Cats shot by neighbour

It's a grey area AFAIK. "Domestic" cats are protected but feral cats are not explicitly protected and what the demarcation between is not clear.

No one is on the "other" side and people will ask because no-one here, I assume, goes and shoots cats but I do know that this has come up before and no definitive answer has ever been given.

Uncontrolled cats are an absolute nightmare for many people.

If you can not control your pets you should not have them

I suppose the way to approach it is from the other side, they're not specifically noted as being vermin, therefore fall under the 'protection of animals act'.

That would be my take on it anyway. Otherwise you'd need to list every mammal in Ireland under the act to note it as being protected.

Far simpler just to reference a list of the mammals actually considered vermin.

You have to wonder at people advocating cruelty against animals, seems to be the very worst thing a person could do. Up there with abusing children.

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If you look at the previous page you might find you are thread banned. So how about keeping it up and go for a full site ban.

I didn't talk about "various predators" though. I only mentioned cats.

Though actually if you include actions by humans that harm birds indirectly, like hedgerow loss and the massive loss of insect life due to intensive agriculture practices, I'd be willing to bet that there is not a single other predator of birds that kills even half the numbers of birds that die as a result of humans.

I was out running one day car full young lads passed me did a u turn came back after me and shot me with a pellet gun, rang partner who followed the car, rang guards told them had reg and were following the car and they did nothing. Few weeks later they rang me back and said they spoke with car owner and occupants and that was that. Don’t hold your breath.

Awful situation but what they shot you with was not an air rifle from the sounds of things so probably not an actual firearm like in the OPs case.

A number of videos of cats on Youtube wearing gopros but you have to be lucky 24/7/365, that 2 legged vermin only has to be lucky once.

But you can get gps modules for cats (again, a bit bulky, matchbox sized. But then, you already know who it is.

Sorry, farming background here, landowner, but if any of the (potential, but currently grand ppl) f*cks we sold sites to harmed an animal like that, it would be one of those pivotal moments in their life. And mine. You couldn't tolerate that kind of nihilism.

In tightly packed semi-d housing estates, ie much of Ireland, cats wandering into gardens is no doubt problematic. Particularly with small infants and toddlers re hygiene. Owners should be conscious of where their cat is.

But in more rural areas, if someone harmed your cat like that, it would not end well. Even a dog poisoned in the case of sheep worrying, its just a very blunt instrument and it may very well get answered. Life happens.

What an incredibly facetious response. You did notice I didn’t use the phrase ‘legal responsibility’ right? But if you want to go down that route - the Animal Health and Welfare Act explicitly states that all owners of protected animals must ensure that their animals do not cause a nuisance and do not cause harm to another animal. Neither of these responsibilities can be upheld if your cat is roaming unsupervised.

Similarly, the EU Birds and Habitats Directive also makes free roaming of domestic cats forbidden and indeed, the slow enforcement of this directive (despite Ireland being beholden to EU Environmental Law) is a shameful oversight on the part of the Government - and especially the Greens. However, the last time I looked into it, there was some progress and I expect a public info campaign to kick-off sooner rather than later.

At a fundamental level, no nature- or animal-lover should ever be comfortable with the notion of their cat (or any pet) causing harm to another animal or, being put at risk because of crazies, as described by OP, shooting them off their property.

Having active responsibility for your pets shouldn’t need enforcement.

I think you lost me when you said this "unfortunately cats are a gray area when it comes to vermin" cats are NOT vermin.

Indeed.

I have a fox that visits my back garden almost every night, in my mid-terrace Dublin suburban home, and I have to wash my car weekly due to bird poop. I've seen squirrels, hedgehogs and rabbits in my garden too, and I'm sure there are other rodents, all of whom will leave presents behind them, but it's only cats that are seen as causing a "nuisance".