Revenge of a Plover Lover

I haven't mentioned it yet in my blog, but this last year Jim Stevenson of the Galveston Ornithological Society made national headlines by shooting a lame feral cat that was hunting endangered Piping Plovers. The bridge worker, John Newland, saw him gun the cat down and called the police. He was arrested for animal cruelty. At the time of the shooting, it was not illegal to shoot feral animals (the law has since been changed because of this incident). The hitch was, the bridge worker, John Newland, claimed that the cats were his because he fed them, and it is illegal to shoot someone's pet.

So the case went to trial, and the jury was deadlocked, so the judge declared a mistrial. The DA's office decided not to re-try the case, so Stevenson was as good as off the hook. This made world-wide news in the cat fancier and birder circles and a bitter rift between the two was torn even further. A few weeks later, an attempt was made on Stevenson's life and he fled the state of Texas.

(There is a very long, well written article about the whole series of events from the New York Times here: Kill the Cat that Kills the Bird?, if you're interested in more of the details.)

But now the tables have turned. According to the Galveston County News, John Newland is cited and could face a fine of up to $500 for breaking a city ordinance forbidding anyone to own more than 4 cats. He said they were his cats in open court, so he's pretty much estopped to the ownership of them. So here's the lesson of the day... don't feed stray cats unless you want to assume full legal responsibility for them! Thanks to BirdChick for bringing this to my attention.

Read the full story here