AL law made it okay for lady's neighbor to shoot her cat....
 

http://www.waaytv.com/cgi-bin/shownews.cgi?id=4116

"A Limestone County woman says her neighbor shot and killed her cat. Now she's placed a sign pointing at his house, calling him a "pet killler." "

I saw this story on the local news tonight and thought of all the HT people that have posted about keeping strange animals off your property.

And she did call the police, and there is a law that allows for shooting animals that won't stay off your property....

But - thought this (HT Site) group would find this intersting.

Angie

Sounds like a neighborhood war to me. Shame on both parties for acting so childish.

I think it was a little extreme to shoot it.

I hate cats and would like to shoot every one I see....but it was someones pet and for whatever convoluted reasons, some people like them.

I love dogs and if someone shot my dog, I would deal with him ASAFP. So I have to side with the cat lovers here.

My biggest peeve with cats though is that cat owners don't seem to want to take any responsibility for them. If you tell someone to keep their blank cat at home they just give you that sing songy voice and say...It's just not in their nature.

I doubt they'd say the same thing if my dog came over every day though.

My cat stays in, we do have a neighborhood cat that we take turns vaccinating and we will have him neutered pretty soon. He's great to get the vermin and I like having him around. We've told the new neighbors what he's all about and they leave him alone now. If you were to meet my other neighbors you would know why. :p

I like the pet killer sign and it sounds like they live in town to boot, or did I miss something. People need to treat people the way they want to be treated instead of taking things to the next level, which usually results in alot of pain and trouble for everyone. :rolleyes:

I have 3 cats, And there are about 8 more that come into the yard. Now with the yard being under chain link on 3 sides. I don't get to many dogs either. I give A dog A shot or 5 from my Blank pistol. And if they try to get froggy they DIE. But to shoot what you know is someones Pet is Dumb. and cold hearted.

I couldn't bring my self to shoot someones pet maybe them but not their pet .
I havent had any problems with keeping my animals home other than the mini horse who goes roaming sometimes if he gets out of the fence.
the last disagreement with a neighbor about a dog ended in a mexican stand off ,he leveled a shotgun on my dog and I leveled mine on him.
Pets here are considered family they are never sold or given away

BY golly, I like you more all the time Don ! :hobbyhors :dance:

Our state has a statewide pet leash or pen law to protect livestock in rural areas . Cats are as much a threat to poultry and rabbit farms as dogs are to cattle ranches. Being a statewide law, it can also be utilized by non-agricultural residents.

i would shoot the cat if and only if it was after my chickens and knew it to be feral and not a pet...however if she was warned from him in the past well she should have kept it inside.

Trap
 

Well for me I would have to trap the cat and get animal control to haul it off, or take it to the shelter myself.

The reason---ordnance against discharging a firearm or even a BB gun within the city limits.

I get extremely tired of gardening in cat manure, dead birds, an occasional dead squirrel, cat hair and paw prints all over my vehicle, and items knocked off because a cat has jumped up and knocked them from their location.

I have always liked cats, but even I have reached my limits.

That little bit of a news story was mighty light on details. Not enough to come to any sort of a judgment.

How much of a problem had the cat made out of itself in the past? That has everything to do with the matter.

.....Alan.

I breed bengals cats, and love them to bits. Love my dogs just as much.

All mine stay inside, unless they are harnessed and leashed and I am right with them. No pet should be allowed to wander, it's downright rude, and not very safe for the pet.

mine are outside all the time, we take care of them and they take care of us. They chase off foxes, racoons, skunks, possums, and they kill and eat mice, snakes, weasels, moles, chipmunks, voles, you name it. They don't bother the chickens at all. The cute little critters like chipmunks can do major damage if there are no cats around.

i love dogs also but if one chaces my livestock i tell them one time and only once

Cats kills birds, including songbirds. They're one of the primary reasons many bird populations are declining.

I love birds. I don't like cats. You do the math.

Although me, I just squirt them with a water hose. But don't think doing worse hasn't crossed my mind, especially when the evening grosbeaks or blue gray gnatcatchers or bluebirds are around.

