Bass River State Forest, today (Friday). I spotted 2 of them on the edge of one of the campgrounds. One dashed off into the woods, and this one jumped up on top of the dumpster. They are very cute, but whether they were dumped by a camper, or they were born here to a feral cat, it's very sad to see them. Someone is going to try to catch them, but they will have to try to survive tonight's storm on their own.
Kittens, cute but sad
- Thread starter lj762
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IBSP is full of them, most dumped by summer people when their time here ends. Then they reproduce and reproduce and... then they turn feral. That's how the one cat we have got here; litter of kittens, mom hit by a car, son brought 9 home. He went on his own, the cat stayed. Thankfully he found homes for the other 8. I dislike cats. Walk any trail over there after a rain and all you see are cat tracks, with an occasional rabbit and fox. Its a big problem in all the island towns, most have enacted a trap, neuter, release program.
I really can't understand the Trap Neuter Release program.
There is a serious disconnect between the wildlife management efforts in this State and the return of neutered cats into the wild where the cats survive by killing songbirds, game birds and other wildlife.
Trap, Neuter and Put Up For Adoption would be a lot more sensible.
The problem was well recognized a very long time ago. When my Grandfather went away to Penn State starting in 1920 he bought a hunting license every year he was out there.
Here is a copy of the game report card that was attached to the license receipt.
There were entry blanks for wild cats as well as stray house cats. (Not sure how you would know the difference.
)
More interesting is the dollar value of the bounties placed on wildcats in 1920.
A wild cat was worth $8.00 and a fox were $2.00 and weasel was worth only $1.50 ! The average weekly wage in 1920 for a manufacturing job in the US was only $21.00.
Pay no attention to the entry blanks for hawks and owls or the fact that you could shoot pretty much all of our T&E species with or without a license at any time.
See attached license receipt and card.
Let me know if these zoom well enough to read.
There is a serious disconnect between the wildlife management efforts in this State and the return of neutered cats into the wild where the cats survive by killing songbirds, game birds and other wildlife.
Trap, Neuter and Put Up For Adoption would be a lot more sensible.
The problem was well recognized a very long time ago. When my Grandfather went away to Penn State starting in 1920 he bought a hunting license every year he was out there.
Here is a copy of the game report card that was attached to the license receipt.
There were entry blanks for wild cats as well as stray house cats. (Not sure how you would know the difference.
)More interesting is the dollar value of the bounties placed on wildcats in 1920.
A wild cat was worth $8.00 and a fox were $2.00 and weasel was worth only $1.50 ! The average weekly wage in 1920 for a manufacturing job in the US was only $21.00.
Pay no attention to the entry blanks for hawks and owls or the fact that you could shoot pretty much all of our T&E species with or without a license at any time.
See attached license receipt and card.
Let me know if these zoom well enough to read.
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Lots of non-feral cats are euthanized in shelters because there aren't enough homes for them all, and feral adult cats are pretty hard to tame and take a lot of time. A lot of them will never become tame enough.
Somewhat on the same story line. My boss years ago loved cats, and an older man he knew died leaving a very very unfriendly cat homeless. So my boss brought it to work and it got loose from him and headed into the attic of our company which is a machine shop. So many places to hide that we did not have the time or patience to capture it. So it lived there and only came out when we were not around. I had a metal bench with sliding doors that I would occasionally leave open and when I came to work in the morning I would close them. Ten hours later when I opened it the cat came flying out and headed down the isle and went into the back of an old lathe. When we finally got it out that cat was covered with grease and was almost unrecognizable. It latched onto the mans arm so hard he started screaming and flung it out the door never to be seen again.
Even more sensible and would bring in some money at the same time, would be to trap and sell them to Chinese restaurants.
The one we have came from a feral family and still has some wildness in it at 16 years. Its a hoot when it stands up to our 100lb retriever, the dog has no idea what to do
Some campers feed the cats, but the number of campers drops way down in fall and winter. I suspect there are regular forest visitors who set out cat food. Some Park Service staff probably do this too but they do it in secret and none will own up to it.
Maybe this feeding keeps the songbird death toll down. There is one long-term resident feral cat around, and it looks seriously well-fed, rather fat in fact.
I've found unopened cat food cans when doing campground cleanup. Can anyone explain that to me? Why would someone leave unopened cat food cans?
Maybe this feeding keeps the songbird death toll down. There is one long-term resident feral cat around, and it looks seriously well-fed, rather fat in fact.
I've found unopened cat food cans when doing campground cleanup. Can anyone explain that to me? Why would someone leave unopened cat food cans?
That used to be the case with one person at IBSP. That person is no longer employed by the state.
There may be more to this than we all realize. Jessica and I visit a location and check on snakes, and this year we found a "camp" area nearby full of opened cans of cat food. They were scattered around the area we walked in. I suspect this occurred in cold weather so I really don't think it has anything to do with snakes. I really am uncertain what was going on.
It may be people using it as bait for raccoons or something, cat food does have an aroma that travels. Maybe trying to find a bear. The homeless have been known to use it to help them. Some pet shelters provide the food.
Article on “Killer Cats”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cats-invasive-species-in-your-backyard-cbsn-originals/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cats-invasive-species-in-your-backyard-cbsn-originals/
The two BRSF kittens I saw Friday were caught and brought to a rescue place, I was told. But now there is an adult cat prowling around the same area, and people think that's the mom looking for her kittens. They will try to catch her next, but unlike the kittens she is very fast.
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