"JHBennett" wrote in message ...
"-L." wrote in message
m...
(Sherry ) wrote in message
...
OK, cat people, I ... well actually we, i.e. Mother, the cats, and I,
need
some guidance from the best cat thinkers on the planet.

(snipped)

I know you think your mom is doing the cats a kindess by feeding them;
but
think about this. She is simply attracting them to her property, where
they can
continue to breed, and risk exposure to antifreeze poisoning, (one of
the most
horrible deaths you can imagine),) and cause problems to your neighbors.
Please
do the right thing. Trap the remaining cats. Take them for spay/neuter
and find
someone in the country to adopt them, or someone who is willing to spend
time
taming them enough to be house cats. You're just setting them up for
suffering.
Your cats don't have a right to roam all over the neighbor's property.
Your
continued defiance is only going to cause the neighbors to take out
their
frustrations *on the cats*.

Sherry

I couldn't agree more. I hate to think of cats being poisoned, but
rouge cats *are* a nuisance, and this neighbor has every right to trap
them and take them to the humane society or animal control.

And, on the weekend, when the shelter is closed, he takes them out and
drowns them. Also, we're not talking about a few feral cats being killed.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, the count, as far as I can tell, is two dogs
and at least a dozen cats. All but about half a dozen were pets. --JB

Well, what he is doing is illegal.

As for
the poisoning, you need to take photographs of the cans of poisoned
food and take them to the police station or your local animal welfare
agency. Poisoning cats is a crime in most jurisdictions - animal
cruelty - and the guy should be arrested. also, any poisoned cats
should be put into the freezer as evidence, and then turned over to
animal control authorities.

Maybe in your end of the world. In Illinois, poisoning domestic animals
carries a fine of $1,500 and a year in jail, for the first offence. I have
witnesses who heard them discussing poisoning, before the fact. A witness,
other than myself, who saw the cans of poisoned food on his property, and I
even have the cans of poisoned food WITH their fu*king fingerprints on them.
The police will not even investigate.

Why not?

The police have, however, allowed
themselves to be used by him to harass my mother and myself, with bogus
complaints about me trespassing on his property... I've been threatened with
arrest three times, without any justification what-so-ever. You essentially
contend he has every right to do as he sees fit on his property, RIGHT?

no. He has no right to commit acts of animal cruelty. He does,
however, have the right to trap the cats and turn them in to the
proper authorities.


I
happen to agree--we got a speach about that from the police as well.
However, the vital omission from the story, as he tells it, is his breaking
the law by poisoning animals. That, the law says, he has no right to do
anywhere. But, as long as we're in the neighborhood of people doing what
they want on their property, so long as it's legal, the police showed up
demanding to know why I had put up a bird feeder on "the property line."
Strange how suddenly I was called upon to defend a legal act, don't you
think? Also, the feeder was well within my property line, by about 3 feet.
Didn't matter as the following morning, it was stolen. The police will not
even ask him about that.
So, the situation is he's managed to sell some lies about the situation
to the local police, and they seem to have bought his story completely.
Given the inaction of the officials, I have adopted the policy that any
legal act which will cause him a problem is desirable. As far as I'm
concerned, anyone who will poison animals is the scum of the earth. --JB

I agree, but he needs to be caught - and howver you can get him caught
is the thing to do. Isn't there an animal welfare agency nearby that
is sympathetic to your situation? Have you had the cause of death
documented by a veterinarian? Vets don't take kindly to animal
poisoners, and their testimony is essential to your case.


-L.