> These are neighbors who had shot their next door neighbor’s cat
Jesus. At that point I'd go up to questionably legal methods to get these fuckers some justice. People who intentionally murder cats deserve everything that's coming for them.
This is such an inane justification for intentionally killing a neighbor's pet.
Children are intensely harmful to the environment over their lifespan. Had our conception of property rights legally permitted land owners to shoot people on their lawn, would you be chiding commenters for being angry that a neighbor had shot somebody's child for wandering on their lawn on the basis that that child was so harmful to the environment?
> If they shot into someone's house or even yard, they would be in jail.
Maybe over the weekend, if they got caught and if the cops could be convinced to care about it. Without some serious priors, I'd expect probation and a fine to be the outcome. And now your neighbor, who was willing to shoot a cat, is very angry at you....
Where do you live that you can go around shooting cats in your yard? That's a felony where I live and I live in Texas which is a very gun friendly state.
> If they shot into someone's house or even yard, they would be in jail.
That's optimistmic.
> If they shot the cat when it was in their yard it was loose and their actions were probably completely legal.
For domesticated animals like cats and dogs, this isn't true even on large personal tracts where shooting at nothing in particular is perfectly legal. You can't shoot someone's dog just because it's trespassing.
And this certainly isn't generally legal to discharge a firearm at a non-threatening animal in most any suburb or city (OP has "dozens of neighbors").
> They are an invasive species. There are many operations to cull invasive species (including cats) on a much larger scale. Why aren't you mad about those?
The comment about the cat is supposed to reflect on the character of the person driving loudly and abusing animals.
Just because wildlife management sometimes requires culling doesn't mean that animal cruelty is no big deal.
I’m with you. The problem is the people who let their cats outside, not the people who kill the cats. Why is a cat’s life more important than the many wild birds that it will kill?
They’re not, intrinsically. But on an ecological level, domestic cats kill so many birds that they are responsible for severe reductions in some species populations. I happen to think that species preservation is important. So people's free-roaming domestic cats should be considered fair game.
Jesus. At that point I'd go up to questionably legal methods to get these fuckers some justice. People who intentionally murder cats deserve everything that's coming for them.