Lawyer described his client as an 'animal lover' despite the fact that he drowned someone's cat

NEWS AND COMMENT-UK: I am becoming sick and tired of people describing themselves as animal lovers or in this instance a lawyer in court describing their client as an animal lover when they clearly aren't. In this instance a 70-year-old lawyer, Mr Hugo Schleiger, described his client Philip Tripp as an animal lover in trying to defend him in court where he was being tried for animal cruelty having trapped and drowned a domestic cat in a garbage bin filled with water! Animal lover??! He's an Australian. No surprise then.

Tripp and his parrot that was confiscated. Photo: Facebook.

He was convicted. Part of his punishment was to lose custody of his companion parrots of 23 years. He is going to appeal his sentence. I guess that he wants his parrot back. It is a shame that the hates cats so much but loves parrots.

His lawyer said "The paradox is that he's been an animal lover all of his life and he has a parrot, which is his companion". It is not a paradox to me. He clearly cannot be an animal lover. A true animal lover would not even contemplate drowning a domestic cat to death in a bin. The thought would not cross their minds. To think of it is disgusting and shocking. It is the act of a nasty person who might present to the world a veneer of niceness and of being an animal lover but who in truth is not.

And, as you can see, it irritates me when his advocate in court has the gall to call his client an animal lover in trying to mitigate the punishment handed down to him. His punishment included a nine-month intensive corrections order, 100 hours of community service and the removal of his parrot under a disqualification order. Apparently Mr Tripp was remorseful. He is described as having an illustrious career. He is now known as the man who drowned a cat.

It has transpired that he intended to trap and kill feral cats which were, he believed, threatening native wildlife. The cat that he killed was owned. The owner had put posters around town trying to find their cat companion. They should sue Mr Tripp in the civil courts for compensation without delay. Or threaten it initially and then formally seek a hefty compensation. I would recommend something up to £1000. That won't bring their cat back and it won't assuage the pain of the loss of their cat but it will be some sort of justice and closure for them.

It seems that Mr Tripp thought he was killing a feral cat and not someone's cat. In the UK that wouldn't have made any difference. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 killing a cat like this is a crime. But in Australia citizens have been indoctrinated by the government of NSW and other states that feral cats are the enemy and they pretty much hate them.

Cat mistakes uncooked rice for litter tray

The picture is self-explanatory. I guess it is amusing in one way and rather destructive in another. Bang goes all your rice. It does remind us that cats don't really need training on using the litter tray because they instinctively find a 'substrate' - a material to use as a toilet that is similar to soil/earth - and use it. I wonder why this cat did not use his/her usual litter? Or perhaps she does not use a litter tray normally but goes outside. I don't know as they is no background information. Clearly the owner is unperturbed as they preferred to take a photo of their cat defecating in the rice rather than panic and try and get her out rapidly. They immediately saw the merit in the photo which trumped the price of 20 cups of rice.

Man looks after severely neglected cat but is accused of stealing the cat by the owner

This is a cat ownership story that ends well but it's a bit of a saga to get to that point. It appears to come from America where a kind-hearted man was concerned about a cat that had been locked outside for around two years by his owner, a woman. The man took pity on the cat and fed him and let him in when he could. As a consequence, the woman came around to his home and accused him of stealing her cat. He felt obliged to stop helping the cat at that point as he didn't want to cause any trouble.

Read the story in the light of this update, please: I have learned that the woman's then boyfriend insisted the cat was put outside. She complied. She's now dumped her boyfriend. I feel sorry for her but she's lost her cat. Moral: stand your ground if your boyfriend tells you to get rid of the cat.

He is now called Jarvis. This is the star of the story. He's now loved by a good man. Photo: Reddit.

About two weeks later he actually saw this cat hit by a car while crossing the road at a time when his neighbour was not at home. The cat was badly injured. The man took the cat to the vet where a leg was amputated at a cost of $3000.

