Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This story happened last year, but I was reading Copperheadkid's latest forum and it lead to me remembering this.

I was heading back to my normal herping/fishing spot, when i heard loud yells coming from down the path. I slowly approached and when i saw what was making the noise I become horrified. It was some boys( prolly around 17-18) who had hooked a sub-adult northern water snake to theirfishing pole. I asked them why they were doing it and they said that it was a cottenmouth - which is not found anywhere near where we were. I tried to correct them, but they just laughed and said I was wrong. I didn't know what to do, I was 15 at the time and although I'm a pretty big kid, I'm not a fighter so I just left (feeling disgusted with myself and those kids). Have you guys ever meet those kinds of people who do things like this?
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1.0 Normal Ball Python - Attimus
0.0.2 Amelanistic Corn Snakes - Hades and Po
1.1.2 Midland Painted Turtles - Shelly, Link, and Turtle
1.1 RES - Bonnie and Clyde
0.0.1 Mississippi Map Turtle - M&M
2.0 Dogs - Hershey and Murphy
1.0 Cat - it is the spawn of Satan. . .
0.0.3 Red-bellied Pirhana
Many Other Assorted Fish

Yes, I know a guy who hooked a dead cat up on a fishing pole and took pictures so he could say he caught it while catfishing.

And then theres people who take pics like this one.

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n/p
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1.0 Normal Ball Python - Attimus
0.0.2 Amelanistic Corn Snakes - Hades and Po
1.1.2 Midland Painted Turtles - Shelly, Link, and Turtle
1.1 RES - Bonnie and Clyde
0.0.1 Mississippi Map Turtle - M&M
2.0 Dogs - Hershey and Murphy
1.0 Cat - it is the spawn of Satan. . .
0.0.3 Red-bellied Pirhana
Many Other Assorted Fish

If they didn't kill the cat themselves, I would think it is sort of witty. I mean it's sad, but I would rather see a cat that was living outside run over than chasing and killing our native wildlife. I have little remorse for outdoor cats.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

shouldn't you have little remorse for the person who put the cat out there than the cat itself? you wouldn't say that if it was a non-native snake that an irresponsible owner let loose would you? don't blame the cat blame the stupid person that let it loose. Don't mean to be rude but I don't think kindness should be applied to one specific type of animal.

As far as blaming the previous cat owner, Most of the feral cats you see are second or third generation or more. Tracking them back to the previous owner seems unlikely to me. You can wish in one hand and sh*t in the other and see which one fills up first.

As far as not blaming the cat, or any other feral animal, thats unlikely as well. Unless youre willing to catch, spay or neuter, and release, the problem will continue to grow. Even if you did that, feral cats attack many kinds of wildlife that dont have the natural instincts to defend themselves, including snakes. I have seen a cat kill a 3 foot racer.

Most likely the cat in the photo was just a roadkill, and someone put the sign there to be funny. I still laugh every time I see it.
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I can't possibly see how you feel the need to blame an animal for doing what comes naturally to it. It boggles my mind. I don't have anything truly against the photo just your saying that the cat should die. Do you wish all wildlife that harms other wild life ill? Or all non-native species? How about the rats that so kindly attract many types of snake for you? Or how about raccoons and opossoms that I have seen kill garter and watersnakes and not always for food? Not to mention you blame all outdoor cats not solely feral cats. So be careful on your wording. And again it's not the cat but the people that didn't do as they were supposed with their cat origonally regardless of wether it was 3 generation back or whatever. And I would think coming from a group of people whos pers are often the target of hate and "kill them all" behaviors you would be slightly more understanding towards and animal doing as it is supposed to do. If Timmy's boa got out and ate his sisters rabbit would you blame the boa or Timmy for not properly securing the boa? But I well understand people like you who either a) cannot admit fault or see that they are wrong or b) are hard headed and cannot apprciate the life of another individual who has no controll or understanding of its actions or their consequinces(sp?) either way I'm not sure why I even bothered to respond to this as I'm sure it will do no good.

