Is it illegal to release a pet cat in the wild if you can't find an adoptive home for them?

Answer 1

It is only illegal if you get caught and that is depending on where you drop it off. In the woods or a neighborhood that someone might take it in if it is remotely cute, but if you get caught putting it in a plastic bag with a brick throwing it in a lake you might get some jail time, be kind to dumb animals. Around here you can drop them off at the pound or shelter, they make you sign a paper if you drop them off during business hours, here they have drop off boxes you can put them in after hours. You could also put a card on the board at the local gracery store stating free to good home, put notes everywhere, tack them on telephone poles ect...

Answer 2

I'm not trying to be an ******* here, but my opinion on this is much different from everyone else.
All animals and all humans have the ability to survive in the wild. With instincts and training some will last longer and live better than others.
But that is where we all came from. I wouldn't likely last long in the wild as I don't know how to hunt or build fire, but I could at least try. And if I die, well that's the circle of life. If a cat in the wild is eaten by a bear, how is that any different than a deer being eaten by a bear. The deer's life isn't any less valuable. The bear still needed to eat. This line of thinking is what caused "Christian slave owners" to think they were doing a good thing for their slaves. I would rather be free and die, than be caged but fed well.
With that said, if a shelter is available that is a no-kill shelter, then I think the pet should be dropped off. But if you really think its better to go to get euthanized, vs at least trying to survive, I disagree. Dying in the woods and being food for other animals isn't any better or worse than being euthanized. At the end the animal still died, but one way is natural and the other is forced.

Answer 3

I don't think it's illegal, but the cat will die very quickly. If you can't find a caring family for it, take it to an animal shelter.

Plus, cats (and dogs) have like a sixth sense radar type thing. It would more than likely find it's way back home. I had a friend who lost their cat right before moving two states away. A few weeks after the move, the cat was sitting on their door step...

Answer 4

In some states that is true. In every state it's cruel. If you can't find an adoptive home, take it to a pound where it can at least die in a humane manner. Releasing it into the wild will mean starvation or being killed by stray animals or wild animals. If it would survive long enough to learn how to live in the wild it will be by preying on animals like songbirds or the young of rabbits and the like. Be responsible. Dumping pets is a thoughtless solution.

Answer 5

I guess it could be considered pet neglect but noone would know you were the owner unless it was chipped. It is not humane. A pet cat is that, a pet cat. The cat depends on you. Releasing it into the wild would be a lazy option rather than like some of the other posters said: call shelters/rescues/post a classified.

I'm sure that you could find a farmer or something that would take it as a mouser.

Answer 6

Every community has different laws on this issue, but to release it would be cruel. It's been raised as a pet, and does not have the natural hunting and self care instincts that a wild (feral) born cat possesses. I'm sure you can afford to pay the $15-$25 fee to have the animal shelter take it and try to place it in a home.

Answer 7

Yeah, that's really humane! How would you like to be taken from your home where there's food & water & relative safety & dumped in the country where there's no food, water, or shelter readily available and you could be killed by a car or an animal? Do you know how scared that cat's gonna be & how much it's going to suffer before it dies?! That's really flippin' cruel. You should never have gotten a cat in the 1st place if you couldn't take care of or handle it! For God's sake, take the poor cat to a no-kill shelter!

Answer 8

Illegal? I don't know. Cruel, yes. If you can't find a home, give the cat to the animal shelter. At least they will make sure the cat doesn't suffer.

Answer 9

Regulations vary from area to area. However, it is cruel to do this under any circumstances. I have personally rescued 3 homeless, previously domesticated cats from being tortured by teenagers, who preyed on their trust in humans, and planned to set them on fire with alcohol and ciggarettes, or throw them from a 6 story building.
Try to find a no-kill shelter for your pet...that means a shelter that won't euthanize them, even if no home can be found (they'll just be fostered out to other homes). If internet searching doesn't turn up a local no-kill shelter, post "Home Wanted" ads with details at your local vet offices and pet food stores and food-coops or natural food stores, take a digital picture and list them on petfinder.com, ask a friend to give them temporary shelter while you look for a home, and if al else fails, take them to a local Human Society or Animal Shelter, where if they can't adopt them out, they will at least put them to sleep without putting them through experiences like starvation, traffic accidents, lab experiments, or torture. Best of luck.

Answer 10

The cat would be at the mercy of other animals and would be in danger of death by automobile, poison, rabies, as well as by hawk, coyote, other cat, dog, etc.
The humane thing to do is to find a shelter that doesn't euthanize and take the cat there, give them a nice cash donation to help them take care of the cat. Getting a pet means taking responsibility for that life. If you can't take care of the cat, do the best you can for it.