Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It doesn't bother me at all that you would wonder about me and others who are not overly upset by this. These kittens represent the 50 million feral cats in the United States. It's unrealistic for you to expect them to all be trapped and placed into foster homes. That's what you're implying when you suggest these specific kittens should not have been killed.
I don't know exactly where you get your information. I do know there are many people that work tirelessly for strays all over the country. There are at least 50 million cat owners in this country that do care a great deal about animals. None the less there are more humane ways to put an animal down than by shooting it. Also it was done very near a child. I'm sure this is not proper procedure. I won't argue with you, frankly I'm appalled that people can find shooting a defenseless little kitten is OK. It's heartless and disgusting.
I also thought that there is a law regarding the firing of a gun by law enforcement, that only in threatened situations are they allowed to do so.
Probably differs from state to state, but it's apparently not true here in CA - since I had a cop shoot his gun a few feet from me, when there was a dying deer in the road (I pulled over to check if he was alive, and he crawled under my car). The shotgun actually left gunpowder residue on my car! He didn't even warn me, either, since he said "I didn't want you to protest or try and stop me." It was a little freaky, but obviously the best solution in that particular situation. But shooting KITTENS? Totally unnecessary IMO, and the officer was probably one of those "drunk with power" types. Ugh.
I don't know exactly where you get your information. I do know there are many people that work tirelessly for strays all over the country. There are at least 50 million cat owners in this country that do care a great deal about animals.
Quote:
The number of feral cats in the U.S. has been estimated at 60 million. Ferals are the wild offspring of domestic cats, and ALWAYS the result of pet owners who fail to spay or neuter their animals. The HSUS estimates that a pair of breeding cats and their offspring can exponentially produce over 400,000 cats in 7 years.
I care a great deal about animals too. I believe in responsible pet ownership and responsible wildlife management. Animals caught by animal control don't go to the shelters where the loving volunteers work tirelessly to save. Local government animal control shelters are completely different from the humane society and other shelters were people go to adopt animals. Local government contracts out animal control to companies that collect animals, keep them for the days specified by law, and destroys the animals, commonly in less than humane ways to keep costs down to make a profit. This is a reality. People need to get their heads out of the sand about what happens to strays when they call the police.
I never said I was okay with it. I said I wasn't overly upset by it. I have a hunting family. I know that death by a bullet is more humane than many of the ways these shelters kill animals. I get that people feel differently because they were kittens. Everyone says these kittens could have been adopted. Well, 60,000,000 feral cats divided by 2 equals 30,000,000 feral cats. 30,000,000 feral cats multiplied by 400,000 kittens equals a number that google calculator can't even calculate. So let's backdoor the math. 400,000 kittens divided by 7 years is 57,143 kittens per every 2 of feral cats. 30,000,000 feral cats having 57,143 kittens per year equals 1,714,290,000,000 feral kittens born every year. That's in the trillions per year. Kittens. Clearly, there's a super high mortality rate or we'd have kittens in the sewers like rats. Whatever number of kittens survive, it's a large enough number for the current feral population to be estimated at 60,000,000. If something isn't done about it, that number will obviously continue to grow.
My POINT is about the comments that someone would have adopted these kittens. Really? They only made the media because they were shot dead. Why would these kittens have had a better chance at being adopted over the 1,714,290,000,000 born per year. After all, there were only 114,800,000 households in the United States. 39% of those households are cat owners. 114,800,000 households is 44,772,000 cat owners in the United States. So there can't be 50,000,000 cat owners in this country who care a great deal about animals since there are only 44.7 million cat owners in the country. Is each cat owning household going to adopt 38,289 feral kittens each per year? No, they're not.
Of course, the number isn't that high because most don't survive, and the statistics aren't perfectly accurate, or my math could be wrong, or there could be a typo, or I could be off my rocker, but it's clear that it's a mindboggling number of feral kittens born per year. My point is that feral kittens have to die by nature or by animal control. There are NOT enough cat lovers in the country to adopt every feral kitten. It's illogical and irrational to say that someone could have adopted these specific kittens. The only way to save future feral cats is for cat lovers to spay and neuter their cats and stop feeding feral cats.
Wild animals are not the equivalent to human beings. Wild animals should not be tortured, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be killed when necessary. I believe shooting is a humane way to kill an animal because I understand the most socially acceptable human ways aren't as humane as shooting. If I were facing the death penalty, I'd rather be shot in the head than sit in an electric chair.
The reason people have a problem with this is because they associate these wild animals with their pets who lounge on their sofas. They're not pets. They are wild animals, and they can be a nescience and a health problem. I also understand there are many people who feel it's okay, even important, to feed feral cats. I strongly believe they should not do this unless they've captured and paid to have them fixed. There should be a law against feeding feral cats that aren't neutered and spayed.
Either all life is precious or none is.
But I do agree that there should be more TNR (trap, neuter, return) programs for feral cats.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. -Gandhi
But I do agree that there should be more TNR (trap, neuter, return) programs for feral cats.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. -Gandhi
So do you kill rodents and insects in your home?
You know it would great if there were enough funding for TNR programs all over the world. I wish there was 0 problems with strays and unwanted animals and 0 ever had to be killed.
