Please don't misunderstand, BackStop. I don't dislike cats, or dogs for that matter. I also fully understand that any dog or cat can occasionally get away from its owner. Those dogs and cats don't worry me in the least. I'm only ticked with the pet owners that very intentionally and deliberately allow their pets to roam freely in direct violation of local ordinances.
It's like pretty much everything else in life. Your rights and privileges end where mine begin. In the case of these cats, if all they did was walk down the street going from one place to another, I probably wouldn't care. That's not the case, unfortunately.
This spring I ordered some special, old time, heirloom flower seeds. I started them indoors and transplanted them outdoors into a 12' flower garden and 4 large flower pots. Within a week's time every plant in the pots had been dug up by one or more cats and in place of the flower the cat(s) left a big, stinking pile of crap. They dug up over half the plants in the flower bed. This is when the dingbat gal told me I needed to put mothballs everywhere and fences around all my flowers. It doesn't work that way. The rights of the pet owner ceased when their pet entered my yard and destroyed my property.
Now, I didn't immediately try trapping or getting rid of any cats. Instead, I turned to social media and pleaded with any and all residents near my house to PLEASE keep their cats at home or on a leash. I explained why I was a bit perturbed and gave everyone 2 full weeks to get their cats in check before I set the first trap. In response to my warning, my wife and I were accused of being animal haters, my wife was accused of having tortured and killed a Pit Bull, I was told I was being stupid because I valued my flowers over their cats, and my mailbox was knocked down and run over. I was threatened multiple times including one threat I took to the local police.
A few months have now passed and I see the same exact cats still roaming freely. I will not, under any circumstance, attempt to trap, run over, or shoot any cat not on my property. If that cat is in my yard, it's a whole different ball game. Do I enjoy having to take the actions I am? No. It's disheartening to cause harm to an animal simply because it's owner chooses to be disrespectful to their neighbors.
I asked one of these gals that is angry with me about her having a nearby neighbor trap a family of raccoons from her backyard. I first asked if that had happened. She quickly admitted it had. I asked her if she knew that in the State of Illinois any wild animal that has been trapped is to be put down instead of being relocated. Her response was, "Good. Serves them right. They have no business being in my backyard." To which I replied, "touché"!
