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Was this catnapping or rescue?

2K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  lyle 
#1 ·
How far does a cat have to wander before it's a stray? This stray being taken in has led to a court case. It was about a mile away from home when picked up. True it's on a small island in Scotland's Hebrides where the population is under 10,000 (Wikipedia), but case still went to court. Note that the neutering fee is not refundable.

Cat war ends in victory for teenager after judge rules she's rightful owner of feline who went walkabout... not the woman who fed her for six months | Mail Online

As this subject has come up a couple of times on this site, I thought perhaps people would be interested.
 
#2 ·
the cat might not have wandered away if it had been neutered to begin with (or fed enough?). The person who fed him had no way to know where he belonged as far as I can tell, so I don't think its catnapping. From what I understand reading it the caretaker is having medical issues and was not able to plead her case to the court. Seems to me if it appears in your garden and you don't know where it belongs, its not tagged or micro-chipped, or neutered and you neuter it and feed it for 6 months, it should be yours.
 
#3 ·
A delicate situation and "grey" area for sure. I, and other TNR'ers, deal with this on occasion.
I just (today) brought a feral?/stray? cat in to the clinic to be spayed (and tipped). It had been hanging around the house off and on for several weeks. Lately it had started caterwauling and I knew that my time was getting short before there would be more kittens to tend to. So I TNRd her.
I don't intend to keep her of course, but the thought runs through my mind that I may have just TNRd a cat that belongs to someone. Would someone sue me? Well, it's the good old USA, there's a chance for sure. Living near Detroit there's a chance I could get shot too! :roll: Goodness only knows what the cat would do if it had access to a lawyer (or a gun).
 
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