"John Wenn of Newsham, Blyth whose cat Meg was shot by an air rifle" (caption and photo courtesy chroniclelive.co.uk)

“We are calling for much stricter regulation on the ownership of air guns, as we strongly believe this will help to protect cats and other animals from these shocking attacks, and avoid air guns falling into the wrong hands. We want to see England and Wales following the example of Scotland, where from next year it will be illegal to own an air gun without a license.” – Cats Protection’s advocacy manager Jacqui Cuff [not shown] quoted in Rise in cats killed by air guns in the North East prompts calls for tougher laws [via chronicle live.co.uk]

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116 COMMENTS

  1. Better we just shoot the fvckers shooting the cats. I know if any person did thst to my pets they would not see prision or anyrhing else ever again.

    • If your cat is allowed to roam free outside, killing rabbits and birds, I have no issue dispatching it as an invasive species. Just as feral hogs are a huge issue, so are feral cats.

      I like cats, I have friends with cats. I find a cat is roaming my property without a collar or some ID that it’s lost?

      It’s dead, by any means handy at the time.

        • In most states, killing predators, especially cats, is hardly illegal. It’s a house pet, if it isn’t in your house, then it ain’t a pet.

          I guess letting some random cat kill baby birds, squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, that’s ok huh? Because cat videos on da interwebz?

        • Putting aside the shooting of the cat, if a neighbor allows his cat to roam free killing wildlife on your property, how is that any different then him letting out his dog to piss on your petunias?

        • As I child, I had a friend who’s family rabbits got killed in a pen in the backyard with five-foot walls around it. The rabbits were covered in scratches and bites, but nothing had eaten them, like a coyote would. They found cat prints in the dirt.

          Cats are great pets (except for dealing with the litter box), but deep down, they’re still predators with the instinct to kill small prey animals.

        • I suppose my point was that in both instances, your neighbor is permitting his personal property to impact your use and enjoyment of your real property.

          I’m not condoning shooting somebody’s pet in a residential neighborhood, but that’s more of a safety reason than a “don’t kill somebody’s pet” reason. A pet, despite all of the attachment people have, is just personal property that another may just deem as a nuisance. There is not much recourse (legally, speaking) if somebody rids the neighborhood of what they perceive to be as a pest like a feral hog, groundhog, rat, or cockroach.

        • Cats aren’t the only pets that kill wildlife, dogs do too. Dogs will kill rabbits, squirrels, foxes, and even attack humans, especially children. At least most cats would rather run away from a human than attack, unless they are play fighting with their owner.

        • Come on guys. The souls of cats are of more value than the souls of other animals. And they are certainly more important than freedom.

    • The problem isn’t feral cats. The problem are numbskulls who shoot the neighbor lady’s cat, that was just doing what cats do. Only wackos get upset over the feral cats. If gun guys can’t show a little tolerance for the neighbor ladies cats, (and their affections for them) how could they ever expect the neighbor ladies to show tolerance for them? It’s called being a Good Guy with a Gun. ie, a real man.

      • If your cat is not captive inside your house, and you let it out, that is the problem.

        If the ‘neighbor lady’ lets her cats out to ‘do what cats do’ then you have a nice talk, and explain what that does to baby birds, bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks, and the like. Then explain that you will not allow this destruction of the wildlife on your property by her animal. If she continues, one kills the f-ing cat(s).

        There is nothing gentlemanly about tolerating some asshole allowing their house pet out of the house to cause death to wild animals. The one who is rude is the complete idiot who, turns loose their killing machine, and thinks we should all be sanguine, as the cat is just doing it’s thing, man.

        • “We weep for the blood of a bird, but not for the blood of a fish. Blessed are those who have voice.”

          ― Mamoru Oshii

          Try understanding nature, and the fact that these animals have been avoiding predators longer than man has been around.

        • You sure do have a lot of rationalizations for your cat killing predilection. Textbook psychopath.

        • I let my cat outside and you know what he does? Sits on my picnic table all day. I have 6 acres and he just hangs on my picnic table near the house.

        • @cgray, Lots of expertise in Rules For Radicals, eh old chap?

          My ‘rationalizations’ are merely points of fact – letting an apex predator out to predate is likely to have consequences. Which not all are enamoured enough of cats to tolerate this unacceptable behavior. Which is the owner’s responsibility to preclude.

      • You know, all the links to articles in the world are going to worth less than a pile of cat crap to the people whose pet you just killed. They’re going to be focused on the companion they have cute Christmas pictures with, and spent nights with on the couch. And here you are with “well, your cat came over to my house and caught a bird, so I killed him. Here’s a link to the Audubon Society. Goodbye.”

