If this is directed at me, I have no idea what political leanings have to do with it. I am partly responding to a trope I see all the time, where people say “MY predator can roam around killing but if YOURS does, it (and you) are evil.” The other part of what drove my response I will get into after addressing a few more comments.
Are you sure it’s a cat? You’ve got the only vegan cat I’ve ever heard of.
Oh, a disabled animal that can’t defend itself or flee was left outside unsupervised?
“Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.” --William Munny, Unforgiven
Why should wildlife die just because you want to let a cat outside?
They also tend to be an invasive species in most areas…Australia being a good example.
And the low-income dog owner might love that particular dog. The OP says the dog owner “shouldn’t have pets” because his or her dog was out unsupervised, ignorant of property lines, and acted in a naturally predatory manner. Yet the OP and the victim were allowing predators outside unsupervised. Do they think cats respect property lines?
Unsupervised is unsupervised. No amount of dog restrictions will prevent a car from running over your cat. Or prevent another free-roaming cat from maiming your cat or infecting him/her with FIV. Or prevent neighboring hoodlums from messing with your cat. Or prevent wildlife that happens to be larger or better-armed from making off with your cat…a dingo, for example. Not even a fenced yard is a guarantee of safety; unsupervised dogs are sometimes shot or poisoned (and in one sad case I read about, strangled) while safely contained in their own yards.
Only one thing will protect your animal when he or she is outside – your own direct full attention.
I admit my posting was colored by something I had read earlier this morning. Someone on a dedicated dog message board wrote to say that his or her beloved companion had been deliberately poisoned with antifreeze while in the securely fenced back yard. This innocent and happy-go-lucky dog was killed by a neighbor who thought the poster “shouldn’t have that kind of pet.” An attitude vaguely, although not exactly, similar to the OP’s.
In general, people are probably just as big a threat as stray dogs – the news often carries a story of teenagers shooting, whacking, or setting on fire pets they find outside. And cars? Cars are vastly more dangerous than someone else’s stray pets.
What did the poor dog have in common with the cat the OP wrote about? In both cases, the animal was beloved but left unattended, vulnerable to the vagaries of what
Malleus, Incus, Stapes! correctly describes as a cruel world. In one case it was a dog that crossed property lines and killed; in the other, it was a self-righteous human. In both cases, however, the heartbroken party left behind had risked their loved one rather than making sure he/she was safe.
It might surprise you to know I have dogs AND a cat. Our cat wants to go outside – he was semi-feral when we took him in, and he’s used to it. But I’m not going to send him out there, and if I do, I’ll know who to blame when something natural like predation occurs.
And I’m for sure not only keeping my dogs leashed at all times when they’re not fenced or indoors, I’m also not leaving them alone outside ever.
I also strongly, strongly condemn allowing one’s dog to roam free unsupervised – this is a constant threat to my dogs, when strange dogs run up to them. People in my area seem to feel completely entitled to ignore the leash laws and are always surprised when their dog runs across the street through traffic and tries to get at, or attack, my dogs. They always shout feebly, “Muffy!” as Muffy does whatever the hell Muffy wants.
Strangely, I also share some of the OP’s concern about the connection between lower socioeconomic status and pet neglect (or outright abuse). My dogs are the “pit bulls” the press and public fear so much, and I am keenly aware that poor people almost universally seem to think you can raise pit bulls in the back yard for easy, tax-free cash. Not to mention thugs and gangmembers driving a lot of the public’s negative perceptions. I try not to be an ass about it, though; I don’t think I should tell poor people they can’t love a dog that I love. But it does worry me.
I feel for the lady who lost her little cat. I don’t think old cats deserve to die. But I think it’s foolish to leave one’s helpless family members outside alone, at the mercy of all the evil, heartless, thoughtless, or just plain preoccupied people in the world; much less other animals, cars, machinery, uncovered wells, and so on.