On 25 Jun, 00:55, Igenlode Use-Author-Supplied-Address-
] wrote:
On 24 Jun 2007 sheelagh wrote:

On 23 Jun, 23:36, Igenlode wrote:

[snip]

The Scottish wildcat isn't *quite* the same thing as a pet cat gone
wild, despite the fact that the two species are capable of
cross-breeding. I'm not sure feral moggies are reckoned as 'wildlife',
even here ;-)

I don't know about Scotland, Sorry! Do you have wild cats(as such) up
there?

Oh, I'm no Scot -- or even an expert ;-)

But the Scottish wildcat is definitely quite distinct from the domestic
cat; more of a miniature lynx.http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/wildcat...k/wildcat.html

I don't know anything about a 'wildlife list', though; is this the piece
of law that notoriously states that the owner of a cat is not deemed to
be legally liable for any damage it commits, whereas the owner of a dog
or various other domesticated animals *is*... ?http://www.messybeast.com/retro-legal.htm
--
Igenlode Wordsmith

The Gentleman's guide to Usenet - seehttp://ivory.150m.com/Tower/GENTLE.TXT


Thank you for both links. I appreciated them, & as you say, it clearly
defines as you note, that that the law is ambiguous in this instance:
I think it would be easy to interpratate it to mean either, couldn't
you?

While cats were legally domestic animals, the term "vermin" could be
applied by gamekeepers to poaching cats. "Vermin" was not legally
defined, generally meant a noxious, mischievous, destructive or
disgusting animal, especially one of small size, common occurrence and
difficult to control. Gamekeepers had an extensive list of vermin
which they would shoot, including "poaching cats" and many species
which later became legally protected (but which they shot and poisoned
nevertheless...

Don't get me started off on this one!!

I have a friend who's cat was shot by a game keeper. It wasn't a
threat or a pest, & never hunted at all. in fact, she was a Birman
blue point Queen, with 4 kittens that were 3 weeks old @ the time.
When she didn't return after 15 minutes, her owner went looking for
her, to no avail.
the following day the Game keeper was overheard boasting that he shot
a nice pretty white cat on the edge of the forest, & even gloated that
it was excellent target practise too....!!

The owner went to the game keeper & asked where the body of her cat
was so that she might burry it in a place of her choosing, but he
denied the entire incident.

Fortunately the owner didn't give up there, & went to the RSPCA, who
investigated the case, & the game keeper was dismissed from duty
because of the overwhelming evidence against him. but this is one
single case. there are loads of incidents where Game keepers do get
away with this, because of the ambiguity of this law....
..
Finally, did you see the news in the UK today?
I noted that scotsmen now have to get a licence to wear a sporran now.
the reason for this is because the scottish wild cat fur attached to
them is from the Scottish wild cat by tradition. The cat has almost
been hunted down to critically low numbers, that they have had to
introduce this law to protect the wild cat.
Good job!!
S;o)