Tree House News

You may have heard about “Question 62” (Q62), a citizen-sponsored resolution presented to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress last April 2005. Q62 was proposed by a firefighter in LaCrosse, Wisconsin , who claimed he was tired of cats stalking the birds at his backyard feeder. The proposal would have classified domestic cats without collars and not under the obvious control of an owner as an unprotected species, and therefore fair prey to any hunter with a small game license . By defining feral, free-roaming cats as unprotected, cats could have legally been hunted year round, with no bag limit.

Luckily, after intense pressure from animal rights activists, humane organizations like Tree House, the media and concerned citizens like you, the Wisconsin Conservation Congress decided to drop the proposal. In any case, cat-lovers should be aware that this issue could be raised again in the future.

What happened in Wisconsin should be used as a learning experience, so that if a similar proposal is raised somewhere else people are prepared to wage a successful campaign against it. A majority of the Wisconsin citizens present at the Annual DNR Spring Fish and Wildlife Rules Hearings and Conservation Congress Meeting did vote for Q62. The total vote was 6,830 in favor and 5,201 against the proposal, with 51 counties supporting the reclassification of feral domestic cats as an unprotected species, 20 counties rejecting it, and one county having a tie vote.

The Conservation Congress is an independent organization of Wisconsin citizens elected in their counties that serves in an advisory capacity to the Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Since Q62 was passed at the Spring Meeting, the Conservation Congress could have recommended this measure to the Natural Resources Board. They could have then suggested legislation to list free roaming feral domestic cats as an unprotected species. However, after the intense scrutiny of so many cat-lovers, and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle’s comment that the proposal was making the state a laughingstock, the proposal was dropped. While the affirmative vote on Q62 did not result in legislation being passed, it is disturbing to think that domestic animals were even being considered as future prey for Wisconsin hunters.

The numbers cited in Q62 were based on a study over a decade ago by Stanley Temple and John Coleman at the University of Wisconsin . They estimated the number of songbirds killed each year by free-roaming cats to be in the tens of millions. The study was never published in any scientific journal and , in a 1994 interview, Coleman admitted, “Those figures were from our own proposal. They aren’t actual data; that was just our projection to show how bad it might be.”

In fact, the impact that cats have on the decline of birds really isn’t significant when other causes of mortality are also considered. “At least 100 million birds die every year from crashing into windows,” according to Defenders of Wildlife, an organization dedicated to the preservation of all wild animals and native plants in their natural community. “But windows, cats, West Nile virus, wind turbines — all those specific causes of death that are apparent in people's backyards -- are not, at present, having any known effect on the population size of any continental bird species,” says John H. Rappole of the Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center. “Numbers of individual birds killed simply do not constitute evidence of an overall population decline.”

It seems that Q62 was doomed from the beginning. Scott Hassett, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Secretary, and members of the DNR staff offered statements in opposition of the proposal. Many Wisconsin residents and animal lovers everywhere also expressed strong opposition to cat hunting. Tree House Animal Foundation is glad that Wisconsin state and local governments showed opposition to the proposal to reclassify domestic cats, and instead seek to increase funding and efforts for feline spay/neuter programs – the only humane, effective method of population control for companion animals.

Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) programs have had great success in reducing feral cat populations. In communities where TNR is widely embraced, feral cat numbers have dropped significantly. In general, the cost of sterilizing and returning a feral cat is less than half the cost of trapping, holding, killing, and disposing of a feral cat. TNR advances the goal of reducing the numbers of feral cats in the environment. Tree House supports the idea of humane, non-lethal TNR programs as a long-term solution to feral cat overpopulation, but more state and local funding is needed in order for these methods to be effective.

Of course there is no one perfect solution, but hunting domestic animals is neither effective nor humane. Every cat without a collar or an owner nearby is not necessarily feral. The same day that the Conservation Congress held its Spring Hearing, four cats were found dead on the side of a road in Sheboygan , Wisconsin . The cats had been shot execution-style in the back of the head. One of the cats, Junior, was a house cat that rarely spent any time outside. The culprits were never found.

For now, shooting any domestic cat in Wisconsin remains a crime, whether the cat is feral or owned, no matter where the animal is or what it may be doing. Anyone seen or proven to have shot a cat should be reported to animal control or the local authorities and punished under the State’s animal cruelty laws. Please visit our website to find links to Wisconsin government officials and write to thank them for expressing such strong opposition to the proposal.

In the end, this issue is not really as much about hunting as it is about responsible pet ownership. Tree House Animal Foundation stipulates in its adoption contract that adopters must keep their cats indoors in accordance with the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act, which states that an anima l m ust be given adequate shelter and protection from the weather. Obviously, this is the best way to guarantee that your cat and the birds are both safe.

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