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This is a pretty standard method of pest control, were the cats wild pests? Or are we talking neighbours cats?
Cats should not be allowed to freely roam the streets
Call me a woke weakling, but I believe even in pest control, you shouldn't make another being suffer. If you have to kill something for a good reason, the fucking least you can do is make it quick. If you don't have the gender-neutral balls to do it properly, you shouldn't do it at all.
Indeed, drowning is a good method that doesn't accidentally kill the wrong targets and is not causing prolonged suffering like many traps that latch onto the animal. What would you use to kill pests?
From what I have heard, drowning sucks as a death. Just shoot them? Or decapitate? Or use anything else that takes seconds instead of minutes?
To be fair, I have never had to heal with a cat plague, the biggest thing I've come near were rodents and fish. No idea how practical it is. But again, if one doesn't have the means for a humane killing, then don't be the one killing.
Also, I'm pretty sure those "beartrap" style traps are illegal here, and poison traps are usually designed to allow target only one species (usually, rats, since you can't get them any other way).
I think it's pretty hard for random members of the population to successfully decapitate animals. Not everyone is able to use a gun. Drowning is quick with no probability of failure or extended suffering.
Eh, drowning is probably the biggest suffering you can create without going for extra effort. Just because it's quiet doesn't mean it's fast, I'd take being beaten to death over being drowned any day.
Besides, as I said, if you are not able to kill something quickly, you are not qualified to kill it. People who do stuff like catch fish and then leave them to suffocate just piss me off. If you don't have the ability to at the very least bash it over the head, then get someone to do it for you.
I had a mouse problem once upon a time, and the new "humane" traps didn't actually kill them. I got tired of bludgeoning them with a shovel and drowned one, thinking it would be easier. That was brutal and horrific, and I went back to using the shovel.
There is nothing humane about drowning an animal.
I had the same experience about the mouse problem. Long ago parents caught a mouse with a trap that won't kill them. With no better idea of what to do with it, they decided to drown it. We watched it drown slowly and painfully. They never do that again.
Have you seen animals drown? In cats specifically, I've seen children drowning a newborn kitty. But I was just a child too, it was a raining day, no adults around. It was a horrible way for an animal to die. I still remember the sounds. Didn't stop them because I was a coward. I didn't know Australians can kill their cats in such a way casually.
Not cats but I had a coworker once that put out glue traps for mice but wouldn't finish the job after they were caught. I ended up dropping a 20 pound weight from waist high on them. It was the quickest way to do it with what I had available. I spoke to him after and there were no more glue traps.
Catching and drowning them is standard pest control in what world??? What a terrible way to die. If it was pest control, DPW or similar should/would be taking care of it, not some random geriatric.
It's pretty good in comparison with almost every other method. It's pretty privileged to assume everyone can hire professionals for pest management and even then their methods are usually worse. What method would you be suggesting?
Well, we are talking about an instance that happened in a developed nation. In most developed nations Department of Public Works exist for towns and counties. DPW or animal control covers that in my state at least. Me personally? Catch and kill with a gun because I live in a country that allows its citizens to own them. If I didn't have a gun? One strike to the head with a large rubber mallet. Or if I've already gone to the trouble of catching them, maybe some kind of poison/medication. I want you to remember you're taking the side of catching and drowning random cats in this situation as a good thing.
No, that's not normal. The fuck?
I'm not agreeing with nathan from satan up above in his implication of it being fine, but it was normal in undeveloped nations (read: before cell phones or even the 'car phones'). My friend would repeat the story his father's generation did in scandinavia: kittens that you didn't want born were gathered up in a sack, which was tied, and said sack was tossed in a pond or stream. It was relatively simple, didn't require you to 'waste' a bullet, and if you walked away for a while you didn't have to deal with (in other words, see/hear/comprehend) the horror of what you just did.
Far better than leaving poisoned baits for random animals to eat that are not the intended target, or traps that cause extreme suffering in the same manner as bear traps, and doesn't require guns which are very hard to access now
Well for one, Why do they have to be killed at all? For two, if they do have to be killed, drowing is also a horrific level of fear and suffering. It would be more humane to just hit it in the head with a hammer. But again, why do they HAVE to be killed and why is a geriatric grandmother taking on that responsibility?
look up Australian Cat Plague, if you want to see what happens when you truly let cats just go ham outside "because it's natural" or whatever reason most people use. they're little apex predators that kill anything they can get their claws on, if there's no native predators to control them they will dominate everything smaller than them
you cannot save them all, no amount of adoption centers would be able to receive the inflow of cats from a proper plague of them. there entire pet industries designed towards selling these animals to people who probably can't even take care of actual human kids let alone an animal
Maybe the commenter can tell us
Feral cats kill an extreme amount of native wildlife here and are essentially the solemrause of extinction for many animals. You cannot rehome feral cats as pets and there's basically nowhere to take them.
I have two former street cats....
There's a bit of a difference between domesticated street cats and feral wild cats...
I've had barn/outdoor cats too, so long as they are fixed its a non issue. Is it really better in your area to drown them than try and home them?
Usually they are shot here and they wonder off and eventually die of infection or injury some time later
These are successive generations of cats breeding in the wild with no human interaction. They cannot be rehomed realistically
I've looked into it more and I'm genuinely glad you brought this up. I had no idea what a problem it was in Australia. I read a good bit about it now and recognize the severity. I still dont think drowning is humane, but, killing ferals might be the only option in that situation.
Feral cats are kind of native here (Europe). It is the massive amount of well-fed stray domestic cats that is a problem, AFAIK.
Waits for them to finish eating and asks if they enjoyed their last meal. She was actively humanizing them before drowning them.
This is eye-opening, in a post that talks about evil people. If it's for population control, isn't it usually Trap, Spay, Return? But then again, there are some parts of the world people can torture or causally kill cats and dogs with no legal consequences. Humans are disappointing.
Wild cats are driving our native animals to extinction
Again, that's what capture, spay and release is for. You can control the wild cat population without resorting to putting them through a slow, extremely painful and terrifying death. Don't be a monster.
Releasing them is entirely inappropriate. Roaming cats kill 546 million native animals per year. Always kill.
https://invasives.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Pet-cat-impacts-June-2023.pdf
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/579503/stone-cold-killer-feral-cats-added-to-predator-free-2050-strategy-conservation-minister-announces
Topical
I don't care what a cat drowner has to say.