CHICAGO (AFP) — Animal lovers in Texas are in a flap over the case of a prominent bird-watcher on trial for killing a stray cat.
On one side of the courtroom are the bird lovers, who say Jim Stevenson was protecting endangered species which had fallen prey to cats gone wild on the beaches of Galveston, an off of the Texas coast island in the Gulf of Mexico.
On the other side are the feline fanatics who see Stevenson as the murderer of a beloved pet.
Stevenson, who is the founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society and runs a bed and breakfast catering to bird watchers, has advocated killing stray cats in order to protect the endangered birds which roost on the island, the Houston Chronicle reported.
"What really bothers me, this cat was down there killing endangered species of birds and others protected by law," Stevenson told the Chronicle.
Stevenson admits that he shot the cat with a .22 caliber rifle in November 2006, and several others which wandered onto his property. But he says he never would have done it if he knew the cat in question was toll-bridge worker John Newland's pet.
His lawyers are hoping that argument could be enough to get him cleared of animal cruelty charges which -- at the time of the shooting -- only prohibited killing cats "belonging to another."
The law was changed in September in response to the outcry over the death of the stray dubbed "Mama Cat" by the toll bridge worker who fed her and several others living under the bridge. It now protects all cats.
While bird watchers have set up a fund to help pay Stevenson's bills and hailed him as a hero on their blogs, local cat lovers are hoping he'll get a punishment fitting the crime.
He faces up to two years in jail and a 10,000 dollar fine.
"This man blatantly went out onto a public beach and discharged a firearm and shot a cat," said Kathi Richardson, who volunteers with several cat rescue groups.
"To him they're a scrounge on society," she told AFP, explaining that the feral cats were needed to help control the island's rodent population and that birds face far greater threats from pollution and a loss of habitat than they do from cats.
Though Stevenson's tactics were not appropriate, his concern about the impact of stray cats was valid, said Steve Holmer, a spokesman for the American Bird Conservancy.
"The problem is there's an estimated 60 to 100 million of these feral cats in the US," he said in a telephone interview.
"There is a natural order but unfortunately cats aren't part of that natural order -- they are an invasive species."
Programs which trap, neuter and release feral cats are not sufficient to protect vulnerable birds, he said, and leaving them to fend for themselves can be another form of cruelty.
"The most important thing is that the cats are treated humanely," he said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
