What do you do with the bodies?

[CoopmasterK]

There is a huge wildlife refuge about 20 minutes from me. Anytime I trap a coon or possum I call them and they say I'm welcome to release the animal there. I haven't had any poultry deaths or caught any varmint in the act of attacking my birds, but if I do have to shoot one I'll just throw the carcass in the empty lot across the street and our local buzzard population will enjoy a nice lunch.

 

[citrusdreams]

Everything, including marauding dogs, goes to the back of the property in the woods and gets for the coyotes and buzzards. There's no sense in wasting it IMOHO

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Releasing stray cats is a bad idea really.

JUST as bad IMO, as releasing a problem raccoon onto somebody else's property. Heck I think cats multiply faster.

I released the first half-wild cat that I caught, but I finally worked up enough nerve to shoot the second. Funny, I haven't caught another since

The cat population was booming when we moved into this neighborhood ---- and thanks to the person across the street who feeds half-wild unaltered cats on her front porch it's REALLY booming now. I don't mind a few outdoor cats to keep the rodents away, have 2 myself (both fixed) but when the population is doubling every spring.....

If we had a TNR (trap neuter release) program I would SO use it so she could keep her cats without them multiplying.

Oh well, come spring there'll be 3 to replace the one I shot.

 

[firedove]

Everything that dies here goes over the rock wall at the back of the property, no matter how it died. Any number of predators take away whatever I put out there, in the winter too, though it takes longer for the body to disappear in the winter since the predators often have to stumble upon it since they don't smell so much when they are frozen. For the amount of things I have put over that wall over the years, you wouldn't know it, not a shred of evidence is ever left after a while.

That said, if one of the cats or dogs died they would be buried with respect or cremated at a facility, not thrown over the wall

 

[firedove]

Quote:
Releasing stray cats is a bad idea really.

I very much second that! It is better to put a feral down than release it into a new territory. Better still is to get it fixed and release it back into your environment. If you take ferals out of an environment by killing them or trapping and moving, you leave a hole in the ecosystem that will first cause a boom in the prey those ferals usually take care of, and then will attract in other predators to take their place. If you TNR ferals their population will slowly and naturally decline as there are no new kittens to replace older stock that dies off. Then the ecosystem of your area will slowly retake that space.

Also, feral cats are very territorial and releasing a feral into a brand new place where they may encounter another feral colony is often a death sentence for them anyways, except it will be a slow painful death from fighting, infection, and/or starvation as the established cats will not allow them to hunt.

Finally, as Tala mentioned, you are putting the problem on someone else. I have a friend who's neighborhood got together and got all their ferals and house pets fixed only to have people dump more cats in their area because, presumably, they saw barns and figured it was a good place to dump off a cat. Cats can travel many miles from where you dump them and eventually they will be bothering someone new.

Do yourself, the cat, and everyone else a favor and either neuter/release (best) or put it down.