I was thinking of all cats when I referred to fencing the feeding area; sadly, not all cats are lucky enough to have owners!
Ow, poor baby-give her a kiss for me.
Driven, for godsakes, that’s WHAT CATS DO. It’s fucking NATURE. Now, mind you, I do NOT approve of people who just let their cats roam, willy-nilly. I’m against cats being outdoors-cats really should be indoors only.
HOWEVER, if they do go outside, you cannot hold them at fault for doing what comes naturally to them-that’s the cycle of life. Get over it.
Blah blah fucking blah.
Yes, it’s the pet owner’s responsibility to look out for his or her animals. If this sort of thing was a perennial problem caused by the OP, or if the animal had actually posed any danger or any threat of actual property damage, you might have a point.
But just because the owner slipped up this once and happened to let the cat stray doesn’t mean that the animal should have to pay by being shot, or that the person whose yard the cat entered shouldn’t exercise a little bit of plain old common sense and humanity, rather than reaching for a weapon at the first opportunity.
Seriously, some of you dribbling idiots are acting like it was a kidnapper or a Siberian tiger in the back yard, not a geriatric house cat. As i said earlier, get some fucking perspective.
Fuck off. No one said the goddamn cat “should have to pay by being shot”.
Just that the neightbors don’t have a responsibility to build a fence to keep your pets out. Its your responsibility to keep your pets in. What’s so hard to understand about that?
And dogs allowed to roam free in the countryside often form packs and begin killing, both wildlife such as deer and domestic livestock as well.
They’re just doing what comes naturally to them.
Those intolerant little game wardens and farmers have no business taking steps to stop the predation. They should just “get over it” , y’know, cuz it’s “fucking nature”.
Uh-huh. :rolleyes:
By all means, we should respect individual property rights at all costs!
By the way, you did not ask my permission to display your opinions on my monitor. I trust you will correct that trespass forthwith? 
Nothing, you fool.
But no-one said that the neighbor had any such responsibility. People are merely saying that he shouldn’t have shot the animal as a first response. A position with which you apparently take issue.
I agree. My position is simply that predatory animals killing or attempting to kill wildlife on my property WILL be driven off by whatever means neccessary.
If the OP’s neighbor truly knew that this cat belonged to the new neighbors, was old, unable to leap up, it was the cat’s first time ever outside, and it was just innocently sniffing around and gave no indication that it was any kind of threat to the wildlife on his property, then yes, he’s an asshole for getting trigger happy and I would consider him a sadistic individual.
However, if he truly believed that it was some stray cat that was stalking birds with the intent to kill them, then he was perfectly within his rights to try to sting it in the ass with a bb and drive it away.
p.s. I think everyone has agreed by now that the neighbor did not intend to cause the injury that occurred, so it’s pointless to keep coming back with the argument that the guy “went all Rambo on the kitty and tried to kill it”. M’kay?
You do know that domestic animals fall under the (broad) category of individual property rights, yes? So in such a case, why would you assume that the pet owner’s property rights trump the very same property rights of the neighbor?
No, he wasn’t, because local ordinance prohibits him discharging any firearm, which the responding officers said includes air guns. You might want to check into that in your own locale, DS, should you go through w/ buying one. That way, when you maim or kill one animal for the sake of saving another animal you like better, you’ll know if you’ll be getting a ticket or an attaboy. Tell the cops about your ‘rights’.
Did the pictures not make it clear to you that a bb or pellet can cause far worse than a ‘sting’?? :mad:
You didn’t see an animal you’ve cared for and raised for 12 years, who at times has been the only creature that cuddles up to you in bed and that you are entrusted to keep safe panting and bleeding and shaking, and there’s nothing you can do for her. She was stunned and terrified and she’s damn lucky he didn’t get an organ or her spine. Her blood is on clothes, carpet, walls, and continues to come out as the wound slowly heals from the inside. I would have been shattered if I’d lost my cat yesterday for some time to come. I suppose that’s nothing compared to your cardinal, is it?
Did you take a look at the bird feeder in the pics? Anyone that was interested in the study of birds and habitat or conservation efforts of birds wouldn’t have a bird feeder at that height, would they? What do you think will happen when you put a feeder about 3-4 feet high in an open field? Cat’s are the least of his problems. If cat’s are such a problem for him that he apparently has to guard his bird feeder with a bb gun, there are things you can do. Put the feeder higher up. Some people put pepper on the ground, and don’t use seeds that encourage ground feeders.
