IANAL but I don’t see that is necessarily true from the statute. It forbids killing the animal in a cruel manner, or without the owner’s effective consent. I don’t think a quick killing shot is cruel or hunting would be illegal, and we are talking about feral cats and dogs so I don’t think there is any owner who can give consent.
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There IS actually responsible stewardship in between wanton (and lazy, IMO) shooting and PETA nutcases…
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Sure there is - non-wanton shooting is in there somewhere.
It’s standard practice with mountain lions and wolves in many areas of the Pacific Northwest, often with wink, wink complicity of the locally-based law enforcement.
I’ve shot numerous animals on my property that were endangering my livestock or generally being a nuisance. Bury them? Hell no. They normally go on the burn pile that’s lit. I’ve even shot a neighbors dog with a collar on it after he’d been warned twice after the dog was chasing the cows.
I laugh at the person saying it would be hard to prove the animal was endangering the livestock. It was the dog’s word against mine.
First thing I was told about keeping sheep. Just follow the 3 Ss when anything not a sheep enters the pasture: shoot, shovel, shut-up. I opted for guard dogs instead of a rifle.
It’s not a matter of opinion. That statute has been the basis for successfully prosecuting people for killing stray cats and dogs in the state of Texas.
As for the lack of owner, that argument was tried in court and found wanting. If there is no owner, no consent was granted, at least as the legal reasoning goes. That no owner could possibly grant consent was immaterial.
I suppose there’s room to argue about what should be the law, but there’s not really much question in Texas about what the law actually is.
As far as practicalities, if you aren’t seen or heard, you’re probably in the clear, but many animal control people will say things that are similar to above - make it less tempting for animals to hang around your property. Killing an animal is a short term measure at best. The vacuum effect is real - some other stray will simply come in to fill the niche unless the underlying reason an animal has to come to your property is removed.
No, animal control won’t handle cats as a rule, but there are TNR/rescue groups that will trap and relocate, or trap-neuter-release. In a barn/farm situation cats can be useful, and getting them spayed/neutered means the population will dwindle in a few years. TNR groups are good at finding homes for the ones who can be tamed, getting them out there to round up mom-cats & kittens in the spring can do a lot to reduce the population.
This is the first case I could find, and it is from 2007 and mentions that the law had been amended to include cats. And the person who “owned” the cats seems to have been trying to attract strays.
Which makes no sense - a cat or dog with no owner is exactly the kind you want to get rid of, but can’t.
In Texas there is also a big problem with feral hogs. Those things are damn mean but quite tasty too. Anyone want 200 pounds of free pork?
The neighbor who got in trouble , it was for shooting those damn geese. Those things arrive by the hundreds and stay forever crapping and eating crops. They will literally walk down a row and dig up and eat your corn. I’ve seen them totally ruin lawns and beaches. Remember a goose poops 4 times an hour.
As for shooting, I like the air pellet rifle idea but also a .22 is fairly quiet. If neighbors ask tell them your target shooting.
Feral cats? When we have caught them they are nearly all male and mean to the core. Feral dogs will run in packs and sometimes mate with coyotes and you’ve got one mean dangerous animal who’s not afraid of humans.
On neighbors dogs. Sure occasionally they will get out and we are glad to help them get back home but if it keeps happening and they start causing problems, dont be surprised if they disappear.
As for humans, we cannot stand illegal hunters and we’ve turned over some info to the sheriff. Sometimes I’ve caught evidence of some teenagers leaving beer cans and cigarette butts in my woods and I’ve had to do some asking around and they find someplace else.
Well we are talking the midwest and not California. Personally I think it would be awesome to see a bear on my land. Wildlife we see are deer, raccoons, squirrels, possums, bats, or skunks. Those usually are not the big problems. I’m talking about the feral dogs and cats and those damn geese.
I would have run him down with my car if he charged me. Bears that charge cars need to be put down. He may have been rabid. Seriously. I’m not just snarking at you.
Yes, but not always. One of the worst stories I ever heard was about someone who tried to do it legal. A neighbor who lives about a mile and a half away keeps goats and a cougar got one early one morning. She enlisted the help of another neighbor’s son to help her kill the offending cat. The young fellow followed the blood trail to where the cougar had made off with the carcass and buried it a little, which as I’m sure you know, they commonly do.
Sure enough, the cougar came back and the young fellow killed it, then reported the kill to the Department of Fish & Game.
Was it a problem that he was not the owner of the goat or the property? No. This is allowed by law. Was it a problem that he used the goat’s carcass as bait? No, this, too, is allowed. Was it a problem that the cougar was killed on a neighboring property, to where the cougar had dragged it? Maybe. I eventually learned that the game officer was willing to overlook this gray area – until the slayer asked if he might have the cougar’s hide for a trophy. At that point, the game officer decided the fellow may have baited the cougar with the goat in order to kill a cougar for its hide. That kid went through hell trying to clear himself of this erroneous conclusion. You can bet he’s a fervent convert to SS&S. Too bad, because all he had to do was move the carcasses back onto my neighbor’s property and all would have been well.
This area is lousy with cougars. I lost a goat to one a few years ago but didn’t discover the loss in time to kill the cougar. Another neighbor is a government hunter and trapper. I heard he got it a day or so later. It’s bad when they get a taste for livestock.
IMHO, sometimes the rifle is the right tool and often it is not.
Bears bluff charge when threatened, or when encountering something that scares them. Bluff charges are part of interacting with bears in bear country, there’s no need to kill them over it. Now, that’s easy to say when you’re not the one being charged, but it’s important information to have when living or hiking in bear country.
Bears can get rabies, but it is extremely rare, and unlikely to be the cause of a bear charging someone. There are many more likely scenarios.
We shoot dogs harassing our animals when we catch them at it. A call to animal control or the police, and the owners if it is not a feral results in a ticket, even though we are in the country there is still a leash or fence law in action. We can even theoretically shoot wild animals that are harassing, so if we still had sheep and the deer were coming in and taking their feed we could probably get away - not that we would. Hell, we have spent the last 6 or 7 years donating the occasional chicken and guinea hen to the local pair of eagles nesting on the property.
I will say that way back in the 90s I did drop a cap on a woodpecker that pounded on the side of the house all day for the better part of a week. I was working nights and could not sleep with the damned thing and finally snapped. It got buried out in the woods.
Bullshit. A bear that dents a car during a bluff charge is displaying extremely, EXTREMELY unusual aggression, and probably has some severe medical issue. Would you like a link?
I just read the article and watched the video. Did you?
It doesn’t say what you think it says. This “unusually aggressive” charging bear was afraid and bluffing.
