Wisconsin cats

Forgive me if this issue has undoubtedly been discussed. Does anyone know what's going on about that story? I contacted PETA to get contact information as to who to contact about it and they gave me the name and email of the secretary of the state of Wisconsin. I emailed him and described the horror of knowing I was actually typing out an email in the year 2005 begging him not to allow the hunting of cats!

My Dad said that they decided to drop the issue because the whole country was making fun of them for even considering such a thing. But I don't know where he got that information and how much of that was opinion and how much was fact.

Does anyone know anything about that situation?

I still can't believe I even have to discuss this. How surreal, disheartening, shocking and horrifying to me.

Alley Cat Allies is your best resource for keeping up on this issue.
http://www.alleycat.org/wi.html

Here is an article they link to:


www.sfgate.com
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Wisconsin Group Drops Cat-Killing Plan
- By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, May 14, 2005


(05-14) 00:45 PDT Manitowoc, Wis. (AP) --


A month after Gov. Jim Doyle said a plan to allow hunters to shoot stray cats was making Wisconsin a laughingstock, the public advisory group that raised the issue decided Friday to let it die.


"There is no need to push it any further," Wisconsin Conservation Congress chairman Steve Oestreicher said of a proposed change to allow licensed hunters to shoot feral cats that kill songbirds and other wildlife.


The proposal ignited a firestorm among animal rights groups that called it inhumane and dangerous — and raised the specter that hunters would shoot cats that had only wandered from their homes.


Still, 57 percent of those at the Conservation Congress' meetings in all 72 counties last month favored the idea, which supporters said would let people deal with nuisance stray cats.


Members of the Conservation Congress advise the state Natural Resources Board and the Department of Natural Resources, according to its Web site.


Delegates at the group's convention in Manitowoc voted Friday to recommend the change to the Natural Resources Board, but the group's executive committee decided against it. For the proposal to become law, it would need legislative approval and Doyle's signature.


"The governor has indicated he would never sign a bill," Oestreicher said. "It's time to let it go."


The La Crosse firefighter who proposed the idea, Mark Smith, complained the advisory group caved in to animal rights activists. But he said he won't pursue the issue.


"I think it is wrong that these activists hold such power as they do," he said in a telephone interview. "The politicians are all scared of them and lay down. I am one little guy who was looking to change something. It is not about animal cruelty, it is about individual landowner rights."


Jessica Frohman, a spokeswoman for a Maryland-based group called Alley Cat Allies, hailed the decision. "I think cat owners and pet owners are going to be just as happy," she said.


Some estimates indicate 2 million wild cats roam Wisconsin. South Dakota and Minnesota allow wild cats to be shot.


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...a004520D44.DTL


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Â[emoji]169[/emoji]2005 Associated Press

Wisconsin is also looking at beginning a TNR program (Trap, Neuter or Spay, and Release). If you check the feral board here at TCS you will find more info. Thanks for caring. Remember the "Conservation Congress" is a bunch of hunters and fishermen. Most of them were voting in ignorance, thinking of shooting a totally feral cat on their property. But the proposal would have made it legal to shoot any cat without a collar which was outside. I'm glad they gave up the fight.

This discussion is elsewhere on the board- SOS and IMO I believe so this thread will be locked now.