GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : RainDog October 01, 2008, 02:32:42 AM
-
I think this is the correct gate to post this in. Excuse me if it's not.
Just wanted to ask for some advice from y'all. Since my rottweiler died my property, including the wooded area behind the houses I have, have become a playground for a group of feral cats. They're always prowling around back there somewhere. They scare off all the wildlife. No birds at the birdfeeders anymore. No squirrels robbing the birdfeeders anymore. No nothing. Barren 'cept for the cats. Even the darned TURTLES have split town.
I'm really loathe to use poison on 'em or something like that, as that just seems like an awful way to die. I don't think they're endangering me or mine in such a way as to make that necessary.
Neither do I want to shoot them. I mean, they're cats. I don't like them, but I don't hate 'em either. Even if I was willing to it would open me up to all kinds of animal abuse charges and issues, and who wants to go there? Sure don't want to get into the position of proving my cause in a court of law or something awful like that.
Any ideas short of getting another dog? I've got a few reasons I don't want to do that, so that's not really an available option. I'm open to any other suggestions, though.
Thanks,
Parks
-
Maybe call the SPCA?
Gene
-
Go to the humane society or animal control and get some live traps. You'll capture the cats, and you can turn them over to the human society or animal control where they will be humanely euthanized.
-
Yeah, that seems like the thing to do, but in this town the animal control folks are really ineffectual. They'll drive over to take a look, but unless the creature in question is willing to hop into the back of their truck, that's about all they're willing to do.
Had a repeating incident with a dog that was comin' over and threatening my son. Couldn't figure out who the owner was, so I called the dogcatcher. He showed up a few times, was no help. Said there was nothing he could really do. Suggested that I call the police when if the dog ended up attacking my kid.
Finally the dog got sick of me runnin' him off with a baseball bat and stopped showing up.
This just a situation I'm gonna have to accept? Maybe there's some kind of chemical cat-repellent that won't affect other animals. I'll google it and see.
Edit: Now that I've read Jay's reply I see what you were meaning. Cages hadn't occurred to me. Thanks
-
Y'know, Jay, I didn't even think of that. They'd have to take the cats off my hands if I showed up at their door with 'em in cages. Think I'll make my own, might come in handy later on for something. I kinda doubt the animal control folks would lend 'em to me anyway.
Thanks, problem solved. I can be kinda thick sometimes.
Parks
-
P.S. The traps should be free to borrow, and at most, you might have to put a small deposit down. My neighbor did this with some ferals that moved in.
-
Post some pics of your homemade contraptions. Would be nice to see them.
-
Another idea is to go to a local college, if you have one, and ask to borrow some of their animal traps. The anatomy classes always needs cat corpses for dissection. True fact.
-
Man, you've got a wealth of good suggestions today. NSU is actually directly across the street, and they'd most likely be willing to help out, seeing as how their library is named after my grandfather, and my father and mother both taught there.
I'm the black sheep, unfortunately. Rejected Academia to go swimmin'.
Thanks again,
Parks
-
I bought a Crosman Pulse(AK-47) airsoft for this exact reason! It fires BB's in full-auto as well as semi-auto and is quite effective in getting cats and dogs to split-dodge without hurting them! A neighbor moved in around the corner and brought 23 outside cats with them... they moved in 2 blocks away but everybody's been having trouble with em'. One sprayed my girlfriends windshield and after that- IT WAS WAR!!!!
Now I chase em' off with BB machine-gun fire! Werks GREAT!
Matt
-
Traps and a few trips to the "humane" society or animal control would be the preferred method IMO,...but they weren't around back in the olden days,...and most folks with common sense took care of these situations in their own 'private' manner. Just be careful if you should resort to lethal warfare with these amimals. With todays technology, it's a shame people don't do the right thing and have these animals spayed or neutered to begin with. But too many cats can host feline sickness to epidemic proportions if their populations are not controlled, and who knows, may carry sickness that can be spread to humans,...like rabies, etc. Air-soft BB's can scare them off,....temporarily, but sooner or later they will return,...in even higher numbers. Just my thoughts though. Good Luck, tjk
-
Matt,
That sure sounds like a lot more fun than cages!
I'd have to be awful careful not to be seen, though. A full grown man runnin' around shooting a plastic gun and laughing hysterically would get carted off to the looney-bin right quick.
Careful what you suggest to me. I might just go and do it!
