GranderTheGander
Songster
- Feb 3, 2021
- 336
- 595
- 201
Personally, I let the cats handle any rodents that come out of the canal and go under the house. The cats do the best job of natural rodent control. They don't even have to kill them. They just have to stalk them. I also don't think domesticated animals have a superior right to exist over wild animals. It's up to the pet owner to keep the pets safe.But that is EXACTLY the point. There is a HUGE difference between a pet and a wild/feral animal. I'm all about pet dogs ... but if you have a pack of feral dogs running around, they need to be put down. Farm pigs, great. Some people even have pet pigs, great. Feral pigs ... not great. Pet rat, great. Feed it, shelter it, hold it. Don't feed wild rats and if they enter the zone of your house/coop, kill them.
Would you consider a person with a pet rat a hypocrite for killing wild rats that are attacking their chickens or getting into their house?
Feeding wild raccoons is dangerous to them and to people. It's not at all hypocritical to treat wild animals and pet animals differently.
Lots of you here are obviously in rural areas and have such things as feral dogs packs, whereas some of us are in more developed areas with less threats. I'm surrounded by water and have been observing raccoons for decades. I don't see them as threatening as some of you obviously do.
For example, they're not as big a threat as bears, alligators, coyotes, etc. Nor can they squeeze into small spaces like rodents and get into houses, although they can get into attics with vents or chimneys Once again, though, the home owner needs to prevent that from happening before it happens. The raccoons here co-exist with cats, opossums and red foxes, and are terrified of dogs. Some of them are also obviously terrified of Canadian geese that are on land at night.
Finally, I simply do not understand how someone with a domestic or domesticated bird or animal can have no concerns for it's wild counterpart. I will never understand that.