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Animal ATTRACTION |
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March 2008
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This is just airing now, and the story isn't posted to the blog yet, but our reporter Brad Woodard interviewed Jim Stevenson, the ornitologist and founder of the Galveston Ornitological Society, about his recent arrest (previous posts here and here) for allegedly shooting a feral cat. I am posting the script from the story here, and hope to post the link to the story later on.. ---------------------- Stevenson: "I think this is a white reddish Egret.." It's the birds that lure prominent ornithologists like Jim Stevenson. Brad: "The birds are faced with a number of challenges aren't they? And it's not just songbirds that are on the decline. Here on the island, if you're lucky, you might encounter a Piping Plover, which is on the endangered species list. Stevenson: "And when you throw a hunter at them that hunts not because its hungry, but because it just hunts, it's just a killer, they really have their backs to the wall. In the middle of this haven for birds, is the San Luis Pass toll bridge...a sanctuary of sorts for feral cats... Newland: "I can't talk about it." Well, mostly feral. Newland: "I'm afraid to get them too tame because they trust people and people this this morning come out here and shoot them." Last week we introduced you to John Newland, who says he saw Stevenson's van fleeing the scene after one of his cats was shot to death. Stevenson, founder of the Galveston Orthinological Society and author of four birding books...was charged while a felony count of cruelty to animals. Brad: "It's a simple question, did you do it or not?" Stevenson won't confirm or deny that specific event. That said. Stevenson: "If birds and especially protect endangered species." While Stevenson stops short of admiting he killed the cat in question, he concedes the night before he witnessed the same cat stalking an endangered bird and after failing to catch it tracked it back to the bridge. Stevenson: "Oh, my god, yes it bothered me." While explaining that to us under the bridge, we once again encountered John Newland who had spotted his van. Newland: "I just wanted to make sure he wasn't killing more of my cats. My cats!" Only Jim Stevenson knows whether he's proud of what he did...or did not do. but he freely admits he has no regrets. Brad Woodard, 11 news. 9 CommentsLeave a comment |
This problem of the wild cats under the bridge in Galveston is a real concern. I'm not sure how they do it in Galveston but in Harris County the Animal control will FINE you, if your cats have not been vaccinated for RABIES. This man is working on the bridge claims all those cats are HIS, has he provided them all with vaccinations and county licenses? Most Animal Controls say when it comes to fines, if you feed it, you own it, and are responsible for its health. Not providing proper health care for your animals is normally considered animal cruelty. If you do not provide proper care of your animals in Harris County they are taken away, you are fined, and usually the animals are euthanasized.
Why have your reporters failed to bring out this point?
1. The Piping Plover is not an endangered species. It is considered in Federal regulations to be a threatened species.
2. I have known Jim Stevenson since he was in high school. He has a long history of illegal bird killing. Shooting jays and crows because they are "nest" predators. Jeesh! Now cats!
i have fished the SLP area for 20 years. i have encountered these cats for the same amount of time. being a cat owner and lover, i fell in love with these creatures living in no mans land. i consider this area pretty much a dog lovers redneck hangout. and you know what that means? rednecks love to kill cats. to them it should be ,"cat season" akin to deer season and duck season. i have fed these cats over the years.
now concerning the endangered birds, it's not the cats fault, it's human encroachment. the birds will adjust, move on if you will. the cats are stuck there to be taken care of by wondering fishermen like me.
i surely don't want to stalk cat killers.
Hey Merrick, he claims those kitties to be his b/c he is a caring person who does not want to let those cats starve to death. Do you really think realistically he could house how ever many cats are under the bridge. Come on think with your head and realize that he was saying that as a figure of speech. Again as I suggested in one of my previous post, instead of griping about this horrible situation why don't you use your head and try to remedy this situation????? Bottom line is what that man did in shooting that cat was WRONG PERIOD!!!!!!!
