At what point do you consider a barn cat "feral"?
 

Was out fencing today and as I neared a patch of bush I noticed what looked like a skunk. The 22 came out and as I got the critter into my scope I realized I was looking at a large black and white cat not a skunk.
Now I know a lot of people are going to freak out but here's how I see it. A cat living out in the wild all on its own is feral and therefore a pest that can have quite an impact on things like grouse and if left unchecked can cause quite a lot of issues.
I did not dispatch this particular feline as I knew its origins were from the neighbors about a mile away. Thinking about it afterwards lead me to the question.
How far away from civilisation does a cat have to be before it's considered a pest?

In my opinion once a cat is off it's owner's property on it's own ,it's a target. Any pet for that matter.

All cats are feral.

The second it steps an inch off the owner's property line..

These invasive pests kill hundreds of millions of native birds per year in Canada alone.

Far from his home he gets a chance to be coyote bait, he wanders onto my place he better be perfectly behaved.

Yep, I have no cats on my farm, they do more harm then good. Kill song birds that I happen to be a big fan of, tear the hell out of everything in the saddle shed, and **** and crap all through the wife's flower beds. If people like their cats so much keep them on their place, my animals stay on mine. They fall into the gopher/squirrel/magpie category for me and I do care what people think of it.

I wish I could have a few barn cats. As soon as we get any about the first night they venture outside the barn the coyotes get them.

My Skunk/Cat trap hasn't come out of the shed this year, not seeing many around here. A cat or for that matter a dog should stay on it's own property, if it wanders off & is caught in my yard & turned over to Sylvan bylaw & has a license the fine is:

$130 (first offence)
$260 (second offence)
$360 (third and continuing offences)

If it's feral they went to Klassic Kennels in R/D who had a barn cat adoption program that was quite successful.


D.

sounds like your not shooting enough coyotes ;)

I kind of like coyotes, on account of I hate cats and mice so much.

I shoot any stray toms that show up and the females don’t generally roam.

Someone dropped off two kittens at the end of our driveway and one of them ended up in my truck fan. Wrecked the fan shroud and tore off a bunch of wiring when the fan kicked in, which cost about $2000 to repair. Sorry nice then I have been quite intolerant of cats that don’t belong at my place.

Nope....if it's just wondering around then take it up with the real azzz which is the owner.....select your azzz target accordingly.

So are the Cougars at the legion:)

Not sure how people keep mice out of equipment and buildings without cats. We have 7 to 10 cats at any one time here around the farm, without them the mice destroy equipment, everything in the feed shed, twine, nest in hoses and spare parts, etc.
Our cats keep the mice in check, would never be without them. I also see the cats out in the pasture killing gophers and regularly bring pocket gophers in from the hayfield. Yes, they wander and yes some dont make it home. To me they are a necessity.
Our native bird population is flourishing here, just for those who are wondering. Some evenings there are 40-50 American Goldfinch on the feeders, every tree swallow house raised a batch of young and the Baltimore Orioles behind our shop had a successful nesting.
Seagulls and magpies kill more young birds here than any of our cats do.

Craig


Sent from my SM-A505W using Tapatalk

If it's not my cat, it's feral. Greatest cause of song bird mortality.

Grizz

Do you feel the same way about children ?

x2

Assinine post.

No harm, no foul, no kill.
I had rats a few years ago when I raised pigs, I got two fixed males, far less mouse problems. I know my cats go off my yard, but they are now outdoor farm cats, I can’t see them doing any harm, I’d say anyone who killed them for just “being” needs to grow up.

Don't fool yourself.
"Birds killed by cats in Canada
Estimates presented here suggest a very substantial mortality of birds, with roughly 100-350 million birds killed annually by 5-10 million outdoor cats. "

from here http://www.ace-eco.org/vol8/iss2/art3/

So you are ok with shooting some child's pet dog, horse, cow, cat just because they got out even though you don't know the circumstances of how it happened? I could see if it was a repeat and they were harassing something but that's not always the case.

Touches close to home to me. Growing up we had a dog that followed the horses when we chased cows. The dog had always found its way home after. Except one time it showed up in a neighbors yard as it had got lost on its way and that neighbor shot him. He wasn't harassing anything as the owner never had animals and the dog wasn't big nor was he aggressive. Shot him just because it went on his property trying to find its way home.

Bingo.

nope....got cats...no mice....lots of song birds....they start their daily ritual about 0400hrs...natures alarm clock!

This as with anything in nature needs a balance....cant have 10 thousand cats running on a tropical island and not eat....balance is out of whack....in some areas the balance is just that...balanced.....and then the pendulum swings the other way very little cats and a infestation of mice, birds etc.....balance.

We live in a small town (~300ppl). We had a few stray cats roaming around town. I don’t know how many were strays and how many were pets that were allowed to roam. My wife is a huge animal lover and wanted to trap them and was willing to even pay to get them fixed if needed. The problem was we didn’t want to take a kids cat to the SPCA. They were never a huge nuisance and this was the 1st year I didn’t have mice in the trailer.


Well, the neighbours got together and went on a hunting trip. Killed 6 kittens and shot 8 adult cats. I get that some of these cats were pests but I don’t agree with the killing spree that had to happen. There were other options.

That's the problem right now - not just Canada but worldwide. There is a significant decline in native songbird populations and the singular greatest mortality factor is cats. Free roaming cats.

I have two yard cats that help to keep the mice at bay - that and a 365 day/yr 24 trap "mouseline". Without the cats the trapline can't keep up. But it was especially hard this spring when a week after the bluebird pair returned the wife found his feathers strewn on the front doorstep. I still see the female around the yard but no other male has shown up and she didn't nest. When the barnswallows were about to fledge we locked the cats in the garage for four days - they are as hard on songbird populations as they are the mice. It is a problem, and ignoring the truth of it won't make it go away.

House Sparrows are not a songbird, they are a plague.

When were House Sparrows mentioned? Yeah, them and Starlings and Pigeons are invasive but this is about the other several hundred species of native birds

58theCat mentioned all the birds he had in his yard - at four in the morning. It's the male House Sparrows that start up loudly vocal at that time. I just wish there was a little more light at that time so I could get my sights on the buggers. My point was that having House Sparrows in your yard doesn't count for squat.

Should have shot it.