Violence
My home is in a very rural area in the US with no spay/neuter laws or animal control. It is also down a road that is the local traditional dumping ground for unwanted animals. We have our dogs, cats, and poultry here in a fenced area. Generally, strays can be chased off by shooting roman candles in their general direction. However, some are persistant. I’m looking for a workable alternative to feeding stubburn strays a cheeseburger before shooting the stray in the back of the head.
I cannot start fostering dogs for the same reason I cannot buy legos. It would get out of control. Also, I’d rather not burdon someone else with taking these dogs away to cage them for a few weeks before killing them.
This sucks.
I get how you feel. There are 7 stray kittens behind my house right now and I can’t really take them in, but I feel super bad that they don’t have a home. I’ve been saving up some money to at least get the females fixed but money’s a bit tight. They are so damned cute (and friendly) it bothers me, but there’s just so many cats around here. Winter is coming too and where I live it commonly gets below -35c (-31f) so they kind of have a bleak future ahead of them.
If you put out a sideways cardboard box or something sturdier with towels in it that will help them immensely.
I actually have that outside right now… a box wrapped with some insulated tarp and a doorway cut into it, but that won’t do much when winter hits us full force and the snow piles up.
I’m thinking about making a closed off area in my shed with a heat pad to help. I’ve been letting them into my house by blocking off the kitchen so they can’t wander around too much but I can’t leave them there unattended. If I didn’t already have 6 formerly stray cats I could “adopt” them, but 13 cats in this little house would drive us all crazy lol! (never mind the fact I’d have to dedicate an entire room for the litter boxes.)
They’re still fairly small, so I have a bit of time to figure things out and hopefully find homes for them.
Oh jeez yeah, I have 6 too and they’re a handful. Best of luck helping out the little ones.
Is there a humane society or other shelter near you? If you let them know the situation they might be able to help you out and take them in to be adopted. If not you could solicit social media for people to foster or adopt abandoned animals. Aside from that, I guess you could put up a fence to keep them away but that’s probably about it, short of using them as target practice.
We live in pretty much the same situation as op, the only shelters near us charge $75 to drop off a pet unless you live in the city.
Last time we did it we lied about our address and name the guy obviously didn’t believe us but took the dog.
Target shooting is important. Poking paper keeps my booger hook smooth. That’s just so that I can be responsible when needed. Every fall my deer don’t need tracked. Clean shot or no shot.
I’d recommend putting the strays in the same room as the fools who don’t spay/neuter their animals. Put the people who have ‘outdoor cats’ in the room as well. Tie them up and let nature take care of them when said nature gets hungry.
In truth, your options suck. I spent several years in the same situation. If it’s any consolation, you’re saving them from a mangled death if struck by a car, or a slow starvation.
A sign where my road starts in under progress. Just gotta put it up without anyone seeing.
I don’t have an answer for you, but I feel your struggles. I also live in an extremely remote rural area and have to deal with certain issues that any of my urban friends would find appalling…
I wish you much luck in finding the most humane and kind way to dealing with your situation. 🙏
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Trying to rehome strays here is like selling irrigation equipment in Seattle. People try and their backyards are full of crates or a grid of small runs.
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Is there an SPCA or similar org in your area? You could possibly foster the dogs for a day and give them a call to come pick up the strays
By alternative, do you mean a more efficient kill solution or what exactly are you looking for?
Good question! Mostly this post was searching for validation that I am not a souless monster for shooting kittens and dogs. It hurts so much.
I have had to cull stray dogs that had formed packs and were harassing the livestock. You gotta do what you gotta do. If they are acting destructive enough that you can’t just leave them be then they are likely a risk to people too. It is good not to enjoy these things. I would rather shovel shit personally. Good luck.
It sounds like you’re doing the right thing, thank you.
If you were in Australia, everyone would be patting you on the back for shooting stray cats, they’re recognized there as a wildly destructive burden on the ecosystem.
They’re just as destructive anywhere, so you’re actively saving the environment and helping to solve a huge problem that most of society continually ignores.
I certainly appreciate what you’re doing.
Man reading this thread makes me feel pretty thankful my grandfather has a big barn that he primarily uses as antique car storage so people tend to think it’s abandoned and as a result my grandfather has been making his old farm into a cat sanctuary and selling cats when ever he finds he has too many to take care of but since his nabor has been keeping his cows on my grampas property folks are dropping less cats at the old barn
The solution I heard the most of was poisoned food. I don’t know which poison is good though. For babies, I’ve heard about putting in bag and then in the water.
Rural life can be very cruel. It’s a privilege of sheltered city dwellers to think that animals should always be protected and taken care of. There’s no such thing as the harmony of nature, it’s just brutal and cruel.
Thankfully I have a more humane method than poison or drowning.
When I was a kid my dad would trap local stray cats, drive 50 miles away and then release them. If you have a forest a fair distance away you could do the same. It’s not a great solution, but it’s something.
Basically, I live in that place your dad dumped the animals.
Collect the forest strays, dump them in the suburbs. The circle of life.
Its in fact, no solution at all.
