Manatee County violates spirit of animal abuse law when freeing cats back into wild

Cats cause a concern for nesting beach birds? LOL. Gee, what a surprise. NOT.

Many of us have been screaming for years about these do-gooders who give domesticated cats that roam free a special pass, calling them feral. For years many of us have been urging people to stop giving people that let their cats free outside a free pass and punish them and capture their "pets" to stop the terror that they do to wildlife.

The county policy changed and now if they can't find a domestic home to place the domestic cat, they return it to place of origin by opening the cage door and setting them free.

If you or I do that, it's called animal abuse, If you have the county's blessing, it's called returning the cat to its feral community.

Cats are not wildlife, They -- like dogs, exotic snakes and monkeys -- are domestic pets. Just as you can't let your pet boa into the wild, for all the same reasons domestic cats should be kept inside and not given a new name, feral, and allowed to roam free.

Let's just call all the boas devastating the Everglades ecosystem feral.

Scott B. Scoville

Bradenton

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County violates spirit of animal abuse law when freeing cats back into wild ."