I..............have witnessed something,

[Plantslikebugs]

The only illegal part is that he shot a shotgun, or so you say. Any type of rifle that isnt spring powered, air powered, or CO2 powered is illegal. The law for America is that any weapon that uses gunpowder must be 200 yards from the house. I took care of the bluejay population at my house with my bb gun.... hehehe...
At any rate, as far as I see it, the only wild animal a cat should eat is one that it killed itself. And your father is right. You do not have enough evidence, sadly.

About the magpie, I am very soprry to hear taht. I dont think I have ever seen a magpie around my house.

 

[Clint]

do you eat meat? well, then you shouldn't be so disturbed.

you should watch "meet your meat" on peta.org

 

[Finch]

Quote[/b] ]The only illegal part is that he shot a shotgun, or so you say. Any type of rifle that isnt spring powered, air powered, or CO2 powered is illegal. The law for America is that any weapon that uses gunpowder must be 200 yards from the house. I took care of the bluejay population at my house with my bb gun.... hehehe...

ANother law for america is that every bird exept introduced species are protected under sate and federal law, and may not be shot/ and or expoited (eggs collected, caught for pets, etc)

rattler_mt, i sort of understand your problem with the magpies.
may i note that eye injurys are not fatal unless infected

Quote[/b] ]to killing a bird that has never been nor prolly never will be close to extinction......i have no problems

Yor sort of right. It depends on where you live. The yelow-billed magpie is restricted to california, and past attemps to eliminate the species have caused drastic historic declines it. the species has been slowly recovering, but its not anywhere near historic levels.

Corvids ( the family that includes crows, magpies, ravens, and bluejays) are expecially succeptible to west-nile virus.

 

[firewired]

Hey Starman.  I'm sorry you had to witness the magpie being shot.  I am an animal lover, and don't like to see anything get killed for any reason.  Magpies are such beautiful birds.  We have quite a few of them out here around our house in the country.  They are not killer birds, and don't go around killing baby calves.  They do tend to hang around the cows and horses, and will even sit on their backs.  They are not harming them, but helping them by eating the flies that land on their backs.  

As for the man that shot the bird, what goes around comes around.

 

[firewired]

Quote[/b] ]Rattler, I understand what you're saying, but I really think what the man did was wrong. If he had the common sense and compassion that he seems to have for his cat, he'd learn how to be a better shot so he might actually kill the magpie instantly instead of making it suffer. And cripes, why does the cat need a bird?! The dude has enough money for a gun. Seems like he should have enough money for cat food. That bird was not for his cat.

I don't care what you're used to or how you feel towards birds, what he did was cruel and unnecessary.

I will agree with that one too. First of all, you shouldn't be shooting in city limits. That's endangering many people. It is also cruel and unnecessary. Why would you do this when someone is watching anyway.....

I would venture a guess that his cat would be just fine with cat food. Some people don't seem to ever look at animals as having a life, or a spirit. How do you value one animal's life over another?

 

[Starman]

What I dont get is, why did he shooot the bird when he has enough money for cat food?
I want to share something with you all.
This poem is called the rhime of the ancient mariner.

Rhime of the Ancient Mariner
by
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

An ancient seaman meets three fellows on their way to a
wedding feast, and delays one of them to tell his intriguing
story. He explains how his ship, blown off course by a violent storm, ended up heading towards the south pole. Then the vessel is surrounded by ice, an albatross appears and is greeted joyfully by the crew as a good omen. The ice splits and the bird accompanies the ship untill the seaman inexplicably shoots it. For this act of pointless cruelty, the ship is cursed and she is driven north to the equator and becalmed under the blazing sun and the rotting sea. As the bird begins to rot, a skeleton ship approaches, crewed by Death and Life-in-Death; the grisly pair are playing dice, and when the vessel dissapears all the crew die, leaving the seaman as the sole survivor.As a punishment, the albatross
is hung around the seamans neck.For seven days and nights
the seaman is cursed by the stares of the deceased untill suddenly,while watching the beuaty of the water snakes in the moonlight, he blesses them, and the albatross falls from his neck. Miraculasly, the dead crew are resurrected and the ship sails home. When it is within sight of land, it suddenly sinks, taking the bodies of the dead crew with it. The seaman is saved, but as a punishment he is condemmed to travel from land to land continually retteling his poignant story, so that others may show love and respect for all Gods creatures.

Must I say more?

 

[Starman]

The poem above is similar to what I witnessed.
A bird gets shot for food.(that fact gets found out later)

 

[Clint]

how do we know he had enough money for cat food? either way, if he can't afford food for his cat, he shouldn't havea cat.

 

[rattler]

sorry Finch on the close to extinction part, when i think of magpies i just think of the common variety that has been in good numbers nomater what part of the west i have been to. i wasnt thinking about subspecies.

Rattler

 

[Finch]

It ok. Magpies are mostly abundant in the west.

Yellow billed is also a full species, but in my veiw, it should be a subspecies.

 

[FlytrapGurl]

Although I guess I could understand shooting something for pure hatred of it. I hate squirells with a burning passion for every possible reason. If I had a BB gun, I'd shoot them every chance I had if they were in the back yard.

But I don't see what a magpie could do that could give someone enough hatred to randomely shoot it.

 

[droseradude]

you need a gas powered automatic soft air gun

 

[FlytrapGurl]

..do what??

 

[Clint]

i think it just knocks it around without hurting it.

like an air cannon? i'm just guessing here

 

[FlytrapGurl]

O...k.

How far away will this gas powered automatic soft air gun you speak of have effect?

Take me to your leader.. !

 

[droseradude]

uh.... actually my parents only let me get the electric and pistol ones (plus a bb gun) but at close range (10/15 feet) Im sure they can be deadly to squirrels especially if you use metal airsoft bbs. It would work better to get a daisy powerline 'sniper' the huge one that fires metal pellets, or just a regular bb gun (like those red rider kinds). this way if you miss, they won't notice. With an auto firin weapon, you'lll scare them. (if you snipe at things with an AK47 they'll notice, but with a sniper they won't) These should work, but I learned from my uncle that when he shot rats with it they just bounced off.

 

[tree terror]

why dont you chuck stones lol

 

[droseradude]

I have another idea.... blowguns
and powerline sling shots.

 

[superimposedhope]

This goes from cruelty for shooting a bird to best way to brutally kill a squirrel. Chucking stones? I don't care for squirrels either but Do you know what a good sling shot and a rock will do to a small animal? Personally I don't shoot the animal itself when being a pest, I instead shoot for effect. Scaring them a couple times usually gets the point across.

Joe

 

[FlytrapGurl]

I hurl stones at them every day. Still haven't hit a one. Crap.

Joe, just scaring them does nothing for these Florida squirells. They figure out very quickly that a noise doesn't hurt them if they don't get hurt by it when it comes. Trust me, I've tried popping ballons. It worked for, like, one day. Then they figured out it doesn't hurt them, and they ignored it. I then tried this thing my mom gave me... you carry it on your belt and it someone attacks you you pull the pin from the top and it makes a noise like all get-out so everyone for miles around knows. I tried pulling it around the squirells, and it worked. For, like, one day. Then they figured out it doesn't hurt them and they ignored it.

I have no other option, Joe. They're to smart for loud noises. There's also blasting them with the hose, which they HATE. It doesn't stop them for more than a few minutes, but it's super fun!!

Hoseblastin' vermins on a Saturday afternoon. YEE-HAW!