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Beautiful Black Cat with Collar Roaming

Discussion in 'Nature/Habitat/Garden Corner' started by KTdid, Oct 7, 2020.

  1. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    Neighbor, your gorgeous black cat with a blue/green collar is roaming the neck of woods between Welby and Harvest Green Terrace. He/she is chasing the vultures (which I don't mind one bit) but also terrorizing the local backyard birds. He would not come to me when called because he was so focused on the hunt. You can make the case that cats should be allowed to roam but I can make the case that they should be kept indoors as I do with mine for valid health and safety reasons. I'm not against allowing them outside if they are confined or restrained.

    Throughout the years I've lived in Broadlands, I've rid the area of (too many to count) roaming strays and the unfortunate feral cats (and their many kittens) bred because they were in tact and allowed to roam unfettered. I even took in a sweet stray years ago, left behind by it's owners during one of our worst winters as they could not justify taking their pet with them when they moved.

    What ever your reason for allowing your precious cat outdoors - if he becomes a repeat visitor, I will, without apology, trap and deliver him to the county animal control in Waterford.
     
  2. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    You may have your beliefs... but you may want to be aware of the law in the matter.

    Specifically I'd point you to Section 612.12 DOGS AND CATS DEEMED PERSONAL PROPERTY; RIGHTS RELATING THERETO - https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/loudouncounty/latest/loudounco_va/0-0-0-2314
    "All dogs and cats in the County shall be deemed personal property and may be the subject of larceny and malicious or unlawful trespass. Owners, as defined in Section 612.02(s), may maintain an action for the killing of any such animals, or injury thereto, or unlawful detention or use thereof, as in the case of other personal property."

    So you may want to rethink your vigilante thinking on trying to enforce your BELIEFS on others because if you start trapping other people's animals w/o cause you're opening yourself up to a lot of pain.
     
  3. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    Reread my post. Trapping is not injuring. Your cat on my property /stupidly maintains trespassing when I believe it's a stray, it is within my rights to remove it. It's your personal choice to put your cat at risk (too many to name) so it's akin to negligence on your part.
     
  4. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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  5. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Who said anything about injuring? If you deprive someone of their use/access to their personal property you have an issue.

    Unless it has fallen under being a nuisance because it's damaging property - there is no codified support for your belief. You could remove the animal from your property, but if you were to detain it or otherwise keep it away from it's owner - you have an issue.

    And your narrative about negligence is not supported in the law - so you can keep preaching, but you are unsupported.
     
    BDLNDLVR likes this.
  6. ForThePeople

    ForThePeople New Member

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    Owners allowing their cat to roam freely on others property and use a flowerbed as a litter box must deal with the consequences. Simple as that. Nobody is talking about going out of their way to round up cats and kill them. However, if they find their way onto someone's property they are certainly allowed to take action and transport the cat to a shelter. Owners need to exercise personal responsibility.
     
  7. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    You gonna be the guinea pig over that? ... I wouldn't recommend it.
     
  8. ForThePeople

    ForThePeople New Member

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    Thanks for your "recommendation" but nowhere in my post did I mention anything about personally volunteering to bus stray animals to cat jail. Would be pretty funny though. :D:D
     
  9. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    What I propose it not inhumane nor against the law. There is no way to tell if a free roaming cat is feral, abandoned, or just wandering and has a safe home to return to. Particularly worrisome if it does not have a collar, and/or appears skinny and sick. Most cats are opportunistic predators and will kill anything it can catch. I say most, because if it is sick it cannot even successfully hunt to feed itself. Worst of all, their feces can carry toxoplasma gondiii, which, when shed, can sicken humans and wildlife.

    From a cat perspective; it is subject to attack by dogs, humans, wildlife and may be hit and killed by cars. It may drink poisonous substances (antifreeze), as well as feed on rodents baited with rodenticides, pick up fleas, ticks, demodex mites, and get physically injured. It can get chased by another animal and lose its way home. This is not an IF but when as these things occur all the time. I often hear people say (my cat ran away, is missing, or just never came home.)

    I have TNR’d a couple of feral cats deemed unadoptable with the goal of caring for them, but this is not sustainable nor is it humane. Some would argue that the animal shelters and rescues are overflowing with cats needing homes, and therefore TNR is the solution. I have turned that corner and wholeheartedly disagree. It is a misguided practice being adopted by local jurisdictions to assuage the local Humane Society and Ally Cat Allies lobbyists - removes the county having to go down the road of legislating responsible pet ownership and budgeting for the shelter.

    So, since you wish to inflame the conversation rather than offer any remote, complimentary solution, I’ll just reiterate; if a cat wanders on to my property, defecates in my garden, sprays urine on my patio door, hunts the backyard birds; essentially becomes a nuisance- "through no fault of its own," then I have a legal right to trap it and turn it in to the LCAS. If it is someone's "property" then it should not be on mine.
     
  10. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    Unlike all the "good pet owners" who walk their dogs and let them poop on trails, in yards, etc., at least a cat buries theirs!
     
    hokie'81 likes this.
  11. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    Speaking of allowing their dog to poop in yards- some kid allowed their dog to do it in the curb grass near my house and didn’t even bother to pick it up after I asked her to do so- she just walked off- didn’t even bat an eye at what I asked her to do..... next time, I’ll dump it on her parents doorstep.

    So much for rules/regulations-
     

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