Legalize shooting wild cats? No, Wisconsin governor says
BY RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. - A proposal to legalize the killing of feral cats is not going to succeed, Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday.
''I don't think Wisconsin should become known as a state where we shoot cats,'' said Doyle, a Democrat who neither hunts nor owns a cat. ``What it does is sort of hold us up as a state that everybody is kind of laughing at right now.''
He said his office had received calls from around the country denouncing a proposal adopted Monday at meetings of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, a public advisory group, that would classify wild, free-roaming cats as an unprotected species that kills song birds and other wildlife. Outdoor enthusiasts approved the proposal 6,830 to 5,201 at hearings of the group.
The results get forwarded to the state Natural Resources Board for consideration, but any official action would have to be passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor.
Animal rights groups called the idea inhumane.
Doyle said he respects the Conservation Congress but ``on this one I think everybody recognizes it's not going anywhere.''
Some experts estimate 2 million wild cats roam Wisconsin. The state says studies show feral cats kill 47 million to 139 million songbirds a year.
South Dakota and Minnesota allow wild cats to be shot.
State Sens. Scott Fitzgerald and Neil Kedzie had vowed to do all they could to keep the plan from becoming law
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