Native Hawaiian biologist receives death threats from cat colonists

[Wao nahele wahine]

This topic was discussed on PW prior:

Feral Cats

So, in my opinion, feeding feral cats SHOULD carry the SAME penalty as intentionally killing a Nene.

And if feeding feral cats is such a good thing, where are the coqui frog egg hatcheries? Why not have feral rat feedings? Why not have mosquito breeding farms?

You forgot to mention bufo toads and fire ants.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Why not have mosquito breeding farms?

If you read the reports about Puna during the last Dengue Fever crisis, it was suggested, no stated, that we do.

[MyManao]

feeding feral cats SHOULD carry the SAME penalty as intentionally killing a Nene..

I think locking up those who would not feed a needy animal make more sense..

[HiloJulie]

feeding feral cats SHOULD carry the SAME penalty as intentionally killing a Nene..

I think locking up those who would not feed a needy animal make more sense..

It is no surprise to me that is how you feel.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

It is no surprise to me that is how you feel.

At least he didn’t insult the female cats.

[MarkP]

Cat feeding stations ARE rat feeding stations.

The childishly simplistic rationalization for feeding feral cats never ceases to amaze me. You would think that when cat advocates get to the point of sending death threats that they themselves would recognize how imbalanced their values are and that furthermore that law enforcement might also consider weighing in on the side of, well, the law, and push back against the illegal taking of federally protected species.

I remember when Tectococcus Ovatus was proposed as a biocontrol on strawberry guava. There was much gnashing of teeth over biocontrols, usually holding up the mongoose as a poster child for how biocontrols are always bad. Well they certainly can be, but modern properly researched and vetted examples are not. What's bad is when uneducated self-interested morons who have no business in dabbling in science try their hand, such as 19th century planters who imported the mongooses to control rats and cane toads to control bugs, or cat enthusiasts who maintain invasive feral cats thinking they will control rats.

[MyManao]

It is no surprise to me that is how you feel.

Obviously easier said than done, but for real, the heartlessness which which you suggest criminalizing other people’s behavior and inflicting trauma on animals willy nilly when it suits is phenomenal. You might ask yourself if there's a better way?

When I was young, Hamakua side, we had transfer stations, but for the most part the gulches worked just fine, and they were usually closer at hand. There was a lot more rain back then, the streams washed all our woes.. and the garbage.. away. And besides nobody saw anything, the streams were full of mud that washed off the fields. But I thought the transfer stations were a better idea, although I had to learn not to bring the kids along because, inevitably, if I did we’d be taking another litter of abandoned kittens home. And you know, even if you did, there’d always be another when you came back next time.

Years later when lava swept through Kalapana a small group of us who advised Harry who should be evacuated and when realized folks were leaving their domestic animals behind. So we went to the Humane Society and explained to them what was happening and they feigned lack of funds and refused to help. But Seeske, at Kilauea Veterinary Services, offered her’s and her staff’s unqualified, and amazingly boundless, help.

Before the crisis passed we had trapped and hauled off the lava fields well north of 500 abandoned domestic animals, and most of them were cats. And we, again with a lot of help from Seeske, fixed and nurtured back to good health and found homes for every animal we gathered.. and some folks took several. They were a celebrated tribe.. the Kalapana refugees.

The interesting thing is when the Trib made mention of the effort the Humane Society offered a seat on their board to one of us, and she took it, and then followed a number of years where the humane society and the other animal advocate groups were able to work together, and some good stuff happened. Remember Dog Day Afternoons? But it didn’t last.. people move on.. and somehow the government's efforts here always fall short..

The feral cat problem on this island is endemic. It’s baked in. And the only way it will be addressed is through government with an island wide, state wide, effort and a whole lot more funding than has ever been considered. 

People created this condition. People abandon their domestic animals here as if it’s the right thing to do. They do it as readily as they go to church. People are the bad guys in the story.. and it will take a collective of people to fix it. A collective far larger than any group. Government. But for anyone to suggest inflicting trauma as a solution.. of not feeding hungry beings? That's a sickness. It is inhumane. That we, collectively, should be very worried about.

[HiloJulie]

feeding feral cats SHOULD carry the SAME penalty as intentionally killing a Nene..

I think locking up those who would not feed a needy animal make more sense..

It is no surprise to me that is how you feel.

Obviously easier said than done, but for real, the heartlessness which which you suggest criminalizing other people’s behavior and inflicting trauma on animals willy nilly when it suits is phenomenal. You might ask yourself if there's a better way?

So, let me get this straight.

I call for the penalty of feeding feral cats to be the same as that of the intentional killing of the Nene.

You, on the other hand, call for locking up those who would not feed a needy animal. Does that include the scientist Jordan Lerma? His family too? The employees of the DLNR? The Hawaii Invasive Species Council?

And then you call me heartless?

Feral cats proliferate solely because people keep letting them proliferate. They are an invasive animal to this state and island. They have directly caused the extinction of 33 species of birds. Where was the humanity there?

The Nene came as the Big Island was a smoldering pile of lava 500,000 years ago. The European haole brought the cats in the 1700’s. I think the Nene has better legal standing.

Every single governing authority of science and wildlife management has called for the elimination of the feeding of feral cats the world over.

And again, you call ME heartless?

Yes, I think the punishment (financially) of those feeding feral cats is quite heartfelt, given the destruction feral cats present. Much much more heartfelt than locking up those who would not feed a feral cat as you so lovingly suggest.

I think MarkP’s last sentence of his third paragraph in his comment above spells out the core issue quite specifically as well as correctly.

[Punatang]

 but for real, the heartlessness which which you suggest criminalizing other people’s behavior - MyMao

Just wow. Try go back and read your own Nazi garbage from 2021/2022. Do you own a mirror?

Beyond "criminalizing", here you are fantasizing about people being "culled".  Get help.

MyManao-

I'm sure Darwin would have had a more eloquent way of phrasing it, but isn't that what they call a silver lining? 

I think we could have whipped covid from the get go had we all been willing to cooperate. You know, wear a mask, love one another. All that hippy kine stuff. But no, the bozos among us had to go on about their selfish rights. So here we are, going the long haul. And yeah, hopefully enough of them will be culled so that when we do round the bend on this we'll be that much better for it.

[TomK]

It is no surprise to me that is how you feel.

Obviously easier said than done, but for real, the heartlessness which which you suggest criminalizing other people’s behavior and inflicting trauma on animals willy nilly when it suits is phenomenal. You might ask yourself if there's a better way?

Didn't you once call for the hanging of thieves?