Sandi Thom’s cat
“The police have confirmed it is illegal to shoot a cat.” Really? I know it’s legal to shoot a dog in certain circumstances – if you’re the owner of some livestock which it is worrying.
Anyway I thought cats were presumed to be wild unless there is evidence to the contrary. This means you are not obliged to report running over a cat, wheras you would be for a dog.

like so many things the reality is probably far more complicated than can be expressed in a couple of lines on a newspaper report.

thought cats were presumed to be wild

what wildlife do/dont you need a licence to shoot? i suppose rabits are fair game but is it based on size? perhaps the cat was above the weight quota (a ‘fatcat’ LOL!)

There’s a ginger cat that comes round my house. He’s the fattest f’ing cat I have ever seen.

He came round the other day with a note on round his neck “Hi my name is george, I’m fat, please do not feed me”

How demeaning is that?

I wouldn’t shoot him.

Oh, how unusual – policeman talking shite about firearms law!

Nothing illegal about shooting cats per se – it might be an act of criminal damage to kill a domestic cat, as it would be classed as property, however if it was believed to be a feral cat, for example by a farmer who found it around his chicken pens and took it as vermin, then no offence committed!

It’s quite simple. Shooting cats = wrong. Kicking dogs if they jump up at you as you ride past = right.

What about throwing bricks at it when it keeps sh!tting in your garden ?

a dog? Yeah, fine. Whether it shits in your garden or not.

LOL,meant the cat though,but I think you knew that…..

I hate cats anyway & wouldn’t waste time throwing things at them,much easier to let the dog out to chase them away 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTHJuxYpIII

if a cat is on your property and worrying/eating your livestock (be they goldfish, chickens, rabbits, ducks,guinea pigs or tortoises or any other kind of animal) then it’s perfectly acceptable to shoot them as it would be for dogs.

I think Zulu is right, when I was at agri college (about a zillion years ago) I remember from a ‘what you can kill’ class being told that cats are property so it’s like shooting someones car or windows out. But for some reason all dogs off the lead are fair game. Probly goes back to the egyptian times or something.

They sleep all day, fu*k off out all night, and come home only to eat and sh*t. but enough about teh kids, I would just shoot the frickin cat. Times are hard right now so if its in my garden its on my plate, simple as that.

Varmint Grenade.

Burned dog found dumped in field

Bastids…

I remember reading about how cats are attracted to the taste of anti-freeze, it’s really not very good for them though.

Shooting Cats… mmmmm

Just go to Tesco instead?

Poor little cats, I love cats. Some **** poisoned mine when I was a kid I was heartbroken only about 10 at the time but I still had to be restrained from trying to kill this **** for about a week. Keep ya **** budgies in the house if yer worried!!! Grr makes me mad even now.

Anyway shooting cats is wrong, but on a legal side whats the law on cats straying is it the same as with dogs straying ie can the owner be held responsible for any damage it does.

If you shoot a cat (O good shot sir) probably more likely to get done for having a gun in the 1st place, cruely to cats would be a trivial after thought.

I have a South African chum who uses ‘shooting cats’ as a euphamism for vomiting. Just sharing…

Always amazes me when people say ‘they hate cats’ or ‘don’t like cats’. I like them personally, very loving and friendly and easy to look after, there are other animals I wouldn’t have as pets but I wouldn’t say I hate or dislike any animal. Apart from the old ‘shiting in garden’ excuse, which is far better than shiting on the pavement, whats to hate about cats.

Jeez Gary_M I should introduce you to my dads cat, it’s a vicious bastard.Won’t even let Dad stroke him after 9 years!

Probly goes back to the egyptian times or something.

Yeah. We’ve got a lot of Egyptian law and customs in the UK, haven’t we?

[Sheesh!]
Slaps forehead in dispair
[/Sheesh!]

FWIW, if anyone fancies some feline target practice we usually have a few that stand still whilst sh**ing all over our garden for starters….

Cats and dogs have got it sussed
They worm there way into your trust
Spend their whole lives getting fussed
Oh i have been there.

any guesses on the band name / track? clue 1990’s indie

Ooh me; its the greboliciious Wonderstuff. +1 internets for slimtubing

Some people do have totally irrational hatred of certain types of animals. I find it very strange to want to kill/injur any animal – raises a few moral questions IMO.

Incidentally even if it is a wild/feral cat, it is still illegal to do anything other than shoot/electrocute (note not electric shock)/gas it humanely and quickly – any other form of killing constitutes cruelty under the wild mammal protection act.

Apart from the old ‘shiting in garden’ excuse, which is far better than shiting on the pavement, whats to hate about cats.

they kill **** everything they can, if you want to see wild birds then you need to get rid of cats.

personally, I just boot them or spray water at them and they don’t seem to come back.

shooting cats, that are becoming a pest (to other wildlife, not just shitting in your garden) seems fair enough to me. However poisoning them with anti-freeze is just evil.