        It’s a really good plan to turn a neighbor into a lifelong enemy.

        • Although killing cats you know are the neighbors is a bit extreme, I do find the whole outdoor cat thing odd. Barring a rural area where you have cats in the barn for mice, why let them out? Getting an animal you fully plan on letting roam your surburban neighborhood, harassing dogs, and waltzing all over other people’s property is rude. There is a cat by me who loves to sit in my yard making my dog bark all day yet if I let him out to deal with the problem I’m the a**.

        • Yup Carlos, all the factual articles in the world about what really happens when people own guns isn’t worth anything, because my feelz have been hurt.

          Might want to actually examine the position you’re taking, before, you know, you take it.

          The rest of you think that you can somehow let your “pet” free to kill wildlife unimpeded, and then all is well when you let the “pet” back in the house.

          What a bunch of sick fcks, without any moral or environmental faculties.

        • “aren’t”. Oops.

          And still, neither of the nature-assassins have a point that matters.

          Do try to make one….

    • The problem isn’t feral cats. The problem are numbskulls who shoot the neighbor lady’s cat, that was just doing what cats do. Only wackos get upset over the feral cats. If gun guys can’t show a little tolerance for the neighbor lady’s cat; (and their affections for them), how could they ever expect the neighbor lady to show tolerance for them? It’s called being a Good Guy with a Gun. Or being a real man.

  4. Oh, okay. I get it. Because that guy over there is a moron you’re going to punish me. It’s like making the lazy guy sit out while the rest of the team runs laps.

    Maybe that works if the rest of the team is allowed to beat the lazy guys ass for being lazy but see I’m not allowed to beat the ass of that guy over there who is a moron so what’s to do besides resent that guy, all you politicians and your authority for hammering on me day after day after day because of the actions of others?

    The end result wont be pretty for anyone.

  5. Here’s a wacky idea… Don’t let your cats wander around the neighborhood. (Oh, and if you’re a grown ass man, don’t have cats.)

    • Sometimes grown men have women, and women have cats.

      Sometimes grown men have barns, and barn have mice, so men have cats.

      Sometimes grown men like small furry companion animals, but are not effeminate enough to own a small dog, so men have cats.

      • 1. If your woman feels like she needs a cat, you have failed as a man.
        2. That’s what terriers are for.
        3. See above.

        • I have 2 cats and they are predators, taking the little creatures I never see like moles and rats and mice and giving back attention. They cost very little in time or food and they live outside. If pwrserge has an issue with his manliness over someone owning a cat, maybe he should check the attitude before an “unmanly” cat lover puts him in his place. You don’t like cats? I get it, some people can’t handle animals that don’t kiss their ass every second just like they can’t handle people like that either. But don’t for one second think it makes you “more of a man” that’s ridiculous, brother..

        • So you monitor their food intake, eh? Riiiight.

          Not just moles and mice, but baby birds, baby bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks, and everything else.

          Your cat doesn’t kill what you want it to, it kills everything.

        • Hey 16v, don’t forget that cats are agents of the devil, and they will sneak through your bedroom window and steal your soul while you sleep. Only tin foil hats can repeal them.

        • Slicer, you’re a moron who lets his cat out, I get it.

          Please feel free to argue my points with some actual facts. Otherwise, please go eff yourself. Your whining is meaningless to those with a brain, and who understand consequences.

      • I have a feral cat that kills everything around my property and I’m happy for it. Squirrels and mice are destructive to my barn, and they can climb, which a terrier can’t do but a cat can. Opossums will tear my trash apart so the cat tears them apart, and I don’t concern myself with birds.

    • Yes… Because grown should have drooling, stinking, co-dependent mongrels with them instead, right?

      • If your dog stinks, that’s what the garden hose is for. As for the rest… Yeah… My bulldog is more loyal than any cat ever born. You don’t own a cat. The cat owns you.

        • Your dog thinks you are a god and treats you that way. Your cat KNOWS you are a god and doesn’t give a shit.

          I still prefer cats. People are different and have different needs and desires for companions. You couldn’t pay me to spend time with any Kardashian.

        • Your dog is a dependent, and you are its government welfare system. A good cat earns its keep, and works for its meals.

        • Since the cats in my house are constantly plotting my demise, it keeps me on my toes.

          On the other hand, the ferrets keep the cats in line. But they are full-blown furry terrorists. Fiercely loyal extremists, but they are just waiting for me to die so they can eat me.

        • Dogs have owners, cats have ‘staff’.

          Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals

          Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.

  6. Man has always gone to absurd lengths to protect the pussy….(cat)

  9. Next item in the cat protection act of 2016 is the banning of rat poison . We need to ban rat poison because hungry cats will eat dead rats and suffer and from it.

