[I_Like_Plants]

Plague is endemic in the US, it's reservoir is often prairie dogs. A massive breakout of the Plague happens, in prairie dogs or in people, when the population is too concentrated, food runs out, and fleas are the vector.

The kind of fleas cat-nuts love to infest apartment buildings, houses, your barn, etc with.

[AWPrime]

It is sad to see that many people are too cheap to give their cats the proper care for preventing/stopping fleas.

The cats owned by my family always go outside, they behave (except for the dead rat/bird every month of so) and are/were very healthy.


@ILP - Most of what you have described are symptoms of neglect. Have you ever met a proper cat owner?

[I_Like_Plants]

A proper cat owner is one who "0wns" the cat with a .22 then invites me over to the barbecue ...

[AWPrime]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'A') proper cat owner is one who "0wns" the cat with a .22 then invites me over to the barbecue ...

[I_Like_Plants]

No, to kill cats for non-consumption, say you just want to use the skins, poison works well. A mix of canned tuna and antifreeze is a good one, and you may have the ingredients at home.

Not sure about eating cat that's been poisoned with antifreeze .... a little won't hurt you, and mostly you're eating the muscle, so chances are it'd be OK.

But for the table, the way to go would be live trapping, perhaps feed on a clean diet for a while then prepare, or a good clean kill with a hunting type pellet rifle or .22. If you're a good shot you can kill the cat without much trauma, which is supposed to make the meat tough.

Ask your local Chinese restaurant for some good recipes!

[tecumseh]

My PO aware buddy who has a degree in Anthropology just sent me this email, as a result of the recent Tiger attack in SF, that helps explain our relationships with cats and dogs:

"Our relationship with nature has become far too artificial. To the point even that we feel that botanical gardens, zoos, and theme parks(though they are quite lovely and enjoyable) are actually nature rather than constructs emulating nature in some pretty absurd ways. Vegas and the Rain Forest Cafe in Chicago are examples of what many people think of as natural wonders. What I am getting at is our relationship with nature has changed fundamentally and we forget that for the most of human and proto-human history we did not have any real control over the environment, so when nature does what it does best we act horrified.

Some anthropologists and evolutionists (I agree with these thoughts)feel that Australopithecus (the little guy that stepped out of the Forest and onto the velt because of depleting resources) had little defense against the big cats, he was barley four feet tall. As a result, he had to exploit his advantage of upright posture. Upright posture presents a smaller surface area for heat absorption. Combine this with a large heart muscle, an enormous (by proportion to other animals) number of blood vessels in the brain cavity, and mostly hairless body that can perspire and we have the amazing ability to exploit the mid-day heat of the African savanna. When all the big cats are laying around and being lethargic we are out looking for calories using our very efficient cooling system to protect our ever growing brain. That cooling system and great big heart muscle gives us the ability to run a deer to exhaustion, because they can't shed heat and when their brain starts to cook itself we can walk right up to an animal and kill it easily (seen it done in a film on Kung Bushman).

Our ancestors knew enough to get up in a tree or find some other shelter in the evenings though, because those cats are nocturnal hunters. I know what my little domestic cat is capable of and ascertain that if it were bigger it would gut me and play with me just like a baby rabbit. You can see it in their eyes and I suspect a man's mistrust of cats is hard wired in the brain somewhere deep down. Our relationship with dogs is even more complex. Despite most domestic dogs(real dogs not the toys that can be carried in a hand bag) being only a few steps removed from wolf, we have had a more symbiotic relationship with dogs. I guess we understand each other better because we are both pack hunters and we have depended on each other for a long time.

Anyway, most of our great achievements in evolution and technology have revolved around trying to overcome hardships associated with nature. Fire, Clovis Points, Bronze, Farming, Writing an endless list really except I think we have become stalled. Nothing like a little famine, cold wet nights on the ground, or ears and eyes moving in the tall grass to focus somebody. I say we need to release all the Tigers(metaphorically at least) and pray for $10/gal. gasoline and see what happens."

[Andrew_S]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', 'T')he religious pogrom against cats in medieval Europe (witch familiars and such nonsense) was likely responsible for The Plague (or at least a major contributing factor), since it resulted in an explosion of the rat population.

[I_Like_Plants]

Oh, I feel the same way about feral dogs, if you don't care enough about it to leash it, then it's ok to shoot it for sport or for the table.

