Try Treating Fluffy Like a Pet 

These articles are really starting to piss me off. For those of you who don't know... Wisconsin is considering a rule change that would take feral cats off the protected list, allowing any hunter with a small game license to shoot them. What's a feral cat you ask? Well... the answer depends on who you talk to. Most of the opinion pieces from people try to pretend feral cats are your neigbhbors pet named fluffy. These types of editorials have been filling the pages of the Journal lately:

No one would be proposing a state policy to hunt and kill feral cats if they were, say, dogs.

Blame it on the cat's rep. Even cat owners, who wait shamelessly for a moment of purring from their independent pet, admit their felines can be standoffish and arrogant. They're the Simon Cowell of the animal kingdom. If they don't like the food they're served, they sniff at it and walk away. If they don't like the décor - the look of a drape or the feel of a sofa - they'll tear it to shreds.

Cowell is adored even though he snipes at songbirds. Cats are caught in the cross hairs of a proposal that would allow feral felines - the ones without a collar or an owner nearby - to be killed in an effort to save songbirds.

Nobody is suggesting changing the policy against dogs because dogs aren't a problem. People treat dogs like pets. They are kept in kennels, or in people's homes. When people take them outside, they're trained to walk with their owner, and/or kept on a leash. When was the last time you saw your neighbor walking their cat on a leash?

Noooo... people let their cats roam. People who might choose to put out bird feeders to attract birds then have to deal with cats hunting in their back yard. If your neighbors dog was in your backyard digging around... you'd probably yell at your neighbor, and then remind them of a the appropriate city ordinance (as most cities have one). Cities generally will enforce these ordinances against dogs, but rarely do against cats. Why is that?

Feral dogs can be an issue, but dogs are generally easier to catch than cats. Stray dogs get picked up and taken to the local humane society for adoption. What happens to stray cats? They go wild... breed... and then you have a problem.

Cat's don't have a PR problem as this editorial claims. They have a problem with loving owners. If you don't want your cat to get shot (which according to the proposed rule change wouldn't happen if your cat is wearing a collar), then don't let your cat run wild. There's nothing wrong with treating a wild animal like any other wild animal. We're not talking about killing Fluffy after all. We're talking about killing wild cats. What makes a wild cat better than a wild raccoon?