So Mad Can't See (Update 09/10; Victory!)
- Thread starter Vraille Darkfang
- Start date
werk
First Post
kenobi65 said:You've got a black bear problem? In Madison?? Boy, things have gotten even weirder since I went to school there...
Upstate Jersey is where I battled the bears, Sussex county. I think the nearest town was Newton. My friend is still back there...up there...in Jersey.
Very large camp with stinky dumpsters + thousands of displaced bears = creative fun.
That 'bear deterrant system' is still in use today! It works a little too well, getting most any kind of animal interested in tuna cans, and your occasional kitchen staffer or waste disposal technician.
I'm pretty sure we have black bears in Wisconsin too, just not in Madison
Captain Howdy said:
This is not funny. Death by antifreeze is slow and painful.
This has gone beyond suggestions to help solve a problem, and has gotten too far into joking that causing suffering is acceptable. If you want to talk about that sort of thing, please do it elsewhere.
Oscaron
First Post
Umbran said:
Agreed.
Disturbing story sblock-ed:
[sblock]
I rented a room at a house with a couple of complete idiots who left out some anti-freeze and their cat got into it.
I came back to the house after work late one night and the cat was lying there convulsing and meowing in pain.
When I went to tell them, they said:
Yeah. The cat got poisoned. It's dying. The vet said there's nothing to do. Just let it die. Now close the door and let us sleep.
I was shocked. I went out and pet the cat once, then went to my room and stared at the ceiling and listened to the cat in the other room.After about 10 minutes, I realized the cat was outside my door. She had dragged itself between convulsions, to my door for comfort.
It ended up laying next to me in my sleeping bag for the next 3 hrs convulsing and croaking until she passed away. Then I took her out and laid her in her bed.
The next morning, the girl who lived there (who I might add, before this night I found attractive) said:
See! She crawled back into her bed and died peacefully.
I arranged for new living arrangements that day.[/sblock]
That's the fun of poisoning.
Not giving you a hard time, but THAT'S why Umbran is upset. FYI.
Osc
Vraille Darkfang
First Post
Oscaron said:
Which is the reason I haven't done that. I've also had 8; yes 8, offers to loan me their hunting rifle (actually bow in 1 case & throwing axes in another).
I do not have anything against these cats personally. They are just animals (although some cats serve over to the Dark Side a little too easily; such as my sister's attack cat). They are just not being properly handled; thus forcing me to figure out what to do.
Since I live inside the city limits there is a set list of procedures.
1. Inform Animal Control (part of my taxes pays these people after all).
2. Animal Control will Investigate and Respond Accordingly (in this case, tell the 'owner' that 'stray' cats are roaming free and harming other people's property, thus AC will be setting out live traps to catch them. And, should your cat be one of those caught, you can pick it up at the pound, providing you provide proof of shots and tags.
3. Set out Traps. (This is the step we are on; one cat was caught. It had to be destroyed because it was too wild to put up for adoption and no one wanted to claim it).
I'm not looking to make these cats suffer (despite the suffering/aggravation they are causing me). The problem is an irresponsible owner, not a bunch of feral felines. If the owner was a decent, well, owner, I would have no problems. But, she isn't thus, I've been forced to take matters into my own hands. Or, in this case Animal Control because that is what they are there for.
Oh,
If you think Anti-Freeze is a horrible way for a Cat to die, you should see one that gets its enitre back half ran over by a tractor trailer, but manages to live. For a while. Not a pretty sight.
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
I worked for a humane society for six years (last Friday was my last day--I'm still in shock, even though it was a deliberate and amicable parting and I'll keep volunteering for them). A couple notes:
1) Vraille, it sounds as if you're handling the situation very well. I only wish everyone were as conscientious as you.
2) Suggestions for killing the cats in various ways may be legal where you live, or may result in a felony animal cruelty charge, especially if you kill an owned animal in a way that causes suffering. Animal welfare advocacy aside, you (I mean the impersonal "you" here, not Vraille specifically) need to be perfectly, crystal clear on the law before you decide to take matters into your own hands.
3) I'm pretty surprised that the odor from five cats' droppings would be so strong that the animal control person would need to wear a mask. That sounds to me as though her entire house might be full of cats, the classic animal hoarder type. Are you certain it's this few animals, or are you judging by the animals you see?
