Should there be a BOUNTY on feral cats ?

[Die Judicii]

The other day a landowner asked me, "Do you or would you shoot feral cats ?"

My reply was that its your property,,,,, I'll do or not do whatever you deem to be necessary.

His short response was, "There are far too many of them around for the good of the country."

Which brings me to the question,,,,, Should Councils introduce bounties on them ?

What say the Members ?

[Ziege]

Us there should be, nation wide $10 a cat, and $12.50 a cat if it has a collar.

[Elmer]

Absolutely....20 bucks more like it

[Blr243]

I’m not sure it’s tax payers money well spent. We already loooove shooting cats and we are not going to try any harder if we know we can make 15 bucks by carting all the way to the depot for payment. It’s easier to round up a whole heap of plastic bottles for a refund .......Will a newspaper give me 50 thou for a picture and a story if I shoot a panther next week ?

[Ziege]

The bounty is a great idea, pack of 300wm cost me $45, if they're $15 a head I will shoot all of them with the 300wm without any care because I know I will get more than enough cash to restock the ammo reserves well into the future, one night at our local landfill (situated between two of my mates farms, have to actually go through one friends to get to it) and I could probably buy 4 packets at least haha

[Oldbloke]

Not even allowed to shoot them in SF in Vic

[Die Judicii]

Not even allowed to shoot them in SF in Vic

You are farkin kidding right ???

[Die Judicii]

Us there should be, nation wide $10 a cat, and $12.50 a cat if it has a collar.

I love the way you think.

[pomemax]

I was trapping cats at work Huge compared to you moggy at home .
Every time I caught 1 the boss had to take it to a pound pay $28 and then pay for cat food for 1 week case some one came to claim it told him it would be cheaper if I just washed the trap in a barrel of water , should have heard the crap form some of the blokes at work so he had to take them to the pound . 14 in 4 weeks

[Ziege]

Should have had a quiet word with him about only checking/emptying traps when the other numpties were around.


Can't shoot them in SF? What is SF?

[JimmyS]

Should have had a quiet word with him about only checking/emptying traps when the other numpties were around.


Can't shoot them in SF? What is SF?

SF = State Forest

[womble]

Respectfully Oldbloke, because you’re always right.
I think it’s subject to interpretation.
They are a declared pest on crown land as of 2018. Registered interest, accredited volunteer, kinda works for me.
It’s so badly worded i will ring and ask. Probably get different answers depending on who you talk to. Which kinda works for me too.
Because, f*** cats. Any invasive species is my enemy, watermelons included. They should not be there.

[TassieTiger]

Watermelons? You want a bounty on water melons ? Geeez, bit harsh...they just sit there and look watermrlony. They don’t decide to roll down the hill killing stray lizards and birds, as they watermelon along...what will the ppl eat in summer? Rock fruit? Not the same - poor ole melons...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FqS17iRLxdE

[NTSOG]

G'day,

Pretty much everyone on this site agrees that a cat 'outside its owners property' is a feral cat by definition and needs to be shot, other things being equal. As was discussed earlier this year cats in state forests in Victoria are declared pests and may be shot, but only by people working directly in the employ of the State Government. The issue of what constitutes a feral cat in law on private property is far less clear. I tried to get a clear definition and some guidance from our local ranger [Golden Plains Shire] and all he could suggest was (1) if shooting at a cat I needed to hold a firearms licence, and (2) he could lease me a cat trap for $50 to catch any feral cat. Once caught I would have to bring him the trap with cat, I would get my $50 back and he would take the cat to a local vet who would assist in determining if said cat was indeed feral. If it was truly feral I assume it would be given - at further expense to rate payers - an injection. If determined to be 'domesticated' it would be kept and owners notified. To me that meant that the owners might reclaim the cat, pay a fine and the cat would be back on my property in quick time.

A single bullet applied to any wandering cat on my property seems the best treatment to me and the carcase dumped on the burn-off heap or in the bush.

By the way never mention shooting feral cats on US shooting sites. You'll get banned in an instant. Undoubtedly they have feral cats, but the cat lobby seems to be particularly aggressive. POMs though have a similar attitude to wandering moggies to us: if they're off the owner's property, they're fair game and should be shot on sight.

As for a bounty, the politicians wouldn't have the spine to face the wrath of suburban cat 'lovers' who love their animals so much they let them roam around killing.

Jim

[Oldbloke]

Respectfully Oldbloke, because you’re always right.
I think it’s subject to interpretation.
They are a declared pest on crown land as of 2018. Registered interest, accredited volunteer, kinda works for me.
It’s so badly worded i will ring and ask. Probably get different answers depending on who you talk to. Which kinda works for me too.
Because, f*** cats. Any invasive species is my enemy, watermelons included. They should not be there.

Not always right, just ask my Mrs. Lol.

But pretty sure not allowed. And yes confusing how they were declared a pest. Was discussed here sometime ago.

I think most would hunters shoot them though. Cats are sh1t..

[Blr243]

If city folk really loved their cats they would not not allow them to roam at night. For a cat It’s a dangerous world out there with all the 223 s looking for some action

[Oldbloke]

So, did a quick search, found this.

Feral cat declaration
https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/inva ... feral-cats

Looks like only Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Parks Victoria, staff can shoot cats in SF or other Crown land.

Crazy. But there must be a lot of shooters out there throwing lead in their direction.. It does suggest private property might be ok. Also suggests its not ok.

