Hmmm...is this suspicious or CATastrophic or what???

Clare gunner

Without having to dig up the closed feral cats thread and the emotions raised in it,which was in full swing last week. What do we have in todays Indo a little ditty titled "Hunter used two pet cats for target practise."
Apprently in West meath two cats were treated by an unnamed vet for shotgun pellet wounds,local animal rights groups ,shocked horrified,etc etc.
Read it yourselves.
Now,I have two theories what is going on here.[1] somone is reading the boards and decided to go off acting the bo**ix to either discredit ligit shooters or somone who sHOULD read this board and go away and buy proper ammo to do the job right.
[2]Perversely,the animal nazis have decided on a new publicity stunt from taking the cue here from the boards debate on that now the evil bambi killers are gunning for your household Tabby!!!!
I find it just a little bit TOO coincidential that last week it is hunters Vs Animal rights Nazis. A week later a Westmeath crowd are claiming two shotgunned cats.AND claiming a hunter did it!!!!!!!
Thoughts people???

Vegeta

interesting.

I have to say i have no time for anyone anti hunting unless they are strict vegetarians/vegans.

Hezz700

Vegeta wrote:

interesting.

I have to say i have no time for anyone anti hunting unless they are strict vegetarians/vegans.

I worked with a so called vegan once who did'nt have a problem wearing leather shoes. In my book that would fall under the heading of hypocritical.

CG,

you make a very good point, sounds suspect for sure. but i like to think that most reasonably minded people(certainly Indo readers) know that 90% of whats printed is pure Bull****. As the saying goes "paper never refuses ink".

Hezz.

Rovi

From unison.ie-

[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Arial]Hunter used two pet cats as target practice, says vet

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial] A HUNTER with a legally held shotgun is suspected of being responsible for seriously injuring two pet cats, prompting outrage from animal welfare groups.
The cats managed to make their way to a house in Slane, Co Meath, and the occupant took them to local vet Frances Harvey. She described the shooting as "wanton, willy-nilly target practice by somebody who simply didn't care what harm they did."
"To shoot the cats and then leave them with such injuries is simply appalling," she said. "These pellets were deershot, I believe, and would have been bought in a cartridge for use in a licensed shotgun.
"Both cats underwent surgery to remove the pellets."
"We have had some horrific cases of animal cruelty, but never a cat being shot before," said Elizabeth Doran of the Animal Rescue Centre in Drogheda, which is now looking for a home for one of the cats, who has been named Leo.
The centre can be contacted at admin@animalrescuecentre.com.[/FONT]

Assuming (:rolleyes:) the vet knows what she's talking about, real 'deershot' (aka buckshot) is anything from 6mm to 9.1mm (No. 4 to 000) in diameter, and projectiles like that <sarcasm> obviously couldn't have been discharged by anything other than a legally held shotgun in the hands of an eeeevil hunter. </sarcasm>
There have been plenty of documented cases of scumbags shooting all sorts of wildlife/pets with BB/pelletguns and leaving them to die a lingering death, so I'm a little surprised (but not much :mad:) that it's immediately assumed to be the work of a 'hunter.'

That said, I hold no truck for anyone (hunter or otherwise) who leaves a wounded animal to die without making a sincere and determined effort to finish it off.

Vegeta

Hezz700 wrote:

I worked with a so called vegan once who did'nt have a problem wearing leather shoes. In my book that would fall under the heading of hypocritical.

I would have to agree with you.

Usually we are told how cruel and sick we are, yet the majority of people have no problem eating meat from an animal imprisoned all its life, force fed or fed food to make it gain weight. They wear leather, use eggs, butter, milk. Most farmed animals suffer just as "cruel" a death as the anmals i shoot, but of course i'm the gun weilding nutter.

I have no respect for nature, it doesn't matter that i raise duck and pheasant every year to keep their numbers up or that i try to control vermin so that more species of animal can survive together in the country side. I release more birds than i shoot but all that is pointless cos i am a blood hungry cave man.

When i do shoot animals and eat them, again i am in the wrong, i should have had meat from a farmed animal? I don't know why exactly but they seem against shooting but not farming. I am a simpleton, i'll do what i'm told.

Sparks

A HUNTER with a legally held shotgun is suspected of being responsible for seriously injuring two pet cats, prompting outrage from animal welfare groups.
The cats managed to make their way to a house in Slane, Co Meath, and the occupant took them to local vet Frances Harvey. She described the shooting as "wanton, willy-nilly target practice by somebody who simply didn't care what harm they did."
"To shoot the cats and then leave them with such injuries is simply appalling," she said. "These pellets were deershot, I believe, and would have been bought in a cartridge for use in a licensed shotgun.
"Both cats underwent surgery to remove the pellets."

A letter written to the Indo asking how the vet was able to link a pellet found in a feral cat to a piece of paper issued by the gardai might be in order here.

I mean, a few years ago, some so-and-so tied a firework to my pet cat's tail, but the vet wasn't able to tell if it had been a licenced explosive or not from the (fatal) damage it caused :rolleyes:

Somehow I suspect that the CABS people might be behind that one.

(BTW, pro/anti discussion aside, whoever shot the cat is due a good kicking. If you're going to shoot an animal, do the job properly and humanely, for pity's sake).

CABS?

I presume we are not talking about the criminal assets bureau here!

Who are they?