The man decided to take steps to keep the cat. He reported the cat as a stray to the vet. The vet checked the cat for a microchip but he didn't have one so he helped him contact a shelter to file a "lost pet" report. There is a five day holding period at that shelter during which the owner can claim ownership. After the five days is up the cat is available for rehoming. Nobody claimed the cat. The man claimed ownership.

The previous owner, the negligent woman who had previously accused him of stealing the cat, saw the now three-legged cat in the man's window and demanded that he hand over her pet. She threatened him by saying that she would contact the police. She accused him again of stealing her cat. He said that she must have the wrong cat because he has three legs. He slammed the door in her face.

She screamed through the door for a while and then left. The man is waiting to find out if she did indeed contact the police. He posted the story on Reddit.com and ask for advice. Everyone said that he did a good job. They praised him. They said he was safe from any prosecution for theft because he had reported the matter to the local shelter and the true owner had had a five day period to claim her pet.

He posted on Reddit:

"The cat’s name is Jarvis and he is very happy back as an indoor cat. He is chipped even though I didn’t plan on letting him out again. He’s been recovering remarkably well, even if he’d rather meow at me to carry him rather than walk on his own -.- we’re gonna have a good life together."

My opinion: Great ending. Nice man. The Reddit users are correct. The man did the right thing. He is safe from prosecution. The woman is all mouth and no trousers. She has lost her cat companion and rightly so. The story ended up well as this cat is now loved and in a warm and friendly home. Sadly he has lost one of his legs in the journey to a good home. This should not have happened. This man is also very generous in spending $3000 on someone else's (at the time).

Letting the domestic cat roam freely breaks European Union law. Discuss.

The EU Birds and Habitats Directives places an obligation upon an EU member states to protect wildlife. It requires member states to implement two main sets of provisions, the first of which is to take steps to establish a strict protection regime for all wild European bird species and other endangered species as per an annex of the directive. Member states are also required to designate core sites for the protection of species and habitat types as listed in the annex. In other words member states have to do certain things to make sure that they protect wildlife.

Outside cat stalking prey. Image in public domain.

The directive seems to come into conflict with the natural order of things which is to let domestic cats go outside freely, unsupervised. This is the default position for domestic cats in Europe as far as I am aware. It certainly applies to the UK. Although of course the UK is no longer a EU member state.

Campaigners in the Netherlands under the banner Huiskat Thuiskat which means 'domestic cat' in Dutch are bringing a test case to the Dutch courts. The argument is that the Dutch government is not doing enough to meet their obligations under the EU directives referred to. One thing they could be doing is to make it obligatory to keep domestic cats indoors or allow them outside only when supervised. The Dutch government should issue national legislation which meets the requirements under the EU directives.

The campaigners want the court to rule on this, to force the Dutch government to do something about the predation of domestic cats on wildlife. There are, apparently, between two and 3 million domestic cats and about 10,000 feral cats and strays in the country. They say that the caretaker agriculture Minister has a legal obligation to act if damage is done to protected species by predation of free-roaming cats.

The Dutch have become cruel to cats

The argument is that they pose a serious threat to some 370 species in the Netherlands. It is a well rehearsed argument in many other countries including perhaps most importantly America. It is certainly an argument which constantly challenges the politicians of Australia who have tried all manner of means to limit predation of native species by both domestic and feral cats.

ASSOCIATED POST: Pictures of the Shop Cats of China by Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen

In the Netherlands, the campaigners say that the rules are in place i.e. the EU directives place an obligation upon EU member states to do something about conservation, but the rules are not being applied. The reason given is that it is a hot potato as there are 3 million domestic cat owners in the Netherlands. I guess there might be a loss of votes in favour of the ruling party. The politicians do not want to antagonise their voters.

The question is whether the judge will rule in favour of birds or cats? My personal opinion is that the legal action won't work perhaps because the EU directives are worded too generally. They are not specific enough. A member state can do lots to protect wildlife and thereby comply with the directive without confining domestic cats to their homes.

