Source for that? I know there was a muppet whopping cows in the head with a sledgie that got on the news a few years ago, but I dare say estwing has been the tool of choice for possum trappers since...well, possum traps.
Anything will die "humanely" if you destroy the brain stem, whether with a .50bmg, or a ballpoint pen. (I don't recommend either for trapped possums btw)
The spca, at least in town here, has a policy of not killing them, but "rehoming" them. So I do not consider that a solution at all.Either trap them and take them too animals control spca etc for them too deal with,
Ill provide what I know, but to be fair, I did say Im not sure, and this is why.
Id suggest there is grounds there that might well cover hitting on the head with a hammer- given its unnecessary- But im not a lawyer and dont know fully how it would be interpreted.Trapping of Cats
The Act (see section 36) provides that for any trapped cat, the following obligations apply:
• any traps set must be checked daily within 12 hours after sunrise, commencing from the day after the trap is first set; and
• any cats caught must be attended to without delay.
Where practicable, it is recommended when trapping stray cats and cats in colonies that traps be checked
more frequently.
Any trapped cat must be provided with basic care to meet the requirements of the Act or be released if it is uninjured or be killed humanely if it is a feral cat. Any cat released back into a colony must be in sufficiently good health to be able to fend for itself, and have ongoing access to adequate food, water and shelter to meet its daily needs.
The Act (see section 141) provides that, where a stray cat is trapped and placed in the care of an approved organisation under the Act (such as the SPCA), that organisation must take reasonable steps to identify the owner of the cat, and may take steps to prevent or mitigate any suffering of the cat. If the owner of the cat cannot be identified then, after 7 days, the cat may be sold, found a new home or euthanased.
feral cat
For the purposes of this Code, means a cat which is not a stray cat and which has none of its needs provided by humans. Feral cats generally do not live around centres of human habitation. Feral cat population size fluctuates largely independently of humans, is self-sustaining and is not dependent on input from the companion cat population.
ill-treat
As defined in section 2 of the Act, “ill-treat”, in relation to an animal, means causing the animal to suffer, by any act or omission, pain or distress that in its kind or degree, or in its object, or in the circumstances in which it is inflicted, is unreasonable or unnecessary.
Im also not sure if feral cats come under the pest classification that possums do either?
I wish our cat,or the neighbours or the ones up the street would catch the friggin tree frog (non native) that has decided our section is nice place to live,sits outside bedroom chirping away all night,they are size of top joint of your finger so not easy to find...multiple hosings of rhody bush we think its in seems to quieten it for a day of two then its back.
if our cat catches a bird,she wears collar with bell for rest of day......stays well away from them for weeks n weeks after that.HATES the collar.if I see her looking at birds,only have to jingle collar and she slinks inside.
75/15/10 black powder matters
Our cat was the arsehole off the neighbourhood. He only hunted other cats...
Cage trap and a suppressed 22 is the answer.
I had a feral cat bolt hole in our rented flat once. Ended up in behind the tv cabinet, from there into the kitchen cupboards up on the wall, feral stinky bastard. Ended up in the heavy welding gloves to try airmailing it out the door, got bitten on the finger through the gloves and the bastard touched bone. Into the heavy leather gloves, bastard bit me harder on the forefinger of the other hand, down to bone again and that was when it worked out it could hurt me.
From there it was war, the thing wasn't taking no for an answer and neither was I. Got the .22LR out and proceeded to try to corner the little arsehole. About 20 minutes of chase and hide and hiss and swear at each other, I ended up standing on it's head while the thing was trying to slice through my leather steelcapped work boot... Women, get me the gun! That dealt to the bastard - out the door, clean up the house and disinfect for 1/2 an hour then off for a tetanus shot and some precautionary advice for the two punctured fingers. Went to sort out the corpse the next morning, the stink had soaked into the concrete... The feral cat had an abcess on it's head that had taken an eye probably from a fight and it was on it's last legs. Good riddance... Next time I'd be smarter and grab the cray noose from the shed and deal to it with that while the gun was pulled out and assembled and fed.
Nothing more dangerous than a feral cat that's worked out it can hurt you - they are a flat no from me. Instant death sentence.
Cool cheers for the info. Always something to learn, and it has been -just a couple- of years since I've trapped at any real scale.
Pretty sure feral cats are a legislated pest. Even the quote you link differentiates "when trapping -stray- cats" and "killed humanely if it is -feral-"
and then also mentions "companion" (lol sure) cats.
Follow up... if whopping them in the nut is "un-necessary" ... how would you humanely despatch one, given the town setting?
When I scoff at "companion" cat I think of this.
A quick piercing bite to the cranium, as taught to me by my Uncle Eagle...
I have a lot of town neighbours on my farmlet so we have a lot of town cats.
As long as they stay off my lawn ( like Clint Eastwood says ) and dont harrass my dogs they are pretty safe . But the ones who decide to live down my driveway or try to get in my shed are deemed feral and removed . And the lawn-crossers give the dogs exercise too so not all bad.
Haha, should send you the black and white dick I have here. He'd wander across your lawn like he just doesn't care, and the first dog who had a rush of blood to the brain and had a crack would find out he seriously doesn't. This is the 7.5Kg of pissed offedness that had the neighbour's mates wolfhound backing up and hiding behind his dad - bloody embarrassing as the boss was trying to apologise and ask how my cat was at the same time I'm apologising for the blood streaming off his dog's face and the dog (all of 90Kg) is trying to climb into dad's arms! The bloody cat was rubbing around my feet meowing at me like it was feeding time. Thanks dick, super embarrassing... This cat is a weapon, he's stood off three shepherds at the same time without a care - the confused look on the dog's faces when they strike a cat that doesn't behave like a cat should is a crack up.
Feed it right - every time it comes in with a rodent it gets a top up and a growling every time it gets something we don't like and it's a quite motivated ratter. When it can be arsed to get off the bed that is! Does a good job of keeping the ferals out of our patch too. Would prefer to not have the guts full of 100mm long tapeworms getting vomited onto the carpet though.
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