FERAL CAT "HUNTING" GAINS SUPPORT
Tuesday, April 12th, 2005 -- 8:44 AM
We won?t know the statewide results yet, but those at Clark County?s Spring Fish and Wildlife hearing in Greenwood last night showed overwhelming support for allowing free-roaming cats to be shot ? and it appears that support was shown across the state. After some testimony from both sides of the issue, those in attendance voted 66-28 in favor of listing feral cats as an unprotected species, which would allow people with a small game license to shoot them.
The good news for cat-lovers: this issue was not a proposed rule ? it was only up for a vote to gauge public opinion. Any such change would have to go through the state legislature, not the DNR.
Melissa Ferris of Abbotsford spoke emotionally against the idea of shooting felines. She said she tamed a wild cat and it became a great pet.
"She wound up being one of the sweetest, tamest house pets I ever had," Ferris said from the bleachers of the Greenwood gymnasium, "It really bothers me the idea of making it legal for people to hunt these cats with a small game license."
"One of the reasons I like living out in the country is that she was able to be free and do what cats do. They want to get out and be wild," Ferris said.
Others said there was a problem and this might be part of the solution. Others encouraged officials to look at forcing cat-owners to license their pets as dogs need to be licensed.
After the meeting, cat-owner and head of the Clark Couty Humane Society Chuck Wagner admitted this was a complex issue, but said he didn?t think this was the solution. He said cat-owners need to take more responsibility for their pets.
"There are too many pet cats that are allowed to run around," Wagner said, "People need to stop that practice; it's not going to work in today's society."
"I'm concerned that someone can look through the scope of a rifle 200-feet away and make a determination: is it tame, is it wild."
Mike Leiser, who was visiting from Wood County, spoke in favor of the proposal, but conceded this isn?t an ideal solution. He is a trapper, and sees the growing problem firsthand.
"We've seen them increase in numbers over the years. The problem with feral cats is that they are attracted to a lot of the same things coyote and fox are attracted to so they tend to get close to the (traps) made for those animals," Leiser said. He added he thinks another - less volatile - solution should be brought to the table.
The idea won support in Wood County as well. It passed 149 to 50 there.
Results of the statewide spring hearings are distilled by the congress into recommendation at its annual meeting in May.
There was also a rather contentious debate over a proposal to lower the bag limit for pan fish on Lake Arbutus from 25 to 10. Those in favor of the proposal said the lake was being ?fished out?, while those opposed to the plan wondered if it wasn?t the larger fish ? like Musky ? doing most of the damage. In the end, the proposal failed on a vote of 62 opposed to 36 in favor.
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