MG> Response To: GARY WESTFALL (1:105/278)
 
 GW(>In Oregon it is legal to shoot dogs that are running loose and
 GW(>threatening livestock, let alone people.
 
 GW(>Feral cats can also be problems.
 MG> Oh, do they chase livestock too?  Farmers, of course, have a right to
 MG> defend their livelihood, but unless the farmer is raising -- what,
 MG> guinee pigs? -- I don't see where any farmer needs to defend his
 MG> livestock from cats.  
 
 Never had much to do with the farm life, huh? When my Dad first bought his 
 place, there were several covey of wild quail there. Couldn't kick a brush 
 top without flushing a rabbit. Someone opened a trailer park adjoining his
 property, and lots of nice city folks who "loved their animals" moved in
 with all their cats. Cats so well loved that their owners couldn't be 
 bothered to keep them off of other people's property, and away from other
 people's livestock. Cats so beloved that their owners couldn't be bothered
 to have them neutered. Cats that scratched the paint jobs on our cars,
 cats that pulled the feet off our tame rabbits (raised around 400 or so
 at the time), cats that wouldn't stay out of our garbage, cats that would
 find ways into our quail pens, and leave every one they found dead, just
 for the sake of killing them, cats that would kill our chickens, cats that
 would breed indiscriminately, leaving their little feral liters to make
 sure that the small game population could never regain it's balance. Had
 you ever found one of your prize rabbits, his feet pulled off through the
 hardware cloth on the bottom of his cage, you might be able to change your
 rather uninformed opinion on a farmer defending his livestock from cats.
 A cat is, above all, a very effecient killing machine. The wild rabbits and 
 quail? They're gone now. Won't find one to save your heinie.
 
 MG> Besides, the intent here is obvious:  shoot cats
 MG> for fun.  No, not even for fun -- shoot cats because you plain don't
 MG> like 'em.
Nope, I *don't* like 'em. That never caused me to shoot one, though. I do
like dogs, and very much so. Still, when the neighbor's dog got into the 
rabbit hutches, and the neighbor refused to keep him up, I was forced to
shoot the dog as well. Didn't enjoy it, but had to do it. My dog is either
in the fence, or in the house. That way, I'm sure that he is not damaging
any one else's property. Just a *little* common sense tells me that I if
I claim to care for an animal, any less would be cruelty on *my* part, not
on the part of the person forced to shoot him because of his destructive
behavior.
... I brake for small animals...then eat their meat and wear their skins.
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]
--- Maximus/2 3.01
---------------