    That would mean England would soon be overrun by more than the two legged vermin they currently are.

  10. Domestic and feral cat populations are out of control. They murder thousands of song birds every year. If Garfield is on my property…….he is in trouble.

  11. What the guy down my gunshop said, it’ll never work as there’s so many air guns around already – many decades of them. He also cast doubt if it would really make it into law.
    This says more about the Left of centre Scottish Nationalist Party’s lack of common sense than anything else.

    But it’s another lesson for you guys over there – never give an inch because when these sorts of activist win it doesn’t mean peace and the end of the argument, it’s the thin end of the wedge. It just means that they go and pick on someone lower down the food chain. Then again. And again.
    You cannot compromise with this mindset, there is only surrender to them or you stand together and see them off with their tails between their legs.

    • On the flip side, it will get great press when that evil person is arrested for “Random Crime X”, and they were “found with an unregistered airgun in their home”.

      “A wellfare check on Nigel Smythe (79, Amersham) turned up an arsenal of unregistered airguns. Mr. Smythe was subsequently taken into custody and the arsenal seized. When town residents were informed of Mr. Smythe’s illegal collection, a collective sigh of relief was heard that such a dangerous criminal had been removed from their midst before he could commit more serious crimes.”

      Wat?

  13. I’ve had some great cats. I’m allergic to the bastards, and I hate scooping poop. I also hate mowing dog poo in the yard, but that happens…

    I really hate feral cats. They are very destructive to all sorts of native wild fauna. They wreak havok on domestic critters too; a nasty tom in my wife’s childhood neighborhood broke into a screened porch and killed a litter of kittens. They have also on another occasion killed an adult pet cat in a screened in porch at a later home.

    How am I to tell the difference between someone’s pet and a feral tom? Either way if it’s being aggressive on MY property it’s toast. And I won’t be shooting it with a pellet. A nice 60 grain subsonic .22lr will take care of it.

    • Robert Heinlein loved cats and owned many thru his life. He wrote that the only living creature he ever killed was a feral tomcat that would not leave his pets alone. One shot from a .380 pistol.

      Just like people, some cats need to be shot. The trick is figuring out which ones.

  14. I don’t have cats or dogs. I have kids. They make enough of a mess, and eventually (hopefully), they will all do their business in a toilet.

    • I feel ya on that. I have 4, the youngest pair are 13 months. There is a diaper free future I hope. Right now my ammo funds have been diverted to another sort of cost per shot.

  15. How does a gun “fall” into the wrong hands? Is there gun shelf I don’t know about? Are there bad people just standing there waiting for one to fall off?

      • Exactly! It’s like all those guns the anti’s need to get off the streets! Every time they talk they’re spouting off about getting all these guns off the streets. Having to swerve or drive over all those guns must be a significant public safety menace. I’ve been looking for guns every time I drive anywhere and I haven’t found one yet. I must be looking in the wrong spots.

  16. Keep the cats out of my wife’s flower beds and there won’t be any trouble. Seriously, these same people would be howling mad if someone’s dog was crapping in their yard, but somehow it’s okay if it’s a cat. My a-hole neighbor has told me as much when I complained about his daughters semi-feral pet crapping in the flowers, using the porch rail as a scratching post and the hood of my truck to keep warm at night. If you really love your cat, keep it under control or quit whining about the consequences.

  17. Oh yeah, poor cats. Absolute national tragedy.

    I’m sure ignoring the boat loads of immigrants assaulting/raping disarmed Britons is far less important than some scumbag delinquents using stray cats for target practice though.

    • But that’s “rassis”. Pulling on the emotions of the mentally weak is so much easier.

  18. At least the guy has an xray so he knows where the pellet is and can dig it out or bite around it while he’s eating it.

  20. I won’t lie, I have used an air gun to kill a few cats. They were all strays and if they wanted to keep getting into the trash and making a mess that drew other animals then they were going into the trash permanently. Head shots from a 1000fps air rifle stops them in their tracks.

    Shooting one that has a collar is pretty messed up though, even if it is causing some trouble. If it’s got a collar, live trap and return to owner.

    I will say this though; if people are letting their cats run wild and they’re causing trouble no law on air guns is going to save the cats. As Gummo taught us, crushed glass and a can of tuna is very effective and isn’t a combination you can require a license to get.

  23. All you butchers getting off on shooting peoples pets are one of the big drivers for more regulation. Shit, after reading this crap *I* want more laws against firearms discharge now and even harsher animal cruelty punishments with owners allowed defend their pets from scum who are out to kill something.

