Posters of two neighborhood cats and threats to kill them do not violate criminal code

Deer Run, Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Somebody, a bird lover by the look of it, living in this pleasant south-east quadrant of Calgary is putting up posters containing the photographs of two cats together with an ominous warning:

Threat to kill a cat in a poster
One of the posters on mail box in Deer Run, Calgary. Photo: CTV News Calgary
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“Are these your cats? Please keep them on your property or these bird killers will not be coming home!”

That is an implied threat to kill cats who roam freely in the area. One of the cats on the poster, Tucker, is owned by Karen Megert and quite naturally she is very concerned. She tells the reporter for CTV NEWS CALGARY that the two cats on the poster are not stray cats. Tucker is an indoor cat and he wears a collar. However, sometimes he escapes. It should be stressed, though, that it appears to be her intention to keep Tucker indoors. I would have thought that this would have been satisfactory to local ornithologists who dislike cats.

Threat to kill outside cat in a poster
Left: Karen Megert and Tucker in the middle. Photo: CTV News Calgary

Karen said:

“It worries me completely because I don’t know if someone’s out to really harm my animals.”

She would like to speak to the person who put the posters up. She says that it is a nice neighborhood and people get on well. If a person has a problem with cats she wants them to talk to her to try and resolve the matter. All they have to do, she said, is to knock on her door.

Another resident, Susan Berry, who has lived in the area for nearly two decades was disappointed to see the notices because as Karen said they live in a quiet, family-orientated community. She removed a notice on Thursday morning we are told.

Comment: At least putting up a notice is better than simply shooting cats that are outside which is the preference of some people. However, I would have thought that the poster was very close to being a crime because it is a threat to damage personal property in a strict legal sense. In other words it’s a threat to carry out a crime. Perhaps the police should find out who he is and talk to him.

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7 thoughts on “Posters of two neighborhood cats and threats to kill them do not violate criminal code”

  1. Yet another warning that there are sick individuals out there that will use your cat as the object to vent their internal hatred. Cat haters have latched onto the bird killing like junkies and fail to realize that feral/stray and cats allowed to roam are more likely to kill rodents than birds. Even if you don’t have a cat hanging feeders in safely to make it difficult for predation to happen while feeding is not rocket science. So you see it’s not about the birds it’s once again about cat hating.
    Keep your pet at home. One it is the only way to keep most maniacs away from your pet and two it is disrespectful to assume you have the right to let your pet invade someone else’s property.
    Normal people don’t resort to bloodsport and threats they use the law and prove actual damages.
    Hanging a threat up to kill a pet and that is what this is even though they tried to cleverly avoid a direct threat needs to be investigated. People are seldom deranged on just one level.

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  2. Another thing. Nice colors and tweets aside, birds are some of the nastiest, meanest, most vicious killers on the planet – to EACH OTHER. They kill each other in the air and eat each others eggs. And yet, they survive as a species don’t they? The studies that allegedly show their populations diminished and that cats are to blame don’t take this and other things into consideration, such that the whole animal kingdom is diminishing due to humans decimating habitat, food sources and migration patterns. What if anything do cat haters even say about that? They don’t because it would immune their studies and calculations as to how cats are to blame for it all. I’m so tired of narrow-minded people.

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    • I suspect that any loss of songbirds is as you say directly related to humans and not cats. Animals can adapt to new predators and have to cats for quite sometime. Nothing can defend itself against human encroachment.

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  3. I’ve done the calculations on my own cats as far as the actual danger they are to wild birds, and it’s virtually zero. It’s like telling your neighbor not to drive because they might have an accident. I don’t have the paperwork in front of me but I could do it again. People see or just imagine a cat chasing a bird and they think that’s all they do, when in reality most don’t even bother. And the ones that do, only do it once in awhile and actually catch something less seldom than that. Most of the time it’s just natural exercise for that cat and bird… and if the birds didn’t have something to chase them they’d get lazy and really get caught more often. There’s two sides to everything. Lastly, the occasional bird or rat that does get caught is slower than the others and pulled from the breeding pool. Duh.

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    • Thank you. The hunt does keep prey alert and defensive. It is part of nature. I have always said that the feral cat colony that lived here kept the bird population healthy and rodents under control, along with snakes and rabbits. The fast and the clever lived to breeding age.

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  4. I wonder what bird lovers would think if I were to just start shooting at every bird who decided to stop by my patio and defecate all over my furniture while hanging out. I sure don’t like it and they have caused far more damage to my property than any stray cat ever could but I still respect their right to live. Bird lovers seem to be some of the most obnoxious people possible.

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  5. 1) That’s a mentally disturbed person
    2) It’s premeditated murder
    3) At the very least, and I despise talking about animals as if they’re inanimate beings, someone is warning that they will destroy someone’s private property.

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