Fishing Forum

DNR Rules Out Cat Hunt, For Now Statewide Votes Support Shooting Cats
POSTED: 6:56 am CDT April 12, 2005 UPDATED: 3:11 pm CDT April 13, 2005
There will not be an open season on feral cats, no matter the results of Monday's vote at Wisconsin Conservation Congress meetings around the state.
Video [url "http://www.channel3000.com/news/4370131/detail.html?treets=c3k&tml=c3k_12pm&ts=T&tmi=c3k_12pm_1_12000204132005#"] [/url][url "http://www.channel3000.com/news/4370131/detail.html?treets=c3k&tml=c3k_12pm&ts=T&tmi=c3k_12pm_1_12000204132005#"]Advisory Vote Taken On Feral Cat Hunting Debate[/url]


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Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott Hassett said there are too many unanswered questions and problems associated with killing stray cats.
Statewide results were tallied Tuesday. Overall, Wisconsin residents support a controversial plan that would allow hunters to take out wild felines that kill birds and other small mammals. Residents voted 6,830 to 5,201 for the plan. DNR officials said the plan passed in 51 counties, failed in 20, and tied in one.
The question asked residents in all 72 counties whether the state should classify free-roaming cats as an unprotected species. That would allow hunters to kill them at will.
In Dane County, 388 votes favored the plan and 881 opposed hunting feral cats.
If enough Wisconsin counties had voted yes on the advisory proposal, the issue could have been brought back next spring as an "action item." If passed then, it would have been up to the state Legislature to do something -- or not. Only the state Legislature could change state law to enact it.
About 2,000 people showed up Monday night for Dane County's meeting at the Alliant Center. Cat hunt opponents said that hunting cats is not going to fix any problems with declining songbird populations.
"Although feral cats may contribute to the problem, the destruction and loss of habitat is far and away the primary reason for the loss of songbirds, gamebirds and other birds," one opponent said.
Supporters of a cat hunt said that current programs to control cat populations are not working.
Alliant Center"Maybe we can figure out something with the Humane Society, but neuter them and send them back into the wild -- I don't think that'll do it," a cat hunt supporter said.
Mark Smith, a La Crosse firefighter, proposed the hunting idea at the La Crosse County congress last year, noting that feral cats killed small mammals and birds. Under Smith's change, which would require a law passed by the Wisconsin Legislature, free-roaming cats would become an unprotected species and it would no longer be a crime to kill them.
At least two upper Midwestern states, South Dakota and Minnesota, have allowed wild cats to be shot for decades, just like skunks or gophers.
Critics of Smith's idea organized Wisconsin Cat-Action Team and developed a Web site -- [url "http://dontshootthecat.com/"]dontshootthecat.com[/url]. They said they would mobilize cat lovers to attend the congress meetings.
Some estimates indicate 2 million wild cats roam Wisconsin. The state says studies show feral cats kill 47 million to 139 million song birds a year.
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