    No better than my old unit who wanted to soak cats in JP8, crucified animals, and tortured a puppy after drop kicking it over the wire. Humans are the single lowest lifeform on this planet because they elected themselves into the position and demonstrate their resolve to keep it every damn day.

    I may have sworn some years ago to protect the the COTUS but its getting to the point where that commitment isn’t worth my time anymore with the way people treat their rights.

    You do not deserve my efforts.

    • This bears MUCH repeating. Reading the responses from this bunch of bloodthirsty bastards makes me less likely to protest passage of a law creating felons of them just to save lives.

      Hunting is in a cat’s nature. If you want to kill an animal for doing what it does naturally (and does not harm people in the process) don’t be too alarmed when the police visit you, or if owners begin to shoot back (metaphorically).

      Defending yourself, family, livestock…sure. Defending nature’s fodder just because? Yeah, you will reap what you sow.

      • If you let your pets wander they may not come back.

        It’s that simple and the fault is 100% yours as the owner for letting them out unsupervised. You’re the one that risked the animal’s life to predation (I’ve seen an eagle take a neighbors cat), cars, people who find it a nuisance etc. Keep your animals under control or don’t bitch about the consequences.

        I’ve met tons of dog owners who let their dogs roam and cause trouble then say “Oh, he’d never do that”. Well fuck you, I saw it with my own two eyes. Cats are no different. People spend money on a bird feeder to hear and see birds, not feed your damn cat or provide it corpses to give you as a present. People spend money on their house for them not so your animal can use it as a scratching post. People spend money on their flower beds to make them look pretty, not provide your cat a shit box.

        I don’t let my dogs out of my fenced yard without supervision. If one got out and was hit by a car, I’d be sad but I sure wouldn’t blame the driver. If one got out and acted in an aggressive manner towards a person and was shot, I’d be sad but I wouldn’t blame the shooter. If one got out and was being a nuisance and something happened to it, I’d be sad, but I would blame the person because it’s my responsibility as the owner to insure the dog is under control at all times and I have failed in that responsibility.

        If you’re just letting your animals roam around you’re irresponsible and have no room to complain if something happens. I love animals, but I also understand that people have a responsibility towards their pets and their neighbors. If they don’t live up to that responsibility then they’re jerks, but when they complain about the consequences of their own actions then they’re total shitbirds.

        • +1,000. Just because your pet is a sentient being with evolutionary instincts doesn’t mean you the human owner get to ignore consequences when it causes problems for others, or get pissed when a neighbor reacts towards said pet in a way you don’t like.

          I wouldn’t shoot my neighbor’s dog for taking a dump in my yard because I have two and am used to that behavior. However, if my neighbor shot mine for the same act yeah I’d get upset, but then I’d realize it was my responsibility to keep my pet on my property, a job I failed to do. So I’d bury my dog, weep for a while, go adopt another one, and get over it, because it’s a dog, not my human sibling.

      • Cats are DOCUMENTED ruthless, serial killers. Every year, BILLIONS of birds and mammals are killed by domesticated house cats, with millions of reptiles and amphibians on top of that. These aren’t feral cats – they were well fed and well cared for by their owners. During an August 2012 study by the University of Georgia, researchers attached miniature video cameras to 60 cats to monitor their daily routines; they found that the felines typically spent one third of every day killing small animals. One of the new report’s authors, Dr Peter Marra of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, told NPR that he and his colleagues were stunned by the scale of the slaughter. So, be it Kitty Kitty or any other living thing, I’m not hesitating if I need to solve a problem around the house.

  25. They’ll gladly ignore the rising tide of immigrants who behave criminally as a statement of their desire to establish islamic dominance, but some jackass taking pot shots at alley cats with a pellet gun takes precedence? *facepalm*

    Never thought I would see a fight over pets on TTAG. I don’t mind cats, but my friend’s German shephard saved him from drowning in a stream as a kid. My own chocolate lab/pointer mix scared off a would be burglar when mom was home alone. I have yet to hear of a cat doing anything more helpful than household pest control. Also, every single cat owner I’ve met was a fanatical progressive. The two seem to coincide more often than not.

    • I can give you one incident of a cat dealing with an intruder. My parents know a lady who has a mountain lion as a house pet (I think she’s bonkers). Some guy broke a window to get into her house while she was home.

      His home invasion didn’t last long as he was promptly eviscerated by the cat. I guess animal control had to tranq the cat to get the corpse away from it. I was surprised the cops didn’t just shoot it.

      • I imagine it’s easier to buy a German shepherd than a mountain lion as a pet in most states, but that story is unbelievably entertaining. Good on her for choosing a real burglar stopper.

