. So he took a laundry basket and made a hole just big enough for the rabbit to get in and keep the cats out. He put a spypoint camera on it to monitor the nest. The mother rabbit was using the hole to go in and feed the babies. Well, the other morning he noticed one of the cats outside the basket and by the time he got out there the cat had dragged all the babies out through the holes in the basket and killed them. When will the PGC or lawmakers pass something pertaining to free roaming cats? I, for one, am sick of everyone letting their cats roam wherever they want and do whatever they want.
There was a time when the PGC encouraged (maybe even required?) wardens to kill feral cats. I believe that ended in the 1970 or maybe early 80s.
The answer to your question is never. If anything, penalties will only increase for killing feral cats. You can thank PETA and other animal rights group for that.
If you want to take care of a cat problem, you're gonna have to go rouge, and don't tell anyone. And be aware if caught, you'll probably be facing some pretty stiff penalties. Ridiculously stiff.
You're probably better off hoping some coyotes set up shop in your neighborhood for a bit. That generally cleans up the problem in short order.
So that's supposed to justify other people's cats coming on my property and doing whatever they please? Have you ever seen what cats do in a flower bed? That's one of the dumbest comments I've seen on here in awhile.
We had a stray show up at the house last weekend. Right off the bat it killed three chipmunks. It will be OK till it nails a bird at feeders! I figure someone dumped it off,
I don’t own a cat and probably never will. And I don’t have anything against cats I just have a problem with the owners of cats that let them out and do whatever. I’ve had neighbors cats grab bunnies and put them under my deck. Had a discussion with neighbor and apparently it didn’t sink in so I took care of the problem.
The latest thing en vogue is the trapping, fixing, and releasing of feral cats. Animal shelters even provide vouchers for free spay/neuter because shelters won't take feral. If you ask me, the policy should be trap, hold 10 days for any owner to claim. If no one claims it, euthanize it.
zeke, dumbest comment on here , glad I could do that for you, I take it the cute little bunnies are gone, so your garden ,shrubs and flowers are safe for a while, I wonder why do you think the cute little bunnies built a nest that close to that building??
If you take some time to read up on animals, such as rabbits, you will find they often build close to houses and right in yards to help protect the young ones from predators. That usually works for wild predators like fox, coyotes and such who won't come that close to humans. But the rabbits haven't figured out the free roaming cats that are taking over entire neighborhoods. I can't understand why it's allowed either.
Here's some reading material.
Back when I was a kid in the 1950's a feral or stray cat was a common target of many small game hunters. They didn't talk about it they just took care of business, I've seen it several times.
I always figured any cat that wasn't near anyone's house or farm building was fair game! Back in the 70s I bought a .22 mag and hunted a lot of groundhogs, I think I ended up with more cats than hogs at the end of the summer! I've seen 2 toms fighting on the mountain while hunting in the fall that were over 1/2 mile from any human habitat.
I hired a cat control expert for the yard, he works for room and board. The last one was a BIG black tom, got him by the back of the neck, and just shook him until he died. You know I tried to stop him but just could not get to him in time. :grin2:
I heard a rumour that a Crossman Pump up air gun, pumped up 15 times works very well in discouraging feral cats.....permanently..... while not disturbing the neighbors. Just something I heard
A cat is just being a cat, what his DNA tells him for over thousands of years. If the cat didn't get the little bunnies I suspect an owl, hawk, yote, your neighbor's dog, or your lawn mower would have. And if nothing would get the bunnies you'd end up with a bazillion bunnies in a few years.
the other side is i have dogs dig holes in my yard,crap logs and threaten me and my grandchildren and kill rabbits-squirrles if they catch them. so i think i should start S.S.S.for those wayward canines.
Here’s my gang today....they’re trying to hide from the little grandkids in our house. They hear the kids coming through the kitchen, they run for cover into the bedroom.
Cats... especially BIG cats, are the ultimate predator. The man gave them SHARP claws, SHARP teeth, the ability to climb, and unmatched speed and agility.
My mother is a cat person. One day while I was over her cat jumped up on the table right in front of 3 people. I looked at her and said a dog wouldn't do that, well maybe once. Cats, you can yell and scream and they don't learn they're behaving badly. A dog, once trained, all you have to do is look at them or drop an octave in your voice and it's yes sir. I did hear a good one once. The difference in mentalities between cats and dogs. A cat thinks, you feed me therefore I am god. A dog thinks, you feed me therefore you are god.
Cats are the most useless pets. My lab was a better mouser than any of my mothers cats. Just kinda hard for a 90# dog to sneak up on a mouse.
The three cats in my house haven’t set foot outside since I caught them as kittens. One is 18, the others are 8 and 7 years old. They do like to look out the window, especially like watching hummingbirds at the feeder. But they would be terrified to go out....you could leave a door open all day and they wouldn’t go near it.
A forum community dedicated to Pennsylvania’s hunters and enthusiasts Come join the discussion about trails, licenses, fishing, game laws, styles, reviews, optics, accessories, classifieds, and more!