Who agrees with me that feral cats should be protected by law?

Question

If they aren't already?

Answer 1

I do.And I think the people who abandon cats and cause the feral cat problem should be prosecuted severely.I feed several feral cats.I trapped them and had them all fixed,but I never could catch the mother cat,and I don't know what happened to her.The poor thing had at least 5 litters of kittens in my neighborhood.I caught 8 kittens,found homes for 4 of them and kept the other four,and the rest went wild.I caught those ones in traps and had them fixed,after which 3 disappeared.I am still feeding two sisters after 10 years,and they still cannot be touched,but thankfully they cannot have kittens.Also ,one kitten was killed by dogs,one was killed by a tom -cat and one was killed by a car.One lost her leg in the fan-belt of a car,but luckily I was able to catch her and get her to the vet.She is so wild,though, that she has to live outside in a large pen,like in a zoo,but at least she is safe(and she has 2 companions,not wild,but former strays).All sorts of bad things can happen to feral cats and I do think there should be a law to protect them ,as it is not their fault that they exist,but the fault lies with people who do not care for their pets.

Answer 2

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is the feral cat population is actually on of the best pest controls people have. I do agree the feral cat population should be protected, but they should not be reproducing faster than rabbits. Most of the vet offices around my area have what is called a feral rescue program. What they do is in areas of extreme amounts of feral cats is trap, spay or neuter the animal and then re-release it back to the area. This helps reduce the feral colony by eliminating the ability to reproduce without harming the animals. Hanover PA had an issue where they did spay/neuter and re-release an entire colony, only to find out, instead of people caring for their animals, they dumped them into this colony, in less than 2 years, the colony had doubled AGAIN, and over half were no longer fixed. The problem is not the feral cats, but irresponsible owners who dump thousands of animals expecting them to survive. When people stop throwing away pets they no longer want and start being more responsible in the care and spaying or neutering their animal, the better off we all be.

Answer 3

All animals are protected by law. Many pet activists do capture ferals to have them spayed or neutered and then release them back into the colonies. As many have stated, the problem is not necessarily with the feral cats but with the humans that have discarded them. Contrary to what many believe, they can be domesticated as well.

What needs to be done are laws implemented requiring the spay and neuter of all animals that are not used for breeding purposes. This will not eliminate the feral problems that currently exist but is definately a step in the right direction. It should be a requirement that all animals bought and/or adopted should be fixed. Those caught with animals not fixed should be held accountable for their actions or lack thereof.

Answer 4

"Protected" doesn't have to mean "unmanaged".

They, like any animal should be "protected" from abuse. But they need to be "protected" from their own natural instincts to breed. The well meaning people who feed them, without making an attmpt to get them spayed and neutered, are simply making the problem worse. Best way to manage them, is to capture and then spay, neuter and vaccinate the colony one at a time, marking them as "fixed" by an ear tip or other permanent method, then let them loose again. Eventually the colony will die out from natural causes.

Younger cats can be caught and tamed and socialized. I've done it, although it takes patience!

But no animal should be allowed to be just randomly shot on sight or abused. Feral cats are rarely from good homes to begin with. They are usually abandoned by their uncaring, undeserving owners, and left unspayed, reproduce again and again.

Answer 5

And where do you suppose we put all these feral cat's?

We could always put them in with lions in Big cat sanctuary's.

Feral cats are good for one thing and one thing only... Ratting and catching mice and other rodents. You cant tame them, it is hard as hell to catch them, and they have to be sedated to vaccinate them and treat them medically. Most feral cat's get wounded when people try and interfere with them and catch them. They breed like Gerbils in California and that is exactly whey they are illegal to own in california, because if allowed to, they will populate large areas and get out of control!

I am with Betty White and Bob Barker and believe that all animals should be fixed!

No, I don't think they should be protected. I think they should be Controlled and all wild cats should be neutered and spayed. They carry more diseases than the rats they catch and kill.

WHat are you anyway... some arch nemesis of Batman and robin? Feral cat man? Joining the hoards of feral cats to rise up against the Super friends? it is irresponsable and unsafe for the population and for the animal to allow them to run wild protected from trapping and population control. It is a part of life... Ever see what happens to Deer when the hunting season is interrupted or not enough people hunt them? THEY STARVE TO DEATH!

Personally, I prefer a nice calm spray of gas or a small pin prick injection or even a bullet to the head rather than have to spend months starving to death because some butt wad activist wanted to "Protect." me.

So thanks, but no thanks!

Answer 6

I agree with you. It is not the animal that is at fault-it is the people that do not neuter or spray their animal and the ones who let their cats wander that never come back. I personally could never kill an animal or even think about it just for fun.
People need to be more responsible, it's sad that there are so many animals that do not have a happy home.

Answer 7

I think they should be protected.
For those of you who think that all feral cats should be destroyed because they keep reproducing....well,what about all of the humans who are doing the same...Would you want them to be destroyed because they keep having kids or 'managed'?

I think anyone caught harming them or any animal for that matter should be put in prison and kicked around by all the ones in there who are animal lovers.

Answer 8

No, I do not believe that they should be protected. I live in a small town where there are many cats at the local rubbish dump, in which they are constantly having kittens and thus multiplying rapidly. In fact they are all over the town. And are worse than the rabbit population!!!

Answer 9

feral cats are like verman i mean i like cats but feral ones seem to be every where and causeing trouble if people are going to have cats then keep them inside because its just getting way out of control.

Answer 10

There are animal cruelty laws for ALL animals, with or without owners! Just because an animal has no owner does not mean the laws do not apply to them!