[wanneroo]

By the way never mention shooting feral cats on US shooting sites. You'll get banned in an instant. Undoubtedly they have feral cats, but the cat lobby seems to be particularly aggressive. POMs though have a similar attitude to wandering moggies to us: if they're off the owner's property, they're fair game and should be shot on sight.

Feral cats do incredible damage here in the USA but the problem is not as recognized by the public or government plus all the cat lovers get involved. They spread disease like toxoplasmosis and things like ticks and fleas plus kill all the songbirds that eat all the ticks.

Despite the fact we have a leash law I've got 4 feral cats living around the house right now and can't do anything about them. A lot of the farmers around here shoot, shovel and shut up.

[NTSOG]

Wanneroo: "A lot of the farmers around here shoot, shovel and shut up."

I like that!

By the way in what state do you live and are there differences from one state to the next?

Jim

[Ziege]

Only good one is a dead one, as for the owners who let them roam they need belting across the face. The level of narcissism involved in thinking that your right is to let a feral introduced pest roam around the environment is sociopathic

[Bugman]

When i bought my land about 40 years ago and started to build my house, the builder complained of feral cats hanging around. I set traps and over a period of around 6 months I had caught (from memory) around 14........all died of lead poisoning. To date...none have returned and the surrounding areas has built up considerably.
I have cats, BUT all are in door and never go outside. If any stray cat wonders onto my property, the trap(s) are set and those caught go to the local vet to check for icro chipping. If a chip is found I leave the cat with the vet and they contact the owner WHO has to pay to get their cat back.
If no chip is found, the animal goes to the local pound.
As for a bounty on feral cats...................yes! How much, I don't know.

[Oldbloke]

If you don't spot light they are hard to find. I've never whistled one in yet. Shot a couple years ago.

[Blr243]

I’m sure during the day or night we don’t see 15 for every one that we do see because of vegetation

[Ricochet]

I'm out in the bush and have approval from my land Lord to nail any fox , cat, pig or whatever feral is stupid enough to stand still long enough for me to line up on it.
Any cat outdoors fair game collar or not, if you do get one mums the word.

[Oldbloke]

I’m sure during the day or night we don’t see 15 for every one that we do see because of vegetation

So, I pretty much came to that conclusion about Sambar years ago. And i think your right, applies to most game.

That's why, walk little, look a lot.

[Grandadbushy]

If the government and the greens were serious about feral animals they would put a bounty on all feral animals regardless of what they were but as usual good decisions go under the radar when votes are involved so we will be talking about this for a long time yet some states turn a blind eye but some of those states refuse to allow shooters into the SF to shoot some restrict what you can shoot, hence breeding ground for feral animals , this culling back is BS because in another 3-4yrs you are doing it all over again at a big cost to the tax payer , a feral non indigenous to Australia has no right to be running in the wild especially if it causes the demise of indigenous animals .I don't get any bounty where I am because our last big brave mayor removed it from council because she thought the money could be spent else where , ''YEP'' $600,000 for a monument you could put in a 7x4 box trailer and cart away, and the artist was unbeknown to anyone never heard of her , so needless to say she was ousted at the next local election but the bounty paper was never reintroduced and the wild dogs have moved into the suburbs causing havoc ,I and our member for our shire have tried to get the bounty reintroduced but no go . SO to your question yes I think strongly that cats should have a bounty on them, and cats are like pet snakes you can't tell the difference between a pet and wild unless they are kept home.

[Blr243]

In the super long grass I can only see the heads of Roos when they are vertical. Everything else is safe

[trekin]

The Shire bordering ours has a $10 bounty on feral cats, for some years now. After trapping, and disposing of about 30 feral cats in the last 3 years around our house (10 since the new year, with five of those caught within a hour of each other) I have put it to our council to look into a bounty here as well. Put it to the council that as it is State law that all domestic cats here in QLD are to be micro chipped, and has been for nigh on 20 years now. Shoot a cat in rual areas of the Shire, ten bucks bounty on presentation to animal control officer. Trap a cat in residentual areas, have the animal control officer scan for chip (told the council that I would donate the scanner if they wanted), no chip:- $10 bounty, chipped:- fine the owner to help recover the costs of the bounty system. Mayor seemed keen, but haven't heard anything back yet.

[Ziege]

I used to live in what will remain an undisclosed location in suburbia, I had 3 cat traps in my yard, always set and almost routinely every few days catch at least two cats, used to return them at the beginning, but after the bulls**t piss weak efforts of rangers and the complete lack of consequences for the cat owners I just started giving them the shark cage experience for 10 mins each time I caught one, was way better than dealing with all the pointless revolving door bulls**t. I caught one cat 11 times before I decided it was time to end it's existence, each of the 11 times the cat was taken to the vet, chip read, owner called and returned, the Indian family it was from were rude and obnoxious every time, accusing me of hunting their cat, after being repeatedly not punished for their stray animal, and me having lost at least half a dozen rare finches to the slimy piece of s**t harassing my birds, enough was enough.

After that I decided to hell with it, every cat that came into the yard died, even the nextdoor neighbours cats cos screw em. I've ever since been dead against anyone having cats at all.

It's all too clear to me that cat owners are ignorant and belligerent, at least by in large, and I have exactly 0 tolerance for any cat I see outdoors.

[snag]

Well, I personally love cats. Couldn't eat a whole one but ....