***GRAPHIC IMAGES*** Dead Predator...Dead Goat.

[MiniSilkys]

I have many, many feral cats around my farm and 7 outside cats of my own right now. We also have two hunting dogs that wander onto our property hunting rabbits but not one loss of my animals has been because of them. I have known of plenty of killings because of dogs around other areas though. I have lost many chickens to raccoons, chickens and cats to a bobcat. I have never lost a chicken to my own or feral cats. We have too many rabbits, chipmunks and other rodents. The only problem I have with feral cats is the reproducing. I have had 28 cats at one time. We don't have a program here to help fix reproduction in farm cats.

 

[Latestarter]

We don't have a program here to help fix reproduction in farm cats.

Of course you do... it has been well explained in the previous post(s). And the cost is also quite manageable as a .22 shell costs mere pennies each. You could go even cheaper with an air powered pellet/BB gun.

 

[MiniSilkys]

Pardon me, but I do not kill innocent kittens or cats. It is not their fault.

 

[MiniSilkys]

I have had plenty of my own cats killed and would not do that to others. I found one of my dead females with a bullet in her side on her way home to her 2 weeks old kittens. I had to bottle feed them and my dog brought them bullfrogs and fish from the creek but they were too young to eat them.

 

[Latestarter]

I'm not espousing the shooting of "pet" cats... I absolutely AM categorically stating that feral cats should absolutely be shot and killed at every opportunity. They are the number one detriment to local biological communities of small animals in ANY environment they occupy. They are responsible for destruction of entire species of birds and lizards on islands in the Pacific. Yeah, I'm taking extinction of local species. They have done incredible damage in Australia and other places where they've been allowed to get out of control. Feral cats don't just kill only to eat. it is a game. They play with their catch. Whether it's "their fault" or not, the end result IS their fault.

 

[greybeard]

I've lost many $1,000.00's of(much of which were show winning) stock to "pets" of irresponsible owners.

Lots of people will claim "Oh, my darlin little dog would never do that", but yep, little fluffy certainly will and even more so, will join right in if another neighborhood dog is doing it.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

We have feral cats that will come on our porch and spray pee....ONCE....then they are gone ....they get, trapped, shot or whatever...don't piss on my porch period.

 

[MiniSilkys]

There is no way of knowing if they are pets or feral. Killing just to be killing caused the loss of wolves in the US. That in turn caused over abundance of game species. Sport hunters go to Africa and kill male lions just to see which killed the biggest one. I don't condone killing unless other options don't work. What if your most loved pet got away from you and scared another's livestock just because it was there. Would you want it killed?

 

[Baymule]

@MiniSilkys If my dog attacked livestock, I would expect it to be shot. We fenced our place in, gate across the front, for the purpose of keeping our dogs IN and everybody else's dogs OUT. If a neighbor's dog got in and killed or injured livestock, I would catch the dog, return it to the owner and demand payment for the loss. But that is only if I knew the dog and who it belonged to. I like my neighbors, stuff happens and I would give their beloved pet one chance and one chance only. If it came back it wouldn't leave. People certainly have the right to their pets. Their rights stop at my property line.

A dog that gets in the fence and is not harming anything will be returned to it's owner. We had an Aussie get in, that dog really wanted out, but didn't know what to do. He sure was glad to see me. We called the vet's number on the rabies tag, they looked up the owner, took my phone number and the owner called, then picked up his dog. I love my dogs and don't want them shot of hurt. So that is why they don't run loose.

 

[MiniSilkys]

Baymule that is exactly what I am saying. My own goats are scared of my house dog because he is not always outside. The chickens come inside his fence and he chases them back out. The thing I was talking about was the killing of animals that are not harming anything in any way except reproducing too much. I took in a female cat one year because she was screaming at my outside the fence. It was winter. She would come every evening when I took scraps out for my chickens. So I left food out for her on the other side of the fence. After a couple weeks she started staying around and would let me pet her. About a month after that she had kittens. It turned out they were all girls. A year later and the neighboring cats started coming around. I tried keeping the girls locked up but they always seemed to find a way out. I would not kill those tomcats. Also, I have a neighbor that dumps all her food scraps in a garbage dump in a ditch between our properties. Well wouldn't you know my cats want to hunt there. I am always missing cats. I even found two of them dead in the creek with one having a bullet wound in his forehead and the other with his side blown apart. Just because they have been in the garbage ditch. My cousin shot a mother cats because she had kittens under his house. Their eyes weren't even open. I understand cats eat birds but in my whole life I have never had a cat kill a chicken. I even lock my 6 cats in my chicken coop at night because we have a killer bobcat.