[AGL] local controversial story of birder jailed for shooting feralcats

[Gerry]

Connie,
My life in the wilderness has taught me that at certain times, through no predictable patterns, certain species proliferate. Then, just as surely, after a time they diminish. By the time one figures out the cause for the cycle it is usually over.

No species is immune from these patterns, they will happen in spite of the best efforts of biologists, animal lovers, etc. Whatwith all the global warming patterns we will likely see all kinds of "disruptions" in what we have defined as normal patterns. And we will likely lose some species.

The feral cats have caused much havoc out here too. You can find them all along the river. Earlier this year one took up residence on my place. Its coloration was so close to that of my cat, it took me awhile to snap and realize that I was dealing with two animals. Of course it took over the food bowl and made itself at home. I attempted to scare it away but it was not easily frightened. So I shot it (a great long,shot with the .22). Leo, who is about 20 years of age, sniffed the corpse before I took it out into a nearby pasture and left it for the coyotes. He did not appear to be upset.

My neighbor, Joe, a famous breeder of dogs and former Iditarod winner, hunts the wild cats with a small pack of Patterdales. He lives downstream from me and often passes closeby while hunting. My cat knows to hide when they are nearby. With the dogs you don't have to worry about trapping and relocating (a practice I frown upon), or shooting, they just kill the critters and move on. Any number of wild residents will clean up the corpses. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/patterdaleterrier.htm

So, my solution is for all you weekend birders to acquire a small pack of Patterdales and devote every other weekend to cat hunts. It is OK for animals to be "inhumane" to one another...

Festival of the Cranes coming up this weekend in Socorro. I will be there as a spectator this year (no arts booth). It is the most phenenomenal bird show I have ever seen, and, I might add, a great gathering of birders and enviros in general.
G

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Connie Clark 
  To: BJ's List Ghetto 2 ; Ghetto List 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:10 AM
  Subject: [AGL] local controversial story of birder jailed for shooting feralcats


  His version of the story is on the texas birders list serv, #281
  excerpt: "I find the issue of respect for life as challenging as any. I say this as someone who catches Cottonmouths on my property by hand and releases them unharmed in wilderness areas, someone who replaced a shotgun with a camera years ago, thus bringing on his dad's ire, and someone who just shed tears over the passing of Ed Bradley. Maybe I'm just real tired.
  The ethical dilemma is pitting the life on one cat against the dozens or hundreds of small, wild animals it will kill in its (short) lifetime. And piggybacked on that is the "real" cruelty of the death they normally receive, from starvation to disease. Study after study reveals this. For me, it is clear, though I am by no means immune to the emotional, while trying to hide in pure logic, science and pragmatism."

  Jim Stevenson is, as the article below says, is a naturalist writer and photographer in Galveston, and founder of the a birding group down there.

  I am faced with the same dilemna at our farm near Shiner.  A well-intentioned neighbor layed two kittens on FarmerKen out there.  We didn't get them to the vet fast enough, now there are about 100 feral cats.  Kenneth has begun trapping them and hauling them off to someone else's farm, but they are still quite a nuisance to the wildlife in my opinion.  Shooting them seems like the only way out! Advice welcome - CC


  Stephensons story in toto:
  http://listserv.uh.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0611&L=texbirds&T=0&P=29981