Ginger tabby cat loves the electric toothbrush (but not for cleaning teeth)

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Ginger tabby loves electric toothbrush but not for cleaning teeth

Clearly, it is the vibrations from the toothbrush which interests this ginger tabby cat. His owner makes a particular point of not putting it into his cat's mouth because at that point he understands that this love for an electric toothbrush will stop! Wouldn't it be nice though if he could put toothpaste on it and clean his cat's teeth with it? I'd like to see that because cleaning domestic cats' teeth is a bit of a nightmare and poor oral health is also a nightmare. It's in the top 10 of domestic cat health problems because it's is so difficult to keep their teeth clean and, in any case, a lot of cat owners simply don't think about it until their breath smells bad and there cat has periodontal disease requiring surgery under a general anaesthetic which is dangerous.

Excited dog desperately wants to play. Two cats think he's barking mad!

Dog is keen to play. Cats think he is barking mad. Screenshot

This video has been on Twitter for a while. It is cute. Here we have what looks like a young dog desperately wanting to play with one of two cats. The cat he has targeted is completely disinterested despite the repeated attempts to change his mind. The other cat looks on disdainfully as if the dog is barking mad! It's a case of innocent canine confronting two wise cats, who with aloofness look down on the young dog with a little bit of contempt showing in their body language. I know that I am interpreting the video through humane eyes and that I am anthropomorphising the situation, but it does lend itself to that kind of interpretation.

Dog = when you drink alcohol
Cat 1 = when you smoke weed
Cat 2 = when you take acid pic.twitter.com/flXNhhyqFY

— Professor Vow Xhing (@VowXhing) October 3, 2021

Domestic cat requests his food by ringing a bell

Domestic cat requests his food by ringing a bell.  Screenshot.

This is neat. I am sure a cat would get the hang of this and start using the bell to ask for food rather than meowing! It might cause some friction in the relationship however. Can you imagine being woken at 4am with the sound of a door bell! :)  Every morning! Until you threw the bloody thing against the wall. But then again cats wake their humans in all kinds of ways - some fairly cruel! My female cat used to stick claw out from the middle toe and pick my nose with it. It invariably worked :) .

From @aikoharada1211: "Ding ding ding ding, mash the bell😼🛎🐾" #catsofinstagram pic.twitter.com/nelLFWhAI5

— Cats of Instagram (@catsofinstagram) October 3, 2021

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Confident and capable domestic cat brings in his kill: a squirrel

Domestic cat catches and kills squirrel. Screenshot.

It is hard for a domestic cat to catch and kill a squirrel as they are more agile than the cat which is saying something. It happens as we can see in this video clip but my bet is that most domestic cats allowed outside don't succeed in catching one. And perhaps if they do, they get bitten in the process. This boy was determined to bring his kill all the way into his den; the family home. I am sure he just dumped it down and looked at it. I'd almost guarantee that he made no attempt to eat it. The cat's name is Flint we are told. I don't know where it happened but somewhere in the UK judging by the woman's accent.

A study found that domestic cats get about 90% of the nutrition from commercial food provided by their caregiver even when they go outside to hunt. It is instinctive and a form of storing food for the future. But most of these prey animals are not eaten. Mice will often be eaten as they are tasty meal containing all the nutrients a domestic cat needs. I am sure that man domestic cats don't even bother to hunt. I feel that the estimates of domestic cats killing birds are exaggerated. They are estimates after all. It is guesswork really. I don't think cat owners believe the ornithologists when the paint a picture of bird Armageddon. 

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Brilliant anti-declaw poster should be published everywhere

Here is another brilliant anti-declaw poster. People should republish this everywhere on the internet. The vets have got to stop harming cats in the interests of financial profit. You know it shocks me that they do it. It is so callous and contemptable. They ignore their solemn oath to do not harm. Something went terribly wrong in the North American veterinary profession. Canada is cutting back on declawing. America is slow to follow. Certain regions of America are terribly backward in terms of getting rid of this 'disease' of amputating cats' toes for no reason other than the convenience of their owner; to protect their bloody furniture! F**k the bloody furniture. What's more important? If furniture is more important that a cat's toes, something is terribly wrong with the human race. Cats walk on their toes for Christ's sake!