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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:

quote:

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.

*******Bumping an Old Thread************

Afraid this is going to be a problem for me come Spring. I own 25 acres or so in a very rural area with a little house on it.
In the past I have picked up a dog or two on my cameras.
For the last week or so I have a consistent pack of at least 5 dogs roaming and running the property at all hours.

Boys are usually running around or down by the pond and I am mowing or doing something around the property.
Going to have to stick close to the kids for awhile. I’ll park my truck down by the pond to give the boys a place to get away from them if need be.

I went down in January and noticed 3 dogs on a porch down the road and these dogs look similar.

I think it kinda depends. Much of the time it’s dogs doing what dogs do. Bad behavior usually comes back to reflecting on the owner, if they have one.

If a dog came through my property, my first few inclinations are NOT to shoot it. I don’t have chickens or livestock, my German Shepherd may have an issue.

I grew up in N MI, some winter deer yarding areas scattered on the edge of Lake Superior. Is an overweight Lab causing problems sight-chasing a deer 200 yards? Likely not.

Not saying I never have or never would, but there are a whole host of mitigation methods. Yes, context is important.

Years ago, I subscribed to a regional newspaper. I even read letters to the Editor. And one of them was a passive-agressive note to "the person that thought their life was so important they felt they could drive recklessly". Basically said someone ran over their dog on a Farm-Market road in a rural area, and they left the noble beast to die a painful, lingering death while the owner watched with tear-filled eyes.

That prompted a published reply the next day by someone rightfully blaming them for not having their dog restrained in some way. The following day, the owner of the dog replied that "she didn't move to the country to keep her dogs penned up", and invoked the "what if it was a child" argument, completely missing the point.

My 3S’s story…

Back in the early 80’s we moved to rural Bedford County, VA on what was originally part of my FIL’s 1400 acre farm that he was parceling out and selling lots in his retirement. He had offered me a job to help him as a thinly veiled attempt to have his daughter closer to him!!

Anyway, in the newer section of the subdivision there were probably about 4 or 5 homes each on 5 acres so things were spread apart. Two of those homes were occupied by 2 brothers each of whom had a pit bull and as you can imagine they were very territorial in their little area. In fact when talking to one of the brothers one day one of them actually but my leg while I was talking to its owner. Fortunately it was in the middle of the winter and I was wearing a pair of insulated overalls so he just got a mouth full of clothing. The owner kicked his dog to get him off me and the dog ran away…

About a month later, I had my backhoe on a second lot I had bought clearing out some trees to improve the view from my back deck. All of a sudden I heard what I thought was three quick shots fairly close by. Hearing gunfire was not unusual but the closeness was. About 5 minutes later a neighbor down the road drove up in his pick up and took a black plastic contractor bag out of the back of his truck and approached me. He asked me if I would use my back now and bury the contents of the bag…

I had barely met this guy and there was no way in hell I was going to bury anything without knowing what was in the bag. He showed me and it was one of the pit bulls from up the road (about a mile away).

He explained that he had two small adopted kids (2 and 3 YO) and they were playing on his back deck when the dog approached him and the kids and was acting very aggressively. He grabbed both kids and was putting them in the house when the dog bit him. He kicked the dog and went to get his pistol. The dog was still growling and barking at the glass patio door when he opened the door and shot it.

So knowing that I dug a nice deep hole and buried the dog. A few weeks later the dog’s owner asked me if I had seen his dog recently… and to this day he still doesn’t know…

Our little Arkansas town, 3500 People. No Red lights, no dog catcher, no animal shelter. Stray dogs and cats just get chased away.

Call the police, they tell you, if you feed it, it's yours! So, don't be caring.