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Most of America's hunting enthusiasts can only dream of the day when they bag a big cat and mount its head on their living room walls. There is a possibility, however, that soon they will have the chance to track tabbies and toms. And in Wisconsin rather than Africa.

The Midwestern state, better known for its beer and cheese, is in the throes of an impassioned debate about a proposal to authorise hunters, farmers and anyone else who owns a gun to take to the countryside and begin discharging their cartridges in the direction of unsuspecting cats.

The feline controversy erupted earlier this week after meetings across the state of a citizens' advisory group called the Wisconsin Conservation Congress. Its members voted by 6,830 votes to 5,201 on Monday to endorse a proposal tabled by a fireman from La Crosse County to legalise the shooting of feral cats.

Wisconsin has a genuine problem. According to some estimates there are no fewer than two million undomesticated cats roaming its lands and their favourite dish is songbirds. Indeed, state officials suggest that the wild cats are merciless hunters, killing between 47 million and 139 million birds a year.

This is enough to have persuaded the fireman, Mark Smith, that the time has come to strike back at the furry predators. His proposal states that Wisconsinites should be able to shoot feral cats just as they can gophers and skunks. The animals at risk would be cats not wearing collars and not under the direct control of an owner.

The Congress is expected formally to approve the vote result in May and then forward its proposal to the state government for consideration. Normally speaking, that would result in a Bill going before the state legislature for signing thereafter by the Governor.

But so far as the Governor, Jim Doyle, is concerned the idea is one for the birds. If a Bill comes his way, he asserted this week, he will refuse to put his pen to it. 'I don't think Wisconsin should become known as a state where we shoot cats,' he said. 'What it does is sort of hold us up as the state that everybody is laughing at right now.'

The legions of cat-lovers in Wisconsin are distinctly unamused. The packed meetings of the Conservation Congress, in all 72 counties of the state, were attended by twice the usual number of people. Opponents of the anti- cat plan arrived wearing whiskers and carrying stuffed toy cats and pictures of friendly pussies. Many voiced the fear that hunters would not always differentiate between pet and feral cats.

Their alarm can hardly have been eased by Mr Smith, who insists that he is not prejudiced against cats. But he more or less implied that any cat not permanently snuggled on his owner's lap " with collar always attached " will be considered fair prey.

'If you open the door and kick your cat out at night you've changed its status,' he said.

Opponents of the proposal will take heart from the position of America's biggest bird-advocacy group, the Audubon Society. Its representative in Wisconsin, Karen Hale, acknowledged that cats have been responsible for culling song-birds in the state but still voted against the plan on Monday.

'The whole issue of possibly hunting them is so controversial and there has been so much misinformation that we really need a lot more discussion on this issue,' Ms Hale said.

She and other groups suggest trapping and spaying feral cats before releasing them again.

Ted O'Donnell, the owner of a pet shop in Madison, Wisconsin, gathered more than 17,000 signatures ahead of the vote from those appalled by the cat-hunt plan. And, he says, the fight to defeat it has only begun.

'I can assure you that the campaign is undeterred and we will still be working tirelessly to defeat this in whatever form it takes,' he said.

'They have won the day, but they haven't won the final fight. We will keep fighting it at every step of the way.'

# posted by Medical Information : 5:47 AM