From Langston University's research site:
http://www.luresext.edu/goats/traini...ity.html#dspec


"For instance Toxoplasmosis is a disease that causes abortions in goats. It is transmitted by the domestic cat which is a biological vector for the agent. Cats get infected by eating mice, the parasite completes its lifecycle in the cat and only in the cat and then the cat defecates in a feed bin and goats get fed grain which is contaminated with cat feces. Cats can also serve as mechanical vectors. It is amazing how much manure and disease agents can attach itself to the foot of a cat and it is amazing at how they can travel from pen to pen and trough to trough.

Now you might say “wait a minute, my cats control rodents on my farm and rodents transmit disease.” It is true that mice and rats can spread some important diseases like Leptospirosis which is spread in the urine of rodents. Cats are generally inefficient at rodent control and if you are relying on cats only then you will have a rodent problem. Rodents can be controlled by cats in addition to traps and baits but there are obvious dangers to the cats with this system. For the most part Toxoplasmosis is spread only by young cats (kittens). As the cat matures it becomes resistant to infection. Kittens can be avoided by spaying and neutering cats and maintaining a population of only adult cats."


Have all the cats you want. On your own property. Period.

Peekin, I can relate. I used to have a couple of mockingbirds around the house. It was the first time that I had ever heard one, I assume they are uncommon in these parts (NE IN). I absolutely loved their singing. Awhile ago I found one of them dead on the ground, and really haven't heard the other either. I hope the other just moved on, but I think it was the despicable free range neighbor's cat. :flame:

i am no longer surprised by people who should know better still believing in the tooth fairy... i mean cats controlling rodents. there is a reason cats were never used in the ratting pits in victorian england, they stink at killing rodents. weasels OTH are extremely good at it and will kill many more than they can eat if they can, unfortunately they will do the same to chickens.
a house cat's first choice of prey is small birds, lizards then mice. the cat that kills larger rodents & similar sized weasels regularly is on the order of winning the powerball lottery (not the jackpot just anything). first off the average 6-8# cat has a mouth that barely fits around the neck of a 1-2# rat/weasel and so tackling these ferocious fighters is generally the start of some serious blood loss for the average house cat. w/ such a small threat it is unlikely an 8-12# grey or 10-20# red fox is going to look at a house cat as anything but a big fat meal. in fact abandoned cats & their feral descendants were a major prey for the large red foxes on the base i was stationed on last year. they were also sought after by the small southern racoons, 10-30# adults.
E.alleg
the main reason you have fox, weasels & snakes is because they trailed the smelly little rodents that the cat was ignoring in favor of devastated native songbirds.

My cats developed a taste for ground squirrels - called gophers, state critter here in Minnesota. Had a tom that would go out every day & catch one, he'd almost always bring one back too - catch it on the way back & he was full. He had quite a route, following the pasture fence line.

My cats develop their own nitche - one would get all excited when she heard a tractor going to the corn crib, that was her place, she new machinery running there would scare up an easy meal. The other cats could care less. One went to the west field all the time, several like the ditch, one pretty much lives in the grainery. Couple learned to come out at dusk when I plow in the fall, sit at the end of the field, wait fro the bunnies & others to run to them. Two learned how to team up to catch bunnies on their own. One mother cat would bring home 4-5 red squirrels per month - I don't know how she did that.

One learned how to climb up the old pig barn wall & walk the 1" ledge over to the upstairs door - she feasted on pidgeon for a week until they found a differnt place to live.

They are not the only answer to critter control, but they do a fair job of keeping it down.

I had a rat terrier dog that was amazing, getting mice & rats. He was the nicest dog, but hated anything alive that wasn't human, cat, or cattle.