Even if one is not a cat lover, these were innocent little animals he killed. This was wrong. He could have trapped them, its easy to do with kittens. I would bet someone would have
fostered them, there are plenty of rescue groups that do it. But it was just
easier for this slime to shoot them. If you don't find this disgusting and vile,
then I wonder about you. So many heartless mean people these days, I just hate
it.
I don't know about the city this took place in but not all areas have fosters or even a humane society. In my area we have a "shelter" where animals are killed after a short time depending on the breed. I know of one no-kill shelter and they are always at capacity. There are a few rescue groups for dogs, but not nearly enough resources to care for the numbers of unwanted animals. We don't even have a real animal control. The cops might come out and write a citation or kill an animal but that's it. Its sad, but that's reality.
Quote:
I've fed and trapped feral cats, I know about this stuff. This sociopathic pos
shot them because it was easier than trapping them and trying to find a place
for them. He is an insult to people that care about animals.
I think its what you did is great. All my dogs and cats have been strays or otherwise going to be killed. I have taken in many strays and found them homes. And unfortunately pregnant strays. I have three wild cats that I have no love for but take care of because I was too much of a softy to kill them when they were born and was unable to find them homes.
So why didn't the woman from this story trap the cats get them fixed and find them homes instead of feeding them until they became a problem for her. Then she called someone else to take care of it knowing they would be killed. So isn't this woman as disgusting and vile?
So why didn't the woman from this story trap the cats get them fixed and find them homes instead of feeding them until they became a problem for her. Then she called someone else to take care of it knowing they would be killed...
IMO, because "accountability" has gone out the window.
I know people who started feeding a couple of ferals and they are the only people these ferals won't run away from. Then they have kittens. The people think it's sweet & cute, how the cats run from everyone else yet come running right up to them.
When one of last year's kittens showed up pregnant this year and, too, was coming up head-butting these people, I again gently nudged TNR/TSR and how you can even borrow traps from some Orgs for it, and the people get insulted as though you're preaching and "telling them what to do".
(We, persoanlly, wouldn't feed ferals 'cause we don't get mice anymore, since they showed up stalking the hood! But that's just us, and how we look at it....)
To go back on topic: That "officer" has a screw loose & "power" issues in resorting to firearm, especially when he and/or others are not in danger and there is no threat of harm whatsoever. But in some areas it is harder to challenge the provincial "status quo", so that's probably why he hasn't been disciplined.
In some areas I've lived, he'd already be working Desk -- if not on "Leave", pending results of investigation, at the least.
Peoples' perspectives will vary because of differing personal experiences (and locale) but everyone can probably agree, that "officer" has issues.
Last edited by Pamina333; 06-14-2013 at 09:37 AM..
Peoples' perspectives will vary because of differing personal experiences (and locale) but everyone can probably agree, that "officer" has issues.
I agree the "officer" has issues. I think anyone who works for the contracted animal control has issues. It's not like they are in the business of finding homes for strays like regular rescue shelters. They are killing animals every single day. Normal people can't do that type of job. I sure couldn't. I don't know anyone would could do it.
People aren't nicer out West. What you just posted about people back East wasn't nice. People in the West are just passive aggressive. The East is more direct and honest. I don't view that as treating each other as garbage. I'd rather know how someone feels about me. I'm a strong enough person to handle someone letting me know. They don't need to sugarcoat it with fake niceness. I view passive aggressive people who aren't honest as treating people like garbage. People can't correct something they are doing wrong if people don't tell them. Keeping it all to yourself is like saying you don't expect more from them, don't have the time of day for them, won't give them a chance.
This is how I felt when I lived in VA. In fact I used to feel insulted by strangers telling me to "have a nice day." My attitude was, "You don't actually care what kind of day I'm having, you disingenuous, fake jerk. Quit blowing sunshine up my behind." I was semi-hostile to anyone I didn't know as a matter of reflex. When I later moved to Iowa, the first time a fast food worker greeted me with a smile I was like, "What? What's funny?" It actually made me uncomfortable. I was so defensive I was in fact offensive, and I didn't even know it!
Over a decade of living further West has actually led me to appreciate all the little niceties. When I wish someone a nice day, I swear I actually hope they have one. I have become so much more optimistic and positive since living in places where, as a matter of basic normal behavior, people are nice to one another. It's not passive agressive to wish your cashier a nice day at the grocery store, or smile at a stranger passing you on the sidewalk. There's not a particle of anything aggressive in me when I do that. My interactions with others assume a basic giving and receiving of courtesy, that was absolutely FOREIGN to me living in northern VA. And like you, I called it "honesty." I'm not saying that people back east are not actually nice under the surface (I have many family & beloved dear friends in VA to this day)...but you usually have to actually KNOW them to see it. And as someone who has lived in all these places, I am just saying that the casual niceness has done me a lot of good, and I would have denied it just as vehemently as you did before the point where I adapted to it.
I guess what I meant by the correlation is that this gentleman's attitude would be shocking to most people in these Western environments, as opposed to merely unpleasant, but understandable in the East. My observation, from my experience. That's all. And I'm only referring to what I think of his attitude here, NOT the extremity of his actions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
He didn't even warn me, either, since he said "I didn't want you to protest or try and stop me." It was a little freaky, but obviously the best solution in that particular situation. But shooting KITTENS? Totally unnecessary IMO, and the officer was probably one of those "drunk with power" types. Ugh.
But that's just us, and how we look at it....) 
