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Originally posted by arfmel:

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I live trapped several this winter and released them out in farming country to give them a chance for a farmer to let them be on his place as a mouser. But in essence what I'm probably doing is just making them someone else's problem

Please don’t do this. It’s wrong, and in many places illegal, to force others to deal with feral cats released on their rural property. And once a cat has been live trapped they’re unlikely to go into a live trap again. I’m a farmer and already have all the mousers I need.

I think I already knew this or at least strongly suspected as much. Just an alternative to dispatching if I didn't have to. We do not have a shelter near the closest one is nearly an hour away and they are currently not taking anything and never did take feral cats.
The few I caught in a live trap were like having a tornado in a cage. You had to make sure you were wearing welder gloves because if they could reach your fingers they would surely claw or bite you.

If it's a pitbull on the loose I won't think twice if it runs in my direction to defend myself. Most other dogs will get a chance but its situational. I think it's foolish to let your dog run around on its own, can only blame a sad outcome on yourself.

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Originally posted by lastmanstanding:

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Originally posted by arfmel:

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I live trapped several this winter and released them out in farming country to give them a chance for a farmer to let them be on his place as a mouser. But in essence what I'm probably doing is just making them someone else's problem

Please don’t do this. It’s wrong, and in many places illegal, to force others to deal with feral cats released on their rural property. And once a cat has been live trapped they’re unlikely to go into a live trap again. I’m a farmer and already have all the mousers I need.

I think I already knew this or at least strongly suspected as much. Just an alternative to dispatching if I didn't have to. We do not have a shelter near the closest one is nearly an hour away and they are currently not taking anything and never did take feral cats.
The few I caught in a live trap were like having a tornado in a cage. You had to make sure you were wearing welder gloves because if they could reach your fingers they would surely claw or bite you.

I knew a gal that performed a study on feral cats since her hometown had a problem with them. The gist of it was this; eradication didn’t work because it put pressure on them to reproduce. The solution was spay/neuter and release. It took a while, but the population eventually plateaued and then started to reduce. Wasn’t cheap, either. YMMV, of course.

I don't live far from 95flhr and he's not wrong about hunting dogs. Actually a pet peeve of mine, but that's a rant for another day.

If it's after livestock or is in any way aggressive towards me or my family, it's DRT! I actually had a situation when I moved into this current house where MY DOG slipped his collar and ended up running one of the neighbors chickens to death. I apologized profusely and told the neighbor that if it happens again, shoot him! Guy was shocked as could be that I would say something like that, but I grew up on a farm and know all too well how quickly a dog at large can tear through some hens. Never an issue afterwards, but man did I feel shitty because my dog (since passed) was a bonehead sometimes.

If a dog is harassing the wildlife or just coming over to take a shit in my yard, I'll get animal control involved.

If it's chill and wants to hang out until someone comes looking for it, they are welcome as long as it doesn't cause any grief with my immediate neighbors.

Shockingly, the law in California allows shooting any dog that is harassing livestock, but I’ve not heard of anyone doing it locally. Our neighbor (who runs cattle) did call one time when he had large white/cream dogs on his place as he thought they might be our Pyrenees/Anatolian crosses that were guarding the goats, but they weren’t. As far as I know, he just chased them off without putting a hole in them. Around here most folks like dogs, and tend to be slow to take out on the dogs what is usually a problem with the owner.

I hunt in rural areas in the southeast where some landowners will regularly shoot dogs that trespass on their hunting land. It's not something I have ever done, but I hunt as a guest and haven't invested thousands or millions of dollars into the land and its management.

Where I'm from (40 years ago-rural southeast Idaho) it was hit and miss with a dog running loose on a farm. If it was chasing livestock it was probably going to get shot. If it wasn't it depended whether the farmer recognized the dog.

I addition to all the stories just told here, another reason to not shoot a dog that's not truly threatening is the emotional actions of their owners.

About three years ago a guy that is/was a habitual offender (owner of a pit that's not real friendly, and it runs loose because the guy thinks he's a bad ass nobody would do anything) was threatening a neighbor a few blocks away while his kids were visiting.
The guy being threatened shot the dog, that ran home to his owner, Mr. Badass.
The dog ended up being injured but not life threatening. The dog owner then stormed up (tooled up) to the neighbor and ended up getting into a confrontation that escalated into him shooting and killing the guy that shot the dog.
The shooter's now in jail awaiting trial on a murder charge.

We deal with animal control issues since we have no dedicated unit. We are a free roam county here in the Texas Hill Country, so dogs are free to chase and kill neighbors’ animals along with other chaotic activities at will.

We are relatively rural, and the citizens I come into contact with are either for or against this free roaming. I tell them the ones against to contact the county judge and commissioners to change it AND to start an animal control unit to more effectively deal with this issue.

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Just an alternative to dispatching if I didn't have to

Consider that “releasing” (dumping) them on someone else’s property just forces that person to do what you didn’t have the stomach for, and that they probably don’t like dealing with them any more than you do. Don’t bother to trap them if you can’t/won’t dispatch them.

Three times a week the tiny town F. B. Page has lost and found pets in it.

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Originally posted by arfmel:
Please don’t do this. It’s wrong, and in many places illegal, to force others to deal with feral cats released on their rural property. And once a cat has been live trapped they’re unlikely to go into a live trap again. I’m a farmer and already have all the mousers I need.

In addition to that, someone randomly releasing cats on someone else’s property has no idea what they are getting the cats into. I am quite allergic to cats and never cared for them besides, but deliberately did not get mousers because I suspect they’d have a short and brutal life here. Between the bobcats and coyotes, I doubt they’d make it long enough for the mountain lions or black bears to get them. Even not caring for cats, I wouldn’t inflict this environment on them.

Passing thru no issues. Friendly call for pickup. Mean or a nuisance shoot, shovel, shut up.

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Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
I think I already knew this or at least strongly suspected as much. Just an alternative to dispatching if I didn't have to. We do not have a shelter near the closest one is nearly an hour away and they are currently not taking anything and never did take feral cats.
The few I caught in a live trap were like having a tornado in a cage. You had to make sure you were wearing welder gloves because if they could reach your fingers they would surely claw or bite you.

Different animal, but for the ground squirrels caught in a live trap I have a special water trough. With the wire or rope used to tie the trap to a stake (so the coyotes don’t haul it off trying to get at the squirrels) drag or haul the trap to the trough and toss it in for a few minutes. After several minutes, dump the trap out, replace, and re-bait. The coyotes or buzzards will take care of cleanup.

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We are a free roam county here in the Texas Hill Country, so dogs are free to chase and kill neighbors’ animals along with other chaotic activities at will.

What Texas county has this nutty policy, please? Just so I can avoid moving there.