Just kill the non-native species, they dont belong.
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Exactly. It may not be their fault, but what is the alternative? Take them to a shelter? They die anyway. They do not make good pets. So what do you propose? Leave the cats out in the ecosystem so they can cause more death among the native inhabitants of this continent?
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Me too. We are planning on making signs including opossum, raccoon, armadillo, dog and cat, as well as fish (hey who knows?)
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

I would. If I found a burm in the Everglades, I would not care at all if someone killed it. I mean, pests are pests are pests. I could care less about their fate. They are dead to the ecosystem and will just ruin it. So...As I said. Kill 'em all. Maybe its not the animal's fault, but hey, it happens. Same with the bullfrogs out west. I could care less about their fate.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

And why is that? They have just as much right to survival as anything else. Blame humans for the overpopulation, not the cat.

So we should just let them roam around? What is the alternative? It may be the fault of humans, but give us another option. I would rather see the cats dead than see our native wildlife dead. Maybe I should start shipping you cats since you seem so willing to step up to the plate. Please send your name and shipping address and I will start sening you cats shortly.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

"Maybe I should start shipping you cats since you seem so willing to step up to the plate."

I take care of 5 cats now that have all been rescued either from the street or the pound on their last day before euthanization. We also foster stray dogs until they can be adopted and I now have a total of 5 snakes that would ALL be dead right now if I had not saved them so dont tell me about 'stepping up to the plate'. What are YOU doing to prevent this??? Why dont you try to raise a little awareness in your community instead of [bleep]ing and talking of killing an animal that's not at fault. If everyone would do a small part instead of just complaining there wouldn't be such a large feral cat problem.

You know, I hate animal rights groups like PETA, most of them are a bunch of radical wackos, but ignorance/disinterest on the other side of the fence shouldn't be tolerated either.

Tell me, are you an animal lover or just a breeder?

Actually, I work at a wildlife shelter, as wildlife is my concern. I could care less about billy bob's cat that he just leaves outside. May not be the cat's fault, but is it the chicken's fault that is grown for food? I suppose you are against killing all animals then. It is no animal's fault for anything (they are not reasoning beings) yet they still die. If cats are taking out native wildlife, then they need to be removed or be killed. I don't see any alternative, and you didn't list one, other than the extremely amgiuous "raise awareness". Raise awareness? We do that all the time. That is one of the missions of our shelter. Are you ignorant to enough to believe that raising awareness is a panacea for the problem? PUHHHLEASE! We can tell people to bell their cats and keep them inside all we want. Does it work? Sometimes. People still leave their cats out. And we still receive hundreds if not thousands of native animals that have been caught, maimed, or killed by cats. They are not native. They should be kept inside, or they should be destroyed. End of story. I feel the same way about all feral animals. How do you feel about escaped pythons and boas in the everglades? Personally, I want them out. I couldn't care less if someone shot them, ran them over, whatever. They are dead to the ecosystem. If they can't be kept in captivity (which is the case really), then they should be destroyed. But I suppose that feral animals have rights too? Well, in this herpers opinion, they shouldn't. I will get off my soapbox now. I honestly have no problem with cats. I love 'em. But any cat out in the wild left to roam is a problem, a problem that MUST BE ERADICATED. And it is not my disinterest that gets to you, it is my interest I suppose. My interest, as you should have figured out, is my caring about native wildlife, which is all that matters really.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Heres a mediocre idea that will never happen. Lets sponsor a feral cat roundup modeled after the rattlesnake roundups. Well stockpile feral cats in small containers with no food or water for months, then have a couple rednecks see how many they can shove in a sleeping bag. Then well chop their heads off with machetes in front of a crowd of people. Surely this will bring awareness to the problem. Itll be fun for everyone young or old. A portion of the proceeds can be donated to the humane society or something.
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I am up for it. Where do I sign up?
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Oh yes!! I see people like that all the time. I just want to hurt them the way they hurt the snakes. Any kind of water snake people see in my area they automatically say. "Durr!! A cotton mout, lets kill him!! Durr". Nothing makes me madder. I just now turned 16 on march 12. i'm also a fairly large for my age. (6' 4" 280lbs. I work out so I could "whoop" most people my age too but I choose not to. I know how you feel about them.
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Justin