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Originally posted by MarkP

We have no current policy. Some cats occasionally wind up at the humane society when they finally make themselves enough of a pest that not even city dwellers who have no day to day appreciation for vulnerable wildlife or livestock can tolerate them. A fair number of these prove to be un-adoptable and are destroyed because there is literally nothing else to do with them. To describe what we do now as "catch and kill" is laughable.

I appreciate the companionship of a well socialized cat. Having cradled the dead and dying bodies of two of my brother's beloved pet cats in my arms, I feel fear when one of his present cats gets out and roams the neighborhood. I fear for the welfare of the cat, lest it get hit by a car, attacked by dogs or people, or poisoned in some way. I should feel fear because these are real threats and they are really not avoidable. Here's the nasty part. The correct policy will have been achieved when cat owners feel fear that their wandering cat will get swept up in a dragnet and, if micro-chipped, will show up at their doorway in the arms of a law enforcement officer who will issue them an expensive ticket along with their cat assuming they haven't racked up too many tickets already, or if not micro-chipped, will enter that portion of the system that may lead to euthanasia. If they haven't micro-chipped the cat, euthanasia. If they haven't given the right address in hopes of avoiding the expensive ticket, euthanasia. If they have more cats than they can afford the micro-chipping on, euthanasia. If they have more cats than they really care about, euthanasia. And frankly they will never know whether their cat didn't come home because it was swept up or because it got hit by a car. That is poetic justice. Why blame the system when there is an equal chance Fluffy didn't come home because you let her out and she got hit by a car?

This is why a true catch and kill policy will be hard to implement. Responsible people will have to stand up and say that they are prepared to be the reason Fluffy didn't come home, and pet owners will have to live with a level of concern for their pets that is uncomfortable. It would be nice to say that the Fluffys of the world would always get rescued and returned to their loving owners but there would always be the chance that they would fall through the cracks. That risk should be mitigated to the greatest degree possible but nevertheless will have to be accepted. It is no worse than the risk of getting hit by a car or attacked by a dog but there would be someone to blame besides yourself so blaming others would win out over the usual recourse of denial.

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