Your heading implied I was trying to bait you into a response. That is why I responded the way I did.

I do not know the laws in your specific community but it is usually illegal to shoot domestic type animals like cats and dogs. People in rural areas often have cats and these typically are not house cats. If you want to cite the law it is more often legal to kill reptiles on your property than cats or dogs.

Consider this: If the issue is predation on native wildlife by animals that do not or should not interact with the eco system then it should be illegal for people to use wc amphibians and reptiles as food for captives. This is of course not uncommon.

Since invasive species have a tendency to have a negative impact on native species should it be illegal to keep any species in captivity outside their natural geographic range? Some people believe this and using your argument they could make a valid point.

I have never seen any studies that implicated cats feral or otherwise as being as significant a detriment to native species of wildlife the way introduced species and even collectors have been. As a predator a cat will not take the healthier stock the way collectors will. I am not saying feral animals are not a matter of concern but it does not appear they are that significant for the issues cited. This is also true when it is considered that natural predators have been diminished in many areas from human activity.

So the issue is predation on native wildlife. There are multiple perpetrators of said predation identified. We have singled out a single perpetrator that is not under most situations that significant of a perpetrator. We have labeled our opposition to this one perpetrator as intolerance. We have ignored more common and problematic perpetrators of the discussed predation. This is unreasonable as it is disconnected from the actual issue of predation. Prejudice is defined as unreasonable feelings, opinions or attitudes.

Bottom line: You have cited an important issue but appear very biased and selective in your intolerance to the various causes.
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Randy Hallman
Firehouse Herps

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