4) Things may be different where you live, but 'round our parts, animal control loves photographic evidence. If you can get a disposable camera and take pictures of her cats on your property, that can be very helpful.
5) Someone suggested removing the tags from the cat before taking him to the animal shelter. This is a bad idea, for several reasons. First, it creates a liability for you: doing this is pretty illegal, and will probably constitute fraud (since most shelters have you sign a form attesting that you don't know the animal's owner). Second, it's a terrible thing to do to the shelter staff: if they end up having to euthanize an animal, and then the owner comes in later to find out their pet was euthanized, you can bet that owner is going to scream and wail at the poor shelter employees, maybe threaten their lives, maybe threaten to call the police on them, maybe start writing to city council with half-truth-filled screeds against the shelter. Don't put the shelter employees in this situation.
6) Finally, although some no-kill shelters will take in any animal, most are what's called "limited-access": they only take in animals that they're pretty sure they can find a home for, and only take in animals when they currently have an open cage. The folks that run the open-access shelter--i.e., the folks that never turn an animal away--have a pretty thankless job. I dunno how relevant that is, but I figured I'd throw it in anyway
.
Good luck getting this awful situation resolved!
Daniel
1) Vraille, it sounds as if you're handling the situation very well. I only wish everyone were as conscientious as you.
2) Suggestions for killing the cats in various ways may be legal where you live, or may result in a felony animal cruelty charge, especially if you kill an owned animal in a way that causes suffering. Animal welfare advocacy aside, you (I mean the impersonal "you" here, not Vraille specifically) need to be perfectly, crystal clear on the law before you decide to take matters into your own hands.
3) I'm pretty surprised that the odor from five cats' droppings would be so strong that the animal control person would need to wear a mask. That sounds to me as though her entire house might be full of cats, the classic animal hoarder type. Are you certain it's this few animals, or are you judging by the animals you see?
4) Things may be different where you live, but 'round our parts, animal control loves photographic evidence. If you can get a disposable camera and take pictures of her cats on your property, that can be very helpful.
5) Someone suggested removing the tags from the cat before taking him to the animal shelter. This is a bad idea, for several reasons. First, it creates a liability for you: doing this is pretty illegal, and will probably constitute fraud (since most shelters have you sign a form attesting that you don't know the animal's owner). Second, it's a terrible thing to do to the shelter staff: if they end up having to euthanize an animal, and then the owner comes in later to find out their pet was euthanized, you can bet that owner is going to scream and wail at the poor shelter employees, maybe threaten their lives, maybe threaten to call the police on them, maybe start writing to city council with half-truth-filled screeds against the shelter. Don't put the shelter employees in this situation.
6) Finally, although some no-kill shelters will take in any animal, most are what's called "limited-access": they only take in animals that they're pretty sure they can find a home for, and only take in animals when they currently have an open cage. The folks that run the open-access shelter--i.e., the folks that never turn an animal away--have a pretty thankless job. I dunno how relevant that is, but I figured I'd throw it in anyway
.Good luck getting this awful situation resolved!
Daniel
werk
First Post
Vraille Darkfang said:
Since we're into horrible cat stories now...my mom's cat 'Fancy' got ran over. Mom has farm cats to control 'varmints' like mice, moles, stuff like that, so the cats are always outside, but are fixed, well fed and tended to, and they shelter in the climate controlled barn.
Fancy was RUN OVER, literally, flattened out, head and all, bleeding from the ears, etc. and was not happy about it...but was alive. Took her to the vet who said, wow, not a lot I can do, she has a lot of broken bones, including her skull, take her home and hope for the best. And Fancy pulled through completely fine! About two years later she was run over again, insta-kill, which somehow seemed weirder than her surviving the first time.
<pours out a little for Fancy Cat>
Glad to see you're not even considering poisoning or harming your neighbor's cats, even in frustration!
megamania
Hero
In the 70's my parents had adopted a cat that before they could even agree on a name was hit by a car. The stomach burst complete with everything hanging out. Parent's did what they could to "put it back together". It lived (though afraid of the road now) and was given a name- Superman.
Beyond all this- lets get back to being useful to the problem on hand. Legal means are required- NOT lethal poisoning and the such.
Beyond all this- lets get back to being useful to the problem on hand. Legal means are required- NOT lethal poisoning and the such.
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