Seeya,
Parks
-
hey Parks,
i wonder if coyote or even wolf urine would keep them away?
that might keep everything else away too.
just a thought, i have alot of urine for trapping if you think this would help.
-
Craig,
I dunno. Thanks for the offer, and I may end up trying something like that, but it seems like the live cages thing would probably be my best bet as a first attempt. These cats will walk right into a trap. They're not really clever enough to really deserve the name "feral".
Maybe they're just mentally handicapped and deserve my pity. NAH, THEY'RE OUT OF HERE!
Thanks, and seeya,
Parks
-
cats that run wild like that usually devastate the wild life in the area.
i recomend your pellet gun and your shovel to resolve the issue.
thats what i would do.
becareful who you call for help some groups will spay or nueter them and then release them back to the wild, that won't help at all.
-
I live in town. Many of the neighbors have (or, used to have) cats. I keep a live trap and use it when they become a problem. I take them to the animal shelter and they have to take them. They also have traps that can be borrowed, with a small deposit.
-
I would call the local chinese restaraunt..
-
So how do you guys know these are feral cats? Because they don't have a collar?
The old lady across the street had 20+ outdoor cats before she died 5-6yrs ago. All the rabbits had disappeared from the neighborhood while the cat reigned and I 'm sure the owl that lived on one of my trees didn't help with the rabbit population either. Now all those cats are gone as well as the rabbits but some neighbors still have 1-2 cats each. I see at least 3-4 different cats walk through my property every day but they are not causing any problems. Sure they stop and look around, hide in my bushes, etc. but eventually after 1/2 hour or so they leave. 2 of them tried sleeping by my trees & bushes in the back & front but I didn't let them. I chased them away until they learned this is not a hotel. They get the picture after a while and they have very good memory.
There is still a healthy squirrel population in the neighborhood here so it doesn't seem like these house cats are able to catch them or hurt their #'s. I guess feral cats have to live off the land and would kill more critters for food than a house cat would, so I can see them causing a lot more problems. The squirrels around here play with the cats. They let them get pretty close before running up a tree, and even then the squirrel hangs out only 8-9ft up and laughs at the cat. I have seen a cat climb up a tree, sneak up on a squirrel and catch him when I was teenager but that cat was like 1 in a million. She was a supreme hunter, only weighed like 2-3lbs and was lightning fast. She would bring home all kinds of animals. One time she was eating a large sea bird in our backyard that was at least 1.5X her size.
Anyway I think trapping the ferals with a cage is probably the best course of action but I 'm sure you 'll get 1 or 2 house cats in there. If you see posters on the telephone poles 1-2 days later, you know you caught someone's pet :-)
-
Another suggestion similar to Air Soft guns is a paintball gun. The ball won`t kill them but would surely hurt them.... and the neon balls would light them up. heh heh
-
.22 ratshot. Stings like hell and that's about it. Lead is a very effective repellent.
-
I think all these ideas about shooting the cats, whether lethal or not, is specifically what Parks is trying to avoid. It doesn't take much these days to get arrested for animal cruelty, no matter how uncruel the actual behavior was or how justified the force was.
-
When I was a kid, dad and I used to either trap them and take them to the pound, or shoot them.
Todays bleeding heart mindset is annoying. If you own a cat, keep it indoors and get it "fixed". I've trapped a dozen since buying my house and NONE of them had tags or a collar.
Now I have HUGE raccoons that keep the rest in check..
-
When I was a boy we built live traps to catch rabbits and other critters. Just make yours twice as big and it will do for cats, racoons, etc.
Here is a picture. Anyone can build one with basic tools. Gosh it was great to grow up when I did. :)
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/woodwork/ww10/
-
Not In My Back Yard... it's this spray that's got cougar urine as the main ingredient. Anything on four legs that knows what's good for it smells those pheromones in the air and they SPLIT!
You spray the parameters of your property with it. It WERX!
-
I concur, the Havaheart trap baited with chicken works wonders at catching the devils. A one way trip to the local lake, pond, or river for swimming lessons at o'dark thirty finishs the task a hand.
-
Easy, cheap, effective.
http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/woodwork/ww10/
-
LOL...
That is just wrong! Funny as the dickens but still wrong.
;)
-
Thanks guys for all the suggestions. I'm sure one of 'em will do the trick.
Later,
Parks