  from the Houston Chronicle
  Nov. 11, 2006, 1:35AM
  Birder claims past cat killings
  Man charged in shooting of stray admits deaths of dozens more in '99 Web posting
  By KEVIN MORAN
  GALVESTON - An ornithologist charged with animal cruelty in a fatal cat shooting this week is a self-professed cat hater with a killing record that goes back to the time he arrived in one of the world's best birdwatching areas on west Galveston Island a decade ago.
  Wildlife author and photographer Jim Stevenson said in a 1999 Internet posting that "there were cats out the wazoo" when he built his isolated island home.
  "And I'm sorry if this offends, but I sighted in my .22 rifle and killed about two dozen cats in about the first year," the passionate birdwatcher and professional birding guide wrote. "When we allow feral cats to roam free, we might as well be out there with BB guns plinking away at the songbirds ourselves."
  Stevenson's arrest Wednesday stirred cat and bird lovers whose passions clash frequently across the nation and world. It has raised anew long-fought debates about what damage feral cats do to wildlife and how to stem the population growth of wild cats.
  Stevenson's alleged cat shooting Wednesday surprised most who know him or follow his writings, even those who know about his antipathy for cats. Others responded differently.
  "I'm not surprised at all," said Kathi Richardson, one of about a dozen Galvestonians who regularly trap feral cats for spaying or neutering, then release them and feed the colonies the cats form.
  Richardson said Stevenson expressed his hostility toward cats in an article he wrote in the Galveston Ornithological Society magazine he publishes. Stevenson founded the society.
  "I was appalled and I sent a copy to the national humane society," Richardson said.
  Others who know Stevenson's aversion to cats said they thought shooting cats was out of character for the man they know.
  "Jim Stevenson is not a bad man," said Dori Nelson, chair of the Seabrook Eco-Tourism Committee, for which Stevenson conducted a birdwatching walk Nov. 4.
  "He loves the environment and all its wild creatures and is truly repulsed by people who don't share his attitude."
  Nelson said she hopes the charge against him isn't true. "I know where Jim is coming from, but it's wrong to get out there and take pot-shots."
  Trish McDaniel, a former director of the Animal Shelter and Adoption Center of Galveston who has gone on birding excursions with Stevenson, said he is "exciting to be around when you're learning about birds and wildlife. He knows his stuff."
  McDaniel said she doesn't approve of feeding feral cats but she doesn't believe in shooting them either.
  On Friday, Stevenson said he would have no comment until he hired an attorney. But, within hours of his jail release, he posted a message headed "what actually happened" on the Web.
  He stopped short of admitting he shot a cat. He described spotting a limping cat on the beach at San Luis Pass and said it is "well documented" that crippled predators pursue easy prey.
  "I believe this was the case here, and I was very concerned about how many endangered, threatened ... (birds) would succumb to it," Stevenson wrote. "That was Wednesday morning and life hasn't been terrific since."
  Stevenson, 53, a Tallahassee, Fla., native and former high-school teacher there, faces a sentence of six months to two years and a $10,000 fine if convicted of felony animal cruelty, chief assistant Galveston County District Attorney Joel Bennett said.
  Stevenson spent Wednesday night in the Galveston County Jail. He posted a $10,000 bail.
  There is great disagreement on how feral cats affect birds and other wildlife. Some preservationists maintain that the cats kill hundreds of millions of birds annually. Others maintain that feral cats mainly eat field mice, rats, snakes and other small animals.
  Problems of feral cats and other non-native animals and plants are among leading conservation issues worldwide, said Matt Wagner, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist.
  "There are those, including some of the biologists who work at Texas Parks and Wildlife, who truly believe that increasing populations of feral cats in the environment are having an impact on game birds, ground-nesting birds, reptiles, small mammals and other types of small wildlife," Wagner said.
  But few studies have been done and people quarrel with the results, he said.
  Feral cats are most likely to attack birds when no humans feed the cats, Wagner said.
  Richardson said she and others who trap cats and have them spayed and neutered, then provide food for feral colonies, are doing their best to keep the feral population down. More than 3,500 cats have been trapped on Galveston Island in the past seven years, she said.
  "I get anywhere from two to six cats a week," Richardson said. "It keeps down the feral cat population. The cats really help eliminate the rats and mice."
  McDaniel said feeding neutered feral cats is wrong. The cats remain without vaccinations and worming and can prey on wildlife, she said.
  Houston Audubon Society president Stennie Meadours said Friday that she was "saddened by the whole series of events" surrounding Stevenson's arrest.
  But she said feral cats have played major roles in the near extinction of some bird species in Hawaii and other states as well as in such remote places as the Galapagos Islands.



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