Height Of Nuttiness – Wisconsin Considering Cat Hunting

By James Donahue

April 13, 2005

Update: A proposal to legalize the killing of feral cats is not going to succeed, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday. "I don't think Wisconsin should become known as a state where we shoot cats."

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The idea is so repulsive to domestic cat lovers that the concept of open hunting of even the strays has made national headlines. And small wonder.

While lawmakers in that state are considering a bill that would allow hunters, farmers and anybody with a gun to shoot “stray feral cats” without collars as a way of controlling their numbers, cat lovers are uniting across the land to protest.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources held open hearings Tuesday throughout every county and took advisory votes . . . probably by showings of hands . . . and received a mixed review. The unofficial count was 6,830 in favor of shooting cats, and 5,201 against.

It will be up to the state legislators to determine if they want to take this proposed bill seriously.

If the lawmakers are of the same ilk as the state legislators in neighboring Michigan, they will probably be happy to turn hunters loose on stray state cats. In Michigan last year they passed a bill opening hunting to mourning doves.

Neither cats nor mourning doves have any food value. They can simply be targets for armed killers tramping through the state woodlands, their carcasses left as food for insects and scavenger birds.

What we seem to have here is a division among animal lovers and savage hunter types that have no respect for living creatures of the planet. It is not surprising that the hunter types are outnumbering people with a love and respect for the Earth. The planet, in its ravaged, dying state, clearly reflects human failure to nourish and protect it.

Among the arguments for hunting cats is protecting the bird population. Indeed, the birds are dying but it is not because of the few that fall prey to the wiles of an aggressive cat. West Nile is sweeping the nation, and the Avian Flu is right on its heels. And other strange, yet unknown afflictions are killing our bird populations by the millions. They are going extinct before our eyes because of human overpopulation, pollution and bad farming practices.

There is another horror to the concept of opening free hunting to “stray feral cats” without collars that bothers this writer. As a cat owner most of my life, I know that most domestic pet cats never wear collars, unless it is a flea collar. They are usually free to roam the neighborhoods when given outdoor privileges.

How, then, will the shooters be able to clearly identify a stray feral cat from somebody’s beloved pet?

It seems to me that opening the door to shooting cats will invite a lot of unnecessary killing of pets all across the State of Wisconsin.

Also we have found, over the years, that most “stray” cats were once domestic house cats that either got lost, or were abandoned by their owners. They are smart enough to live successfully in the wild, in spite of their small size and vulnerability to fast moving cars and the people who already hunt them, law or no law.

We have successfully coaxed such creatures back into being good house cats. All it takes is patience and tender loving care. My mother cared for numerous strays by feeding them every day at the barn on our family farm. She kept her cats alive through many a harsh Michigan winter.

Cats are a remarkable animal. I am convinced that the survivors have minds that work as well, if not better, than most of the humans that live around them. And there is no doubt that cats are quite psychic.

Were they not a gift from the aliens who created us? Is this not why the masses, all possessed by angelic energies, are so anxious to kill them?

The hatrid of cats is wrapped up in superstitions. Christians linked cats to witches back in the days when Christians burned people accused of "witchcraft" at the stake. Remember that former Secretary of State John Ashcroft, a known fundamental Christian, made it clear that he thought callico cats were "of the devil."

Pooh to the cat killers of Wisconsin.