In this now-closed thread, a discussion arose over the legality of killing cats, feral and otherwise. In that thread, Spoons quotes with approval a website that claims:
Since this is at best misleading, and at worst an outright misstatement of the law, I thought a GQ thread clarifying matters might be of value. I e-mailed CKDexterHaven – in light of the closed thread – and he gave his assent to the creation of this thread.
As always, of course, this thread, like any thread on any message board, should not substitute for legal advice. For legal advice about facts specific to your jurisdiction and your cricumstances, consult an attorney licensed to practice where you live and explain the details of your case to that attorney.
However, a discussion of certain broad principles is not impossible. Specifically, the line: “Intentionally killing a cat is a criminal offense in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, regardless of ownership,” is not accurate. Vets humanely kill cats intentionally all the time, without criminal liability – as do shelters that cannot place cats for adoption. The key distinction is found in the beginning of the second sentence: “Anti-cruelty laws apply to all cats—pet, abandoned, lost, and feral…” The law forbids the cruel killing of a cat, not simply any killing of a cat.
In Virginia, to pick an example I am familiar with, the law makes a distinction between “compansion animals” and other animals. The wilful infliction of inhumane injury or pain on a companion animal is a felony; for “feral” animals, the same act is a misdemeanor.
It’s far from clear to me that trapping cats and humanely dispatching them would be a violation of the law. Certainly the safer, and less legally ambiguous, course would be to turn over trapped animals to the official animal control agencies or shelters. But it’s wrong to say categorically that any killing of cats is illegal: it’s the CRUEL killing of cats that is forbidden.