Well, that fell a bit flat then, as I didn’t even read your second story.
These Dick and Jane stories are much better than the ones I used to read as a kid.
So, Italy doesn’t have a problem with stray animals except the poor places, oh and half of Italy is poor, but otherwise no problem.
You don’t see a problem with this argument? Is this No True Italian Theater?
This is No True Italian Theatre? I was looking for Arguments!
Well, since you don’t want to put in the extra 30 seconds of work to read that second story, go ahead and take my word for it that you are, indeed, an imbecile. A lazy imbecile.
Scheisse-porn makes everything better!
No u.
Jane didn’t have a 5 dollar bill, she’d just spent the last of her money in the shop.
What is “humane” and what is not is strictly a tacit agreement among human beings. It’s derived from subjective feelings about animals. Decisions about that are ultimately made from the question “When I imagine this being implemented, do I go :rolleyes: or :(”. That’s all I’m arguing here. It annoys me that people think there’s an actual truth to whether or not a certain method is humane- whether there’s an absolute question of whether the cat should live or die. I’m merely asking those people to acknowledge that their criteria is solely based on their feelings and not on some laws of physics or something.
If the thread was called Starving Kitten: I Feel Sad, I wouldn’t be saying anything. But it’s not. It’s accusing other people of being heartless just because they don’t feel bad about the kitten, as if any decent person would “obviously feel bad”. It’s like the people that are trying to get Shot From Guns to believe she likes dogs.
Perhaps you think that my hammer-to-the-head method is inhumane? I posit that it is not. The cat won’t feel a thing.
But there *is *an actual truth to whether a certain method is humane, regardless of whether you think a kitten’s life is valuable. Any method that kills it quickly and painlessly is humane–any method that doesn’t, isn’t. So your hammer-to-the-head method, if it kills the kitten instantly, is humane (albeit rather barbaric–but that’s a value judgment, I’ll agree). Tossing a kitten over a fence to be torn to bits by a dog is not humane. If nothing else, the kitten will feel fear as it sails over the fence and as it confronts the dog, even if the dog kills it instantly once it lands.
Fine, but you’re just kicking the can down the road. Even granted your definition of “humane”, now we have to agree on what constitutes “quickly and painlessly”. That doesn’t help at all.
And my point was never that using a hammer or tossing it to dogs was or was not humane. Do you agree that when you say “this is, this is not” that you’re using your feelings to decide? That you’re being subjective about it? Or even that you’re anthropomorphizing the cat a little bit? It’s cool if you are. I just want you to realize it.
BTW, the toss-to-dogs thing wasn’t my comment, tyvm. I suggested a hammer+towel or a brick. You can take your pets to the vet if you want, but I’d much rather do it myself and use the money for something more useful. Donate to a cat foster home, perhaps?
It’s one thing for someone to say “Oh, I can’t bear to watch!” and another to say “You shouldn’t be able to bear watching!” when we all agree (hypothetically) that such-and-such animal needs to die.
I, for one, am not a huge fan of “bear watching”, but what does that pasttime have to do with the topic at hand? I thought this thread was about a kitten. 
Ya know, I’ve had a history of taking in strays (my late husband used to say, “dammit, you can’t save the whole world!” :rolleyes::p), never more than one at a time and not that often, but cats, esp., seem to gravitate to me.
And ya know what? I am really NOT that fond of cats.
The one I have now (who is growing old, sickly, whiney, crapping on the carpet, a total pain in the ass, as they tend to, ime) was a stray who turned up on our porch yrs ago. I made the mistake of feeding her and eventually, the mistake of letting her in the house. :smack:
I moved her 2,300 miles across country rather than take her to a shelter to be killed (where I was, the rates for cats were appalling…might as WELL have taken a hammer to her myself) and was never able to find her a home (who wants a free cat, esp. one past kittenhood? Wow, what a hot commodity!)
Same situation now…the no-kill shelters are always full, her odds anywhere else are dismal, no one wants her, and so I am stuck with a sickly old PITA cat I am rapidly growing to loathe. 
In the OPs situation, I’d say go get the kitty. Then find it a good home on Craigslist or somewhere FAST, before the cute wears off. Or take it in. (something I will not do again. NO more free-roaming mammals for me, humans and maybe horses aside).
And SPAY those damn animals, folks! OR keep them under tight control to prevent unwanted litters! Jesus, the money we spend as a nation to kill the millions of such poor creatures we claim, as a nation, to so love…the best approach to feral cats, imo, is to catch them, spay them, then feed/water them until they die. With non-feral strays, adopting them (and spaying them) is usually a better option.
No, you don’t.
Main Entry: bear
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English *beren *to carry, bring forth, from Old English beran; akin to Old High German *beran *to carry, Latin ferre, Greek pherein
Date: before 12th century
transitive verb
3 a : to support the weight of : sustain b : to accept or allow oneself to be subjected to especially without giving way <couldn’t bear the pain> <I can’t bear seeing you cry> c : to call for as suitable or essential <it bears watching> d : to hold above, on top, or aloft e : to admit of : allow f : assume, accept
Main Entry: bare
Function: transitive verb
Date: before 12th century
: to make or lay bare : uncover
Yes, actually I do. I began making a stupid joke, playing on the words, then decided to abort it for your protection:D (as in NUDE bear watching…BARE bear watching…and including a little good natured jab at Chessic…not worth it on either count) and proceded with my comments before realizing I’d failed to edit the “punch-line” of the defunct joke out. :o
I also know the difference between “there”, “their” and “they’re” and “your” and “you’re”. Trust me, no good jokes in those either. (although I did see a middle school sign once which read, “Now hiring bus driver’s”…my son and I both wondered, “bus driver’s WHAT?” :D)
If it was in my area at all, I’d go get the cat myself. Done it before, will probably do it again.
What is humane is not subjective. There are actual laws defining what is humane and what is animal cruelty. Your hammer to the head, that’s cruelty. You can’t guarantee you won’t miss or give a glancing blow injuring the animal and causing pain and suffering. How many blows then until you actually kill it? You also don’t have to shell out money, most urban areas will have some sort of pound where you can take an unwanted stray where it will be humanely euthanized. Can’t be bothered to drive out there? Many places will also pick up animals as long as you have it confined. Really there is no excuse for cruelty.
Nice try. Why don’t you just admit you fucked it up, realized you were thinking of the wrong verb, and edited it out after I’d already started composing my reply?
Seriously, there’s no way you’d be making *the comment you edited out *unless you actually thought **CS **had used the wrong “bear.”
Since when does a law make something an objective truth? Laws change but objective truths never can. Unless you want to say “it was cruel then, but not today”, then you’d have to admit that the law was passed due to a summation of subjective opinions of legislators.
ETA: You’re saying that the hammering is cruel because I might not actually do a hammer-to-the head? That X is cruel because not-X is cruel?
You make me want to hit myself in the head with a hammer.