Either he’s a dim bulb, or he enjoys using the birds to lure in animals for a little target practice.
Nawth Chucka, your being nice about this. He could have killed your poor cat or put his eye out. I’d give them the vet bill and stay as far away from these people as I could.
Nawth, you need to just calm down, buddy.
For the last time, NO ONE here agrees that your cat deserved to be hurt the way she was. Even your neighbor admits that.
What I said was IF the cat was trying to kill wildlife than it was perfectly reasonable for him to try and give it a little sting in the butt to scare it away from the feeder. Read it again. STING it. Not cause it to “be panting and bleeding and shaking…stunned and terrified …blood is on clothes, carpet, walls”. I understand you are upset, but you are starting to sound hysterical here.
It’s **illegal ** to shoot a gun here, for stinging or whatever. Read it again. Illegal.
Except that asshole neighbor thought he was just giving it a STING (or so he says) (although the vet said the trajectory indicates he shot the cat when it was facing him) and in fact he damn near DID kill it, and DID leave it “panting and bleeding and shaking…stunned and terrified,” etc. Blood all over, including on NC. Maybe you could go through something like that and yawn it off. And maybe you’re a condescending asshole.
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You’re a kitty mind-reader, are you? You know with absolute certainty that a cat sitting by a bird feeder is absolutely going to kill a bird?
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Ever thought of oh - you know - maybe shouting? Ringing a bell? Shooting in the air rather than at the actual animal?
Sorry but your rationale doesn’t cut it. And, BTW, the birds aren’t yours. Don’t belong to you. Will likely get killed by something else (shot any eagles lately?). But if you are sooo hooked on flying critters that you can’t bear for nature to take its course, then figure out a way to scare a housecat away that doesn’t involve hurting it whydontcha?
And same goes for the Rambo-wannabe who shot the OP’s poor kitty.
You and I now may have the debate of “shoot first and ask questions later”. Keep in mind that I have A) been shot at before by other live humans, and B) had the mental and mechanical capacity to return fire. For Pipsqueak, this was her first time for ‘A’, and unfortunately she lacks opposable thumbs and the training for ‘B’.
We’re talking about an innocent cat simply tresspassing at the time here. He told me he “thought she was attacking his birds.” As I pointed out earlier, you don’t own those birds, and they have an inherent self defense–especially at the height of the feeder–of flying away. He “thought” but didn’t actually observe. Thus, by his statements, I can infer he directly observed she was sitting there looking up: no more than an ‘animal tresspass’.
If you feel that a tresspassing species with intent but not actually committing to the ‘crime’ of killing an animal is simply guilty, then you need to spend some time reading some theory, especially that of ‘presumed innocent before assumed guilty’, or get a doctorates in mindreading.
Nobody knows what Pipsqueak was thinking sitting there below the feeder except 'Squeak herself. To have been fired upon simply for her existence in an area is unfathomable. Again, I direct you to my scenario of your cardinals above my driveway.
Look, he overstepped his bounds. He fired a weapon in close quarters without cause. They’ll pay the bill. You need to learn that pets are liable, and so are your undomesticated pets. . .
Tripler
Such is natural life. . .
Cats running free is against the law here, and I will reach a point someday where I start trapping my neighbours’ cats that roam freely in my yard, because they are a nuisance, they bother my INDOOR cats, and the people letting their cats roam free are breaking the law. Some of you are saying that the neighbour over-reacted to a first offense; I offer this viewpoint - it may have been the first offense of that particular cat, but he probably has neighbourhood cats in his yard daily - I’m pretty sure I do.
This is reminding me of the lady with the cats that kept getting eaten by the pit bulls - no, he shouldn’t have shot the cat, but if you don’t want your cats shot, keep 'em in your own yard. Easy solution.
Squirt the cat with a hose. Don’t have a feeder so low that the birds that you profess to love so much aren’t sitting ducks for cats, squirrels, hawks, etc.
I think he just enjoys shooting things.
I hope you lurked long enough to understand and be forewarned about the environment of the Pit, Driven Snow!
Holy shit, guys. I knew he was bad but I didn’t think he’d pull something like this. I hope kitty boo boo gets better quickly, and that your neighbour dies in a fire* or moves away.
*No, not really.