CJhaughey

I think Sparks is referring to the Council against Blood sports.
Also if the allegedly shot cats were indeed pets as opposed to Feral cats then somebody is acting unlawfully, but you know, I see many many examples of lazy journo's simply recycling stories that appear on boards and I have no reason to believe any different especially given this papers track record.
BUT for those that don't already know it, IT IS YOUR DUTY TO FINISH OFF ANY ANIMAL THAT YOU SHOOT.
edit: have to say they must be some tough cats to cope with deershot 6-9mm.

Sparks

ICABS. The Irish Council Against Blood Sports. Not anti-gun per se but definitely anti-hunting, and rather militant about it. They have very active letter-writing campaigns to all the regional and national papers and tend to get far more column inches than their numbers would suggest as a result.

You know, you'd think we'd take a leaf from their book and promote ourselves even more aggressively...

cushtac

There was also an article in The Star about cat shooting too.

Rew

Silly season... Members have let me know in the past that lazy jurno's do read the board here fishing for easy stories. They have contacted a few people and quoted back posts (normally out of context).

Hezz700

Sparks wrote:

You know, you'd think we'd take a leaf from their book and promote ourselves even more aggressively...

Their hobby/interest is all about writing angry letters,its what they do to flesh out their dull lives. we on the other hand have an actual hobby that requires you to listen and learn, develop skills, understand the envoirnment etc etc etc. we should'nt have to defend that???
What, if anything could you say to somone in the anti's camp that would help them see the light? "Nothing" i reckon!.

Hezz.

Sparks

we should'nt have to defend that?

In a better world, we shouldn't have to. In this one... well, go read the latest Firearms Act.

What, if anything could you say to somone in the anti's camp that would help them see the light? "Nothing" i reckon!.

You'd be correct. You'd also be missing the point of the exercise. Writing letters to newspapers is not to change an anti's mind. If you wanted to do that, you'd write to them personally. Writing letters to newspapers is to change the minds of those who are as-of-yet undecided before they decide to side with the anti's since they don't hear anything from our side (and obviously, since we're saying nothing, the anti's must be correct, no?).

Example: last time the ICABS wrote anti-shooting stuff in a paper was when a woman was hit with a spent .22 round in the head several miles from the shooter, standing in the middle of a tesco carpark in the midlands. We wrote back a reasonably good letter to the paper explaining, not to ICABS, but to the general public that that wasn't a reason to go banning people.

garmac

Its in the sodding Mirror too. Christ how did they manage to get that kind of coverage. Sell the story so the shelter could get a few yo-yo's??

Sparks

Getting coverage for that kind of story in a tabloid is easy garmac, it's exactly what they're looking for. Simple emotions, cute furry animal, evil minority group with dangerous weapons. Sells itself to their main demographic.

Hezz700

Sparks wrote:

In a better world, we shouldn't have to. In this one... well, go read the latest Firearms Act.


You'd be correct. You'd also be missing the point of the exercise. Writing letters to newspapers is not to change an anti's mind. If you wanted to do that, you'd write to them personally. Writing letters to newspapers is to change the minds of those who are as-of-yet undecided before they decide to side with the anti's since they don't hear anything from our side (and obviously, since we're saying nothing, the anti's must be correct, no?).

Example: last time the ICABS wrote anti-shooting stuff in a paper was when a woman was hit with a spent .22 round in the head several miles from the shooter, standing in the middle of a tesco carpark in the midlands. We wrote back a reasonably good letter to the paper explaining, not to ICABS, but to the general public that that wasn't a reason to go banning people.

I got your point alright, it was well put. I was just ranting. Any fair minded indvidual know there's two sides to every story. thing is, most people love misery and bad news. Its what they remember, so what can you say to capture the imagination of Joe Public?

Hezz:(

Sparks

what can you say to capture the imagination of Joe Public?

How about our bringing home a gold medal from "the Brits" last week? You'd be surprised how you can get positive stuff written with a slant into a lot of papers.

garmac

I'll hang on to todays tabloids in case I run out of kittensoft!!!!!!!!!!!:D


Sorry...............Couldn't resist it.

Clare gunner

Think a few emails to animalrescue for more details and a call to said jouro in the Indo about who what when where etc.Might get some answers or if this is plant stories has a tendency to shut them up Very quickly. I have had two of them In Limerick,pheasents being shot in march in Dromoland,sawn off shotguns being tested on swans.A few calls enquiring for details off named persons and writers,produces intresting results ...dead silence.
BTW was there any pics in the mirror,etc of said injured kitties???If there was a chance of those and a genuine story there should be pics.

cushtac

Clare gunner wrote:

Think a few emails to animalrescue for more details and a call to said jouro in the Indo about who what when where etc.Might get some answers or if this is plant stories has a tendency to shut them up Very quickly.

The next headline will read 'gun nuts harrass journos & animal lovers'.

Clare gunner

Well Cushtac.
If you are going to be branded a bast"£d.Might as well act like one.:rolleyes:

cantona

Went down to Slane over weekend and asked around about cats.No-one
that I talked to knew what I was on about.Didn't get a chance to talk to the vet.Apparently about 12 months ago there was a pet cat found dead from probable gunshot but nothing this week.
Another urban legend in the making or maybe dis-information?

garmac

The article in the mirror had a picture of the x-ray too. Only one pellet, quite large dead centre of the cats spine. Just seemed a bit odd to me. Struck me as maybe more of a lucky shot with a bb gun?
Can't upload the scan of the article for some reason but it had the animal shelters e-mail address in it too. Might drop them a line.........