As for the tigers, they're trying to prove that someone, some "ecoterrorist" opened the door or something somehow, but I think they're just underestimating what a young, light (only 300 lbs) tiger who's been goaded and who has an established taste for human meat can do. They're judging a young, fit, tiger can do based on what fat older tigers can do. That tiger was just .... being a tiger.

I'm hoping video footage comes to light showing what happened. Or some reliable witnesses.

[mos6507]

"In what some might see as a fine example of dark humor, the Black Death also showed just how quickly the mob can resort to ridiculous measures when gripped with fear and anxiety. At a time when faith in God was still strong, despite wavering faith in His clergymen, cats were seen as the agents of the devil. There are hundreds of reports of healthy citizens attacking and slaughtering cats, their fear and anxiety having made them susceptible to the suggestion that cats carried the “miasma,” the poisonous air that carried the plague. Naturally, with a stark drop in the cat population, the rat population increased, and with those rats, so came the bacteria that caused the plague."

http://www.articleclick.com/Article/The ... ope/921718

[I_Like_Plants]

And since it was Written Down, it's True.

I guess the whole idea of scientific rigor or peer review is beyond this crowd....

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Andrew_S', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', 'T')he religious pogrom against cats in medieval Europe (witch familiars and such nonsense) was likely responsible for The Plague (or at least a major contributing factor), since it resulted in an explosion of the rat population.

[BlisteredWhippet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'M')any years ago I lived in a large collective household: ten people sharing one kitchen. There was a cat. One night I heard some scratching noise behind the oven: uh-oh, a mouse in the kitchen. I called the cat in, who quickly heard the noise and sat there flicking his tail from side to side and licking his chops. As I prepared to move the oven, he got in close. I pulled back the oven and not one, but four or five (!) mice jumped down from a niche they had created for themselves. The cat pounced and got three of them in one pounce. The other two escaped down the hole where the gas line came through, which must have had only 1/2" of clearance on one side.

[BlisteredWhippet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'Y')ou cat lovers are so full of shit....

[I_Like_Plants]

Good one Blistered, great posts and great ideas

[AWPrime]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BlisteredWhippet', 'S')o, in terms of addressing causes instead of symptoms= net effect: zero. A live trap would have caught them all in a single night.

[Brokaws-area]

We set out a large havaheart trap for a feral cat awhile back.
Next day, the trap was gone. Figured someone had just stolen it.
Months later, I found the trap while hiking down the gorge several hundred yards from the field where the trap had been.
In it were the skeletal remains of a groundhog, plus multiple bite marks on the outside of the cage... her mate, most likely, trying to free her while rolling the cage end over end.
The lesson here? If you must use a trap, stake it securely to the ground and check it at least once a day. No animal deserves a slow death from starvation.
Also, does anyone know how many migratory songbirds die from hitting highrise buildings, reflective windows, and cell phone towers? Once the feral cats are gone, you might consider taking on these as well.

[I_Like_Plants]

Good points, very good points. Actually the trap will be set right next to the house here, where these cats skulk around.

It's just very hard to get a good shot at them.

I'd bait an open area and use a .22 but not only are there laws against shooting within something like 1/4 mile of a residence, but the bullet could ricochet or skip off the ground and hit something. The pellet gun we have around here is kind of lame, I plan to get a much better one when I can.

So the idea is to put the trap where the cats are seen, trap 'em then dispatch 'em. Opinions vary, I kinda like the idea of tossing 'em trap and all to "learn to swim" in Lynx Lake, my housemate things we ought to either feed 'em to a friend's dog or tie 'em up on a pole for the hawks to pick at.

All good ideas!

Honestly, they'll probably just get a .22 to the head and that's that.

All except the TAXIDERMY, I plan to make a cat-hat.

Now, as for the cell towers, tall mirror-y buildings, and all other things anathema to a good monkey-wrencher, don't think they're not on my list.

[BlisteredWhippet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AWPrime', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BlisteredWhippet', 'S')o, in terms of addressing causes instead of symptoms= net effect: zero. A live trap would have caught them all in a single night.

[I_Like_Plants]

Again B.W. you're a breath of fresh air and rationality.

I just see feral cats (and that's any cat on MY place) as legitamate targets for sport, or the table. Watch the hawks tear 'em up, feed 'em to the dog, whatever.

There's a real bourgeous cat-nutzo faction here who advocates feeding the homeless to their cats, and then there are the real people who know what a PITA these fleabags and their psycho "owners" really are.

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BlisteredWhippet', 'W')e are currently speeding headlong into a period of time where evolved super-bugs and infectious parasites are making inroads into human populations.