--->Paul

We have 3 cats, 2 of which liked to go outside. We began trying to keep them in this year to avoid fleas. The neighbors have 2 cats who like to go out, and I often see them in our yard. That doesn't bother me - I love animals, and these cats are obviously well loved and beautiful cats. (one is the prettiest old lady - medium haired tortishell...) anyway. I don't mind them over here, but my hubby HATES it! He says if they're yours, they should stay on your property, and if you can't get them to do that, keep them in the house! I can't blame him!
If we found neighbors were not happy with our cats, we would take great lengths to keep our cats inside! (Great lengths? All it takes is a spray bottle!) That's just common courtesy! (or uncommon courtesy?) It should be part of being a neighbor!

I've been known to shoot a few pets in my life...but only because the neighbor wouldn't keep them up and they kept messing with the chickens and my cats. Around our place, you don't mess with the cats.

I know that people find cats inefficient at rodent control, but anecdotally, they've been superb for us. We had the same line of cats for 20 years. In that time, we MIGHT get 1 mouse per year in the house. As soon as that line died out, we were trapping 2-3 mice per day. Tubby, my big tom at the time, was an outdoor cat that looked more like a bobcat in size. He was 19# of solid muscle. Yes, he'd catch birds in mid-flight, but his favorite things were squirrels, mice, and (gasp) gopher rats. His mother was only about 1/3 his size, but she killed squirrels on a regular basis, as well as mice and field rats. Even after she lost one of her legs to the neighbor's hay mower, she still caught squirrels and such for her kittens.

I wouldn't dream of having grain, etc without cats. Then again, I don't plan on raising goats.

Brandon

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In many places it would be against the law to put up a sign like that ( ordinance )

The owner of the cat broke the law by allowing the cat to run loose on other peoples property. Plain and simple, not hard to understand

I don't like steeping in other peoples crap from there animals dogs cat etc.

Cat is killed and it's the owners fault it's there law.

If they get another cat maybe they will think twice before they let it be a nuisance to other people, or it may die also.

Some People learn and some don't. People need to keep there animals on there own property, period.

bumpus
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The worse carrier of desies is a dog going from farm to farm picking up everything on it's feet.

Many farmers just kill them and don't say anything.

One your cows dies because of a roaming dog will cure a feeling for other peoples pets that they will not keep at there home.

They don't care why should I care. Dog Gone ! ! !

bumpus
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Clearly laws vary from place to place. Utah is a "free range" state: if you want animals off your property, it's your responsibility to fence them out. Lucky for us, none of our neighbors are close enough for their animals to be a problem. But don't let your dog get caught chasing sheep! Up here, you don't get a warning, the sheep owner will shoot it the first time.

As to the cat "controversy," our cat does a great job of keeping mice out of the barn-- and we haven't seen any in our garden since we got him, either. (Last year, mice stripped my pepper plants-- I put out mouse traps and quit counting after 100. And that was before we got livestock, so they weren't after the feed!)

We had two cats until recently, but one of our dogs killed one. Our pets too are our family, and that gave us some tough decisions. We finally decided to keep the dog, who is otherwise an excellent outside dog, and that the remaining cat, who is a small, loving tabby, needs to go to a safer home (since he's relegated to the barn). We plan to replace him with a mean old tom.

I used to shoot em out here , especially the drop offs. They were eaten in a day or two by other creatures. The price of ammo went up and I found out cats are fox's favorite snack. My neighbors cat keeps digging up around here and I figure when I've had enough, I would just trap it. take it to the shelter, then let them pay to get it back.

The shooter should make his own sign at point it at her house saying "irresponsible pet owner!". If she can have hers, then he can have his.
We have a problem with cats going after the baby chicks and ducklings. I am not a fan of cats. Never liked them. If you let your cat out then it is on your head if something happens to it. The pound/humane society will not come out and catch all the free roaming cats in our area ( we could catch them and drop them off which will end in their death within a few days anyway -but we still have a "fee" to drop them off) -so the neighbors have been warned. Keep your animals anyway- have gun- will shoot at any sign of threat.

Ditto
 

[QUOTE=Windy in Kansas]Well for me I would have to trap the cat and get animal control to haul it off, or take it to the shelter myself.

