Animal lovers protest removal of fleas from UGH

Mrs OBumble

From the Galway Indo site - anyone wanna do a counter protest about the protestors?

HSE West has come under fire for putting down local feral cats, who have been identified as the source of a recent flea outbreak at University Hospital Galway.
....
However, the hospital has been widely criticised by animal lovers for euthanising the cats and efforts are now underway to organise a picket at the gates of University Hospital Galway this Saturday at 1pm.

Ref: http://galwayindependent.com/stories/item/5204/2012-51/UHG-criticised-for-putting-down-feral-cats

honerbright

Why would you want to protest people protesting murder of animals?

galwayrush

Since when has putting down feral cats been deemed murder?

honerbright

they're living things that are being killed through no fault of their own. It's murder. And how is the pest control company going to distinguish between pet cats and strays? Not all pet owners are responsible enough to microchip/put collars on their animals which is how they're apparently going to choose between life and death for those poor cats.

jamesdiver

its not ideal to destroy the cats, but our hospital has to be kept clean and sanitary. If you caught and put the cats in the pound, i doubt they would be rehomed anytime soon, and end up being destroyed anyways. Its for the best.

WallyGUFC

Probably the same professional protestors that made up the Occupy rubbish. Another bandwagon for them I suppose.

dantbyhid

I'd say the rats that would roam around the hospital if the cats are murdered will carry a few more diseases than them. Catch, neuter, treet for possible fleas and return is the only thing that should be done.

docmol

I'd say the rats that would roam around the hospital if the cats are murdered will carry a few more diseases than them. Catch, neuter, treet for possible fleas and return is the only thing that should be done.

That just makes no sense. I unfortunately spend a lot of time in hospital and have never seen a cat!
If cat owners took responsiblilty for their pets, didn't let them roam, neutered them etc., there might be an arguement but culling them is the obvious answer. People are more important then cats.

Storm 10

I walk through the hospital several times a week and recently i saw a cat with what looked like a small rat in its mouth, if you walk around the hospital there are loads of rat traps with posion laid out around the place so no cats lots of vermin. In fairness how could a cat give fleas to hospital staff unless they were in contact with them and they would have to have been in the hospital

Conmaicne Mara

Soap dodging, work shy, dole grabbing, protester g******.



Would I fit all that on a placard?

Someone get their names and report them to Joan Burton, that'll soften their cough.

Gumbi

honerbright wrote: »

they're living things that are being killed through no fault of their own. It's murder. And how is the pest control company going to distinguish between pet cats and strays? Not all pet owners are responsible enough to microchip/put collars on their animals which is how they're apparently going to choose between life and death for those poor cats.

Do you eat meat? Use animal products? If so, by your own logic, you are complicit in the murder of animals.

Ficheall

I thought this was going to be about people protesting against the killing of the fleas, as opposed to about the killing of the cats carrying them :pac:

Cheshire Cat

Rats carry fleas, too. Once the cats are gone mice and rats will have free run of the grounds and the problems will be even bigger!

Mrs OBumble

Ficheall wrote: »

I thought this was going to be about people protesting against the killing of the fleas, as opposed to about the killing of the cats carrying them :pac:

Fleas are sentient beings too: if someone is opposed to the killing to feral cats, then logically they must be opposed to the killing of fleas too.

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

Rats carry fleas, too.

Indeed. And in fact, linking this to the other thread about fleas ... the fleas in Outpatients are most likely due to rats that were displaced from their homes by the SQR roadworks! But of course you cannot have a hospital with rats ... far safer to make a typo and say it was a problem with dats / cats / bats.

Jim

I think what people are missing here is what is being asked is to do what's "reasonable". It is reasonable to have the cats removed, and looked after, and eventually rehomed (there are several organisations in Galway who do this, some of whom don't put the animals down) instead of just killing them outright.

snubbleste

The Big Red Button

Thread title is quite misleading, they're not protesting about fleas being removed, they're protesting about the cats being put down.

Having said that, while I understand they don't want the cats being killed, what's the alternative? Who's going to rehome a feral disease-infested cat? And they can't leave the situtation as it is - it's a hospital, sanitation is of utmost importance.

Instead of protesting, couldn't the animal lovers just bring the feral cats home with them? :P Seems like a more pro-active solution! Can't see that happening somehow though ...

Mrs OBumble

Thread title is quite deliberate, to provoke discussion .... :-)

gozunda

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

Rats carry fleas, too. Once the cats are gone mice and rats will have free run of the grounds and the problems will be even bigger!

Reminds me of what happened during the great Plague in London

'Desperate Measures. By mid July over 1,000 deaths per week were reported in the city. It was rumored that dogs and cats spread the disease, so the Lord Mayor ordered all the dogs and cats destroyed. Author Daniel Defoe in his Journal of the Plague Years estimated that 40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats were killed. The real effect of this was that there were fewer natural enemies of the rats who carried the plague fleas, so the germs spread more rapidly.'

http://www.britainexpress.com/History/plague.htm

....

Jim

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Thread title is quite deliberate, to provoke discussion .... :-)

Discussion? I thought the thread was about jokes, presumptions, and exaggerations.

rowr

The oversupply of cats should mean a welcomed drop in Chinese restaurants menu prices

Conmaicne Mara

There are too many cats in Galway anyway, they'll kill more birds and frogs than rats.

snubbleste

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

There are too many cats in Galway anyway, they'll kill more birds and frogs than rats.

How many cats are there in Galway

Discodog

Killing the cats is ineffective, cruel & unacceptable. For a start it is impossible to differentiate between a pet cat & a feral cat.

The worrying thing is that, so called, experts will have recommended this stupid strategy. They may also be the same "experts" who "identified" the cats as the cause of the fleas.

The only acceptable method of cat control is trap, neuter & release. Cat owners are not legally obliged to control their cats. Anyone deliberately killing any cat could be open to prosecution especially when the new Animal Welfare Bill becomes law.

snubbleste

Does anyone else feel itchy when opening this thread ?

Discodog

Does anyone know who is organising the protest?

BhoscaCapall

Discodog wrote: »

Does anyone know who is organising the protest?

I could guess a few names, usually the same smelly rent a cause wasters.

Discodog

BhoscaCapall wrote: »

I could guess a few names, usually the same smelly rent a cause wasters.

Well I totally supporting the protest & I object to being referred to in such terms.

Just found out that the main objectors are the GSPCA & Dr Claudia Franks. Do you consider them wasters?

rowr

Sure they have another 8 lives left after uchg unlike most of the miserable s dying on trolleys inside there, get a grip people

Mrs OBumble

Discodog wrote: »

The worrying thing is that, so called, experts will have recommended this stupid strategy. They may also be the same "experts" who "identified" the cats as the cause of the fleas.

Has anyone actually seen cats being destroyed?

People seem to have missed the point I made earlier: what is actually being destroyed here may not be cats.

Would you go to a hospital if you knew there were rats there? Would a public building be allowed to stay open if there were rats there?

Think on it ...

Discodog

rowr wrote: »

Sure they have another 8 lives left after uchg unlike most of the miserable s dying on trolleys inside there, get a grip people

If the hospital & HSE can't get something basic, like this, right then it hardly bodes well for the more serious decisions.

Treating the cats humanely doesn't effect the care of patients.