Disposing of feral cats

As someone who has to deal with this issue a lot, allow me to add my 5c

Personally, I will only ever shoot a cat. Any other method is too cruel for my liking. I have seen poison bates left to kill a especially murderous feral who was annihilating chickens only to have the bates kill the cat and promptly a devil who consumed its corpse.
Drowning is quicker but when you consider it will take a minute or two to drown its just not quick enough.

I trap in cages and kill with a .22lr to the brain or kill in the field with the appropriate shot. It's instant and the most ethical way to dispatch an animal.

And I guess that's the point. Any way that can guarantee an instant brain death is an ethical method.

What about a spear gun

Seac SUB Sting 45 Speargun NEW | eBay

take the barb off , should do the trick and a lot more predictable than a hunting bow, esp at point blank, which it would be if the cat was already in a cage

a lot less hassle & cheaper that obtaining a firearm.

As I have indicated before, I now have too many cats living around here, so the plan is to now keep feeding the feral cats to tame them down enough to get them to enter a weldmesh trap that I have constructed mainly for catching possums.

Once caught I will then remove the trap and it's contents well away from the feeding area and if it is a feral cat, dispatch with it using a .22, or if it is a stray with a tattoo in its ear, notify the local council dog collector to come and collect it.

How many cats is just enough, and how many is too much, bearing in mind that there will be a need for replacements in time ?
.

'It takes two gulps of water, it's dead ... There's no suffer there' | KPIC CBS 4 - News, Weather and Sports - Roseburg, OR | - Roseburg, Oregon | Local & Regional News

I don't see why drowning is a big deal, a rifle shot that isn't instant kill is worse, drowning is predictable

I'd go the firearm method as first preference too..

But I'm not allowed to take it onto:
- Woomera Test area
- The Works
- Any mine site

And I don't just happen to keep it in the vehicle in case I hit an animal...

So this leaves me with:
- Smack it on the head with something hard (more than 1 blow isn't quick enough)
- Run over its head
- Use some devastatingly quick (animal meets molten metal is nigh on instant)
- Car exhaust is slow, hot and takes a while
- Drowning, great if I have a dam nearby and apparently quick and painless.

Gun shots (hunting) cannot guarantee clean kills, it's the nature of Hunting.
Best not use that method for gathering or pest extermination either.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by phibbzy

As someone who has to deal with this issue a lot, allow me to add my 5c
SNIP
I have seen poison bates left to kill a especially murderous feral who was annihilating chickens only to have the bates kill the cat and promptly a devil who consumed its corpse.
SNIP

---

I have to agree, poising must have to be one of the most torturous ways to die. Still 1080 is used widely to kill feral animals, then as you say the food chain down the line suffers. Tassis devil, eagles, dingos, and so on all die as well. Can't tell you how any letters I have written to Tasmanian government about lacing new fields of plantation timer with 1080 to stop the wombats from eating the seedlings. You know, only Bob Brown replied.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by goingbush

What about a spear gun

Seac SUB Sting 45 Speargun NEW | eBay

take the barb off , should do the trick and a lot more predictable than a hunting bow, esp at point blank, which it would be if the cat was already in a cage

a lot less hassle & cheaper that obtaining a firearm.

---

your terrible Muriel.....but I like your commitment.

There are club shooters travelling with firearms going to competitions all over Australia every day.
Join SSAA and look at the comps in the back of the mag.
You are going to a legitimate competition with your rifle in its secure storage, who is going to worry if you bump off the odd cat or despatch humanely the poor roo on the side of the road with its guts hanging out.
Didiman

Hi,
Yonks ago the Medical School would take cats if the right course was coming up, but not for many years now.

I have run a cat out of a humane trap into a potato sack, where he can be held quite safely and introduced to the back of Mr. Axe.

At the time we had just bought a house from some one who must have been feeding all the local 'kitties', and some of them were very wild and fierce.
One fluffy Persian was very pleased to see me, smooched and purred in anticipation of being 'rescued'. Obviously a pet, so was released unharmed.

cheers

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 123rover50

There are club shooters travelling with firearms going to competitions all over Australia every day.
Join SSAA and look at the comps in the back of the mag.
You are going to a legitimate competition with your rifle in its secure storage, who is going to worry if you bump off the odd cat or despatch humanely the poor roo on the side of the road with its guts hanging out.
Didiman

---

Just make sure (particularly in NSW) that your licence also includes "Hunting" as a legitimate reason though.

Bob

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 123rover50

There are club shooters travelling with firearms going to competitions all over Australia every day.
Join SSAA and look at the comps in the back of the mag.
You are going to a legitimate competition with your rifle in its secure storage, who is going to worry if you bump off the odd cat or despatch humanely the poor roo on the side of the road with its guts hanging out.
Didiman

---

Keith is there a size limit on this do you know. I'd imagine .22 is adequate for what you have mentioned.

On Easter Monday I had the unfortunate experience of a small wallaby running out just as I passed. It went under the car and broke it's leg. Given the day, the location, and 0 phone coverage I used the vehicle to put the animal down.
The whole process from accident to death, maybe 30 to 40 seconds. I'm not sure a gun would have been faster but in some cases it would be easier.