Lisa, I love birds, I feed them in many feeders and have bird houses all around. I also love cats, I have two indoor pampered kitties. One is a Tabby that I found on the highway in the rain. I also have an Exotic black short hair and he is gorgeous and was bought from a breeder. Down the road I go every day with 4 cans of wet and I buy huge bags of dry where I am feeding 9 feral cats. The 9 feral's have not been altered yet, but I am trying to work on getting them tame enough to start this. I know I can find them homes if they were not feral. They all have blue eyes and are very pretty. I have two feral's that I have been feeding for over one year too. They are old cat's and set in their ways. The owner died at an elderly age in a nursing home and the last thing I promised him in the nursing home was I will take care of Muffin and Tiger and I do to this day. Muffin and Tiger are altered like my kitties, so I am working on the 9 now, they are young, two sets of kittens, so most are too young to alter at this time any way. I do love the birds, but this man is plain wrong and he commits murder in my view of things. I have as many pictures of wild birds on my webshots and I look for songbirds to take pictures of all the time, it's something I enjoy, and taking care of feral animal is something I must do, because it is what is right to do. I am 41 yrs. old now, and have learned by spending money on feral's and thinking I am giving these animals to good homes that this is not always true, you call just a few weeks later and they die or the people gave them away, so sometimes I feel these feral's are better off on their on sometimes instead of trusting humans. I must also say it breaks my heart if he has been killing crows or any of the hunting birds. I feed them too, I have a big crows nest in my building, and Lisa the crows are the smartest birds of all birds. The crow is smarter than the eagle or the hawk. I love black crows, and they are the funniest to watch. I save all old bread and the crows here are so smart to know that I will throw stale food at the same tree and they come there and eat it, they also eat scraps of food I throw back at this tree. He is murdering animals if he is killing these birds and kitties, and my goodness to be a bird lover he doesn't know much, because the crow is the best darn bird around in my book, they are not the prettiest but they are the funniest to watch.
I love birds, and cats... and to kill cats because they may kill and eat natural prey is unthinkable... MY FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ALL IS "WHERE DO AND DID FERAL CATS COME FROM"? ANSWER: HUMANS FROM NO WHERE ELSE BUT US.. THERE WOULD BE NO FERAL IF IT WERE NOT FOR PEOPLE, irrisponsible people. have a pet one day throw it out the next.. want a kitten not a cat, lets it get pregnant and throws it away.. moves out of town leaves it.. so now the HUMAN ANSWER IS TO KILL THEM, WHY, BECAUSE THEY ARE HUNGRY.. WHY DO YOU NOT TAKE YOUR TIME AND EFFORT AND HELP US LIVE TRAP AND SPAY AND NEUTER THEM. SPEND YOUR TIME AND MONEY ON CLEANING UP THE MESS WE MADE TO BEGIN WITH.. THAT IS OUR ANSWER, WE MAKE A MESS. AND THEN WE FIND A NEW MESS TO CLEAN THE OLD MESS UP WITH.. stop killing the cats and educate the ignorant irrisponsible people who created this problem.. make them pay to clean this up, not make the innocent animal pay because he is hungry and cold.. Patricia Hodge
The 60 to 70 million feral cats in the United States kill billions of native animals each year. They are especially destructive because they evolved in a different ecosystem from our fauna, which have few natural defenses against them.
No matter who put them in the wild there is no niche in our ecosystem for them, and they are slowly eating their way through our animals. Responsible management of them is the only answer, and this precludes trap, neuter, release and feed to kill again!
What is it about feral alien cats that have no, zero, zilch, niche in our ecosystem that causes some people to value their lives over our natural fauna that do?
Oh yes, it's the cuddle factor. I wish long lives for every feral cat enabler. May you live long lives, long enough to wake up one morning to silence and realise that feral cats have helped silence our bird's songs.
Mr. Deville is correct about the responsibility for those feral cats. What most people ignore in situations like this is how moral or ethical is it to enable the feral cats to destroy our birds and other wildlife?
Cats do not belong in our ecosystem and they are a threat to it. We already have natural predators that do belong here and cats are displacing them.