I agree with the whole cats keep other wildlife down – they scare off birds, most small mammals, toads and frogs, all sorts of nematodes, newts etc etc. According to my father (horticulturist) some of his students did a research paper into cats and ecology/ecosystems and found them to basically be the scurge of the earth – add in the fact that the ‘natural’ number of cats is way lower than the number that exist in most cities/towns/villages. Basically no cats = much better gardens and crops and fewer pests.

richc has it right. I have great fun with my hosepipe if i find a cat in my back garden. My entire garden is fenced in with 5ft panels so i can sit for what seems like ages with the cornered cat running back and forwards getting soaked. They never seem to come back for more and never get hurt.

This is coming from someone with one of the most pampered cats alive.

I would much rather the local cats shit in my garden than on the streets. Funnily enough i have NEVER seen a cat taking a shit on the street, never mind in my garden.

Oh and i saw a fabled WHITE DOG SHIT the other day. It proved to be quite handy as when we were playing football on the green, no one ran into it cos it was so visable. Got me thinking, is there any way we can make dog crap fluorescent?

they kill **** everything they can, if you want to see wild birds then you need to get rid of cats.

That’s utter tripe, quite frankly. I and my family have had cats (3 at a time sometimes)for decades in a small UK suburban garden with other cats in the area, we also feed the wild birds (of which dozens of different and rare types come), have 2 birdboxes with cameras fitted to see the birds each year (we have bluetits and greattits), have a pond full of fish and frogs/toads and 2 fieldmouse nests in the garden.

The only thing that eats the fish is the heron. After a few birdy presents in the early months the cats stop and the only thing catching the birds is the sparrowhawk. The only thing catching the mice is the neighbour with traps.

Basically no cats = much better gardens and crops and fewer pests

eh? Less cats = FEWER pests? how the hell do you work that out? i think youve got it backwards.

anyway, birds will still come in your garden if you have cats nearby, we have 4 cats in our row of houses and still get loads of birds. Even when we had a cat birds still visited our garden, in his life he only caught 5 or 6 (i know cause he used to leave them on the doorstep for me :0)

cats scare nematodes?

do you have a reference for this claim?

I guess people are already looking to prove that your wrong CK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/15/cats-kill-wildlife

and if the guesstimate figures are anywhere near true (10,000 animals per year, per cat) then at least people will have to admit that ‘fluffy’ is actually a cold blooded killer, who just happens to like radiator baskets 🙂

eh? Less cats = FEWER pests? how the hell do you work that out? i think youve got it backwards.

‘cos they kill many of the natural predators – eg hedgehogs

ref. nematodes – a quick text to my dad reveals its the sh*t that kills of nematodes….

10,000 kills per cat per year!!!

Thats 28 kills per day.
Mine is 13yrs old and has NEVER killed a thing. Can i take it back for a refund?

Apart from the old ‘shiting in garden’ excuse, which is far better than shiting on the pavement

OK. Right. They obviously don’t shit in your garden then, or you wouldn’t have said that.
It’s not nice stepping onto your patio directly into dome fresh cat shit, or putting your hand in it when weeding. This I know from experience.
Cat owners seem to think they keep nice, fluffy, CLEAN animals. They seem unconcerned that their cat is fouling someone’s garden, but only because they don’t have to pick it up. They think lovely little kitty buries it nicely out of harms way. I can tell you for a fact that that’s not necessarily true (See above)
Dog owners get the bad press. But on the whole they clear their pet’s mess up. It’s very rare I see dog mess on the pavement or in the park, despite all the dogs round here.
When was the last time a cat owner knocked on your door to come and pick thier pet’s mess up from your garden? Never.

Yes the ‘they kill everything’ is nonsense. Some cats are ‘killers’ but the majority aren’t. We’ve had six cats over the years and in 20 odd years between all of them they have killed very little. The two we have now are too lazy to even think about chasing birds, and we have plenty of birds in our garden. The ‘killing’ thing is just another one of those myths people use for their irrational hatred.

10,000 animals per year, per cat. Yeh right, if anyone believes that the majority of cats are killing 27 animals/birds per day they need to take a look at their gullible levels.

And yes my cats do shit in my garden, I always make sure I have plenty of nicely broekn up soil for them to er soil. Never, ever had a cat shit on the patio.

seems a shitload doesn’t it, but I guess that includes frogs, toads and little things that they like to play with and then disembowel. Still seems very high to me

A friends cat, managed to get 2 crows, 1 magpie and 5 rabbits in a single night once, all neatly piled up on the kitchen floor.

The magpie was still (sorta) alive and flapping with one of its wings half chewed off, as it seemed to need some trimming to get through the catflap

As for my cat hasn’t killed anything, get a grip of course it has its a cat thats what they do, its not a **** person its an animal that likes to play/hunt, just because it doesn’t bring the toy back home once its stopped playing doesn’t mean that it hasn’t killed anything.

But on the whole they clear their pet’s mess up

Yeh but they still leave traces of dog shit all over the grass, the woners don’t get the Dettol out to disinfect the area do they?