        • I have no idea how she got that Mountain Lion. What I do know is I thought my dad was pulling my leg until he produced a newspaper story about it.

          I assume she has some sort of license or something as I can’t imagine a state would allow you to have such an animal without some sort of nanny state over watch.

          I knew a guy when I was growing up who had three full blooded wolves that he rescued after a poacher killed two wolves and the pack ran off abandoning the pups. The DNR totally freaked because at the time they didn’t think there was a wolf pack that had territory in the county so the guy was working with the DNR on a breeding program and had permits and inspections out the ass. Those beasts were pretty damn intimidating but they seemed friendly enough as long as the guy liked you. I don’t imagine he had a lot of problems with people wanting to fight him…

      • If it had been a dog they would have shot it. Cops seem to have a propensity for shooting anything that barks.

    • “Never thought I would see a fight over pets on TTAG.”

      The internet and cats are a strange beastie.

      *Years* back on usenet, the chimps in alt.tasteless (and I was one, bowing) decided one day they wanted some fun, so they decided to troll rec.pets.cats *hard*.

      The resulting flamewar made internet *history*:

      http://www.wired.com/1994/05/alt-tasteless/

      “Also, every single cat owner I’ve met was a fanatical progressive.”

      Well, you know me here, I’m politically hard to the right and own a cat.

      I wanted a pet 15 years back. A dog would have been great, but I was working rotating shifts with frequent unpredictable overtime so it wouldn’t have been fair for a dog for me to have such work hours and having the dog crapping on the rug.

      Dogs are cool. Cats are cool differently. They can be *highly* affectionate.

  26. The English can begin to take their country back on June 23. I’m not holding my breath.

    • Come on Ralph, they’ll just add a government solution, because the people of the Slave kingdom, sorry, United Kingdom, couldn’t handle it and need nannying.

      Maybe “ministry of loose cats.”

    • Rats usually aren’t a part of peoples families and if they are and get out, its unlikely to leave the house.

      A lot of pets have GPS collars these days and if the history shows it went to a persons house before being thrown in the river, expect to make enemies out of that person and likely face a fat lawsuit.

  28. Umm… for those who failed reading comprehension, and think this is actually happening:

    The article doesn’t say that the Government is implementing mandatory licensing for air rifles; it say that a cat protection charity wants the government to implement mandatory licensing.

    There is an air rifle licensing requirement in Scotlant – widely ignored – which was introduced by the hard-left and extremely statist Scottish National Party. But the idea has consistently been laughed out of court in the rest of the UK.

  29. If a cat is on my property, pissing on my stuff or eating all the small wildlife on my place then I feel bad if its someone’s pet. My air rifles are a handy solution.

    For everyone crying over the idea, yes I do own a cat, she stays in because I don’t want her killing stuff or getting ran over. Also, if the neighbors dog was peeing on your porch and killing animals in your yard I’m pretty sure most everyone on here would go on about “going to town” on that dog.

    Also, sorry UK, sucks that fun is illegal there. You let it happen though.

  31. “Kill da’ CAT”:Parliament/Funkadelics/George Clinton…cats are wild animals. Your dog will cry over you when you die-yer cat will eat yer face…LOL. Billions (check out the #’s) of birds die from feral/unattended cats every year. Watch your cat…I can’t possibly comment on British law-just learn Arabic.

  32. This numb nut doens’t seem to realize that cruelty to animals is already a felony.

    the crazy Euro-trash politicians seem to use any lame excuse they can to ban any and all guns, and the libs over here tell us all they want are backgroind checks and bans on “assault weapons”. The Brits are living proof that the gun grab agenda is incremental, like boiling a frog in a pot on the stove.

  33. Regarding this article, and the people of the UK, there is really just no way for me to articulate my ideas without also being interpreted as a blatant ad hominem.

  34. I kept a BB gun under the couch in college specifically for the purpose of shooting the neighbors free-range cats when they were on our cars, porch, in the garbage making a mess, etc.

    What is this poppycock?

  35. City people are weird. The concept of an inside-the-house cat is beyond me.
    I live on a dairy farm way out in the woods. We’ve had probably a dozen cats at any one time, only to have them all disappear in piles of scat and fur when they get too bold and the coyotes find them. Or the foxes. Or the bobcats. Or the mountain lions. It’s something when you see a little paw print followed by a BIG paw print. If you ever want to call in a coyote, don’t bother with a bunny call, use a distressed kitten call. They come running.
    Cats are apex predators? Maybe the city people have forgotten what nature is. Here’s a hint, if you don’t have to keep your kids close to the house for a bit every once in a while to keep them from being eaten, you’re not in nature anymore.

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