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Animal rights activists joined with hunters Monday during hearings across Wisconsin in suggesting reasons to shoot down a proposal to legalize the killing of feral cats.

Fear among hunters that the proposal would tarnish their image, already hurt by a painful debate over a mourning dove hunt, prompted enough questions during discussions preceding an advisory vote to leave the outcome uncertain.

Final results are expected sometime today.

Emotional debate heated up proceedings in packed meeting halls in Greenfield, Waukesha, Cedarburg and Madison, as local representatives of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress met to elect new delegates and discuss conservation and wildlife issues.

The most controversial topic was Question 62, a proposal to take feral cats off the protected species list, making them eligible to be shot like possums and skunks when they become a nuisance. Currently all cats are protected under state laws that prohibit cruelty to domestic animals.

"It is not the intention to open a hunting season (on cats)," Al Shook, a Waukesha County representative to congress, told about 500 people at the Waukesha County Exposition Center.

Feral cats are hurting populations of songbirds, game birds and other small animals, he said. Feral cats are non-native invasive species that compete with owls and hawks for the same food and can spread disease to other animals and humans, he said.

The proposal drew harsh criticism from several Waukesha County veterinarians who said that cat shootings already are a problem, and that the proposed law change would only increase the carnage.

Randy Schuett, a vet and a Town of Mukwonago farm owner, said he did not want his barn cats hunted and killed.

"Every time you shoot at a cat and think you've killed it, you're wrong," Schuett said. "I'm tired of patching up these animals."

Currently it is illegal to shoot cats, Al Phelan of the DNR said before the meetings.

Waukesha psychologist Amy Schley said the idea of having a discussion about shooting cats was incredible to her.

"Mistakes will be made and I'll have to explain to the owners of Fluffy or Mittens why their pets were gunned down," Schley said.

Milwaukee County delegate Jim Wrolsted urged hunters to vote against the proposal.

"We're not the slaughterers out there in the woods that some people think we are," Wrolsted said.

# posted by Medical Information : 5:29 AM