I get extremely tired of gardening in cat manure, dead birds, an occasional dead squirrel, cat hair and paw prints all over my vehicle, and items knocked off because a cat has jumped up and knocked them from their location...QUOTE]

If you have a pet you have to be responsible. It is hard with cats and I feel badly for this lady, but reality is- your lovely pet might be a pane in someone else's life, garbage, garden, etc.

I live in the country, so this is not a problem, but I've decided that if I ever move back to the city I'll build a "cat run" so my cats can go outside, but not get into trouble with the nieghbors.

In Austraila, they have a serious problem with cats, and these outdoor runs are pretty common. But then I've built some pretty elaborate pens for previous pets (birds, iquanna, assorted rodents).

Cathy

I love my pets very much and I'm sure if you have a pet you probably love yours. But guess what I dont love your pet and I didnt ask for your pet so keep your pet in your yard not mine.
Or you may not have a pet for very long.
My pets are always in my yard. If they go in your yard you can take the measures you need to.

When I bought this place, the owners raved about how well their cat kept down the mice and rats.

Um, yea. Then explain the rat's nest in one of the bathrooms, the rats in the shed and all the mice living in the stove that I found the day after I took possession. It also explains the near complete lack of birds the first year I was here.

Sorry, but birds are far preferable and more advantageous than cats. Cats kill birds and they stink. Keep them in your house.

you pot stirrer you, LOL

I'm from Alabama originally and am NOT a cat lover I admit, that said, if the cat had been at home rather than on the neighbors property it would still be alive. Maybe the owner is the one at fault.

Papaw here,
My thoughts exactly! People who own pets should keep them on their property. The cat was fair game! If the woman wanted to keep her pet safe, it wouldn't have been running the neighborhood. I'm in Alabama and I'm looking into the cat shootin law! Got a few that "water" everything around here every night....they need to be sent to kitty heaven!!!!

The fact that the man had to place ties and signs on his property line shows us the woman allows her kids to roam at will too!

Having had many cats get after my chickens, cats around here disappear on first sighting! Several neighbors have the opinion that cats should stay a little hungry to encourage them to find mice. Unfortunately my chickens are easier to catch then their mice! Byebye cat....bang!

While cats can be irritating as all get out (especially when they're playing "hide the Tootsie Roll" in my raised bed gardens), it is a big mistake to simply shoot them.

As long as cats are alive, the evil is contained within their bodies. It is nurtured by the very essence of all that is innately cat, but it is contained.

If you suddenly sever that life force, the evil is freed to become sort of a free radical, ready to attach itself to the nearest living being. Many a homeowner has thoughtlessly dispatched a cat while one of the neighbor hood preteen children is nearby. Then, it's only a matter of time that those children become aloof, arrogant, independent and, perhaps, a bit surly. Definite indications of early kitty soul incursion.

No, the only option is to attempt to win the foul felines over to the side of human decency. Love conquers all. Approach them from that standpoint and bring them into the fold where you can keep an eye on them. Then, try to get them to see that their evil ways do them no good. Point to your noble dog and his easy life as an example of what can happen if a creature assumes a life that in inherently good.

And If all else fails, at least keep the cat indoors where its harm is minimized. If you must, attempt to feed it to death. And try to keep it happy. Then, they are less apt to do evil and the sonic destructive power of their purring will eventually vibrate themselves apart.

That's the truth.

I had to shoot a neighbors dog one time. He was mighty angry that I did it too. He refused to recognize that his dog tore into my trash and spread it all over kingdom come at least 25 times. All he saw was his dog (which he never cared for ) had been killed.

I put up with that for almost a year, telling him all the while that he needed to do something about that dog and why. Sometimes enough is enough and I had had enough.

That's the only time that had ever happened but I'm sure I'm a "pet killer" to him and everyone he talks too. So be it.

well i bet it solved the problem of your neighbors letting their pets near your property.

lol oh my gosh i cant stop laughing im sorry but that one post was too funny i about fell out of my chair.
:)
;)

Another option would be to handcuff the pre teen to the owner of the cat, somehow it seems they would deserve each other. :)

Almost makes me want to have another pre-teen in the house...

"handcuffed to the cat"...snort giggle :)

Melissa