Should I try and kill this bobcat?

[Betsy57]

My cats were in last night at 5 pm thankfully and one was sitting on the cat tree looking outside. I heard him growling and wondered whassup. He was looking/growling at a bobcat at the fence of my chicken/duck pen 50' from the house picking out his dinner. Uff da! I went running out like crazy and chased it off into the woods (I was just in the woods looking for morels). I've lost critters before due to wild animals (coons, possums, coyotes, owls) and knew I had bobcats out here but this is the closest I've seen one. I have electric fence and razor wire around my chicken yards but critters still get over it. I hate to keep my ducks/chickens in but I guess I will for a few days until I calm down. I never thought I'd have to contend with bobcats in the Shawnee National Forest but they're getting to be quite numerous around here. I'm keeping my cats in too

 

[igorsMistress]

No, you shouldn’t kill the cat. You moved to where it lives, not the cats fault. You let your chickens out, not the cats fault. Keep your chickens in a run to protect them.

 

[638858]

Kill it.. don’t try... just do it.. don’t ask for permission or support from strangers on the internet.. sounds like it should have already been done.. zero tolerance is the mindset you should have.. and kill every predator that comes back, stray dogs, feral cats, bobcats, coons, feral hogs, ringtail cats, coyotes... it takes time but It works.. I kill every animal that’s not mine that enters my perimeter fence.. before they get to my birds, rabbits or grandkids..

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Yeah, if you see it again then shoot it. If you don't want to then just don't. What does it matter what we think.

 

[cece_chickens]

This is the second year my chickens have been attacked by a local bobcat living in the woods behind out house. We like to free range our chickens, even though we only do so in the afternoon to cut down on the amount of time they're vulnerable. Last February the cat took Meridah, our favorite chicken, who was as sweet and affectionate as I've ever seen.

This year the cat is back at its old hunting ground (our back woods). Just last weekend my wife literally saw the bobcat through our window carrying one of our chickens in our side yard, and I ran out and chased it off in time to scare it away and make it drop the chicken. She's currently recuperating (I coated her generously with Neosporin and Vetermicyn for several days), but she's still not using one leg and I'm concerned about whether she'll make it.

A second chicken seemed to have fled from the cat and seemed largely unharmed at the time, but is now seemingly in shock, refusing to eat or drink much at all, and seems too weak to walk (even though she literally ran 100 yards back to the coop when we finally found her hiding under a log right after the attack).

I'm worried about these two chickens and their chances at recovery, and I'm frankly pissed at this cat. This is the second year it's been killing and harming our chickens, and now the chickens can only free range for a couple hours a day (if they're lucky and we have time to directly supervise them).

So I'm wondering - should I try and kill this cat? I called the state and they said they won't do anything, and that I'm not legally allowed to trap the thing without a trapper license. However, I have the rifle for it and I'm legally allowed to kill it.

But I'm interested in some other opinions on whether this would be morally or ethically justified to do. I understand predators have a right to exist too. But don't my chickens deserve to free range as well? How many animals do these cats bring a terrifying, agonizing death in their lives? Hundreds? Thousands? I'm starting to feel I owe it to my chickens to remove the threat and allow them to live and free range in broad daylight again.

So what do you all think? Should I try and kill the cat, or just let nature takes its course?

I would trap it or kill it… the bobcat is just getting easy meals from your chickens. Bobcats have many other things they can eat like wild rabbits. Also it knows that there is good food now so it might bring a mate and that will cause more bobcats…

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Yeah, if you see it again then shoot it. If you don't want to then just don't. What does it matter what we think.

... If it is legal.

 

[TexasTurkeyMama]

We trapped three bobcats and multiple raccoons. The bobcats were eating our turkeys out of their roosting tree. The raccoons were reaching through chicken wire and slats in the coops. We no longer trap because we no longer have turkeys roosting in trees and the coops' wire has been replaced with hardware cloth. We consider our trapping days to be on the job training in how to make the poultry safe overnight, and reasonably safe in the daylight. If we need to trap again we will do so.

 

[Hazy]

My own darn cat is a bugger for killing my young chickens, I put a Hotwire around their coup and the cat stays well away. We don't have bears, racoons or bobcats here in New Zealand but I would certainly love to see them. I also live my chickens, give the Hotwire a shot. I use a portable electric fence unit, runs on batteries.

 

[Adolph Otto]

You really need to decide for yourself. Asking a question like that on a public forum invariably ends up with half the replies yay, and half, nay. After all the responses, you're exactly where you started.

 

[ashcons]

I don't have any qualms about eliminating predators through traps + SSS or just SSS.

I also know (from my experience, others, and common sense) that if I were to free-range my birds, I'm going to lose some of them to said predators because everything loves chicken dinner. The only way to win that war is to keep the birds in a predator-proof enclosure and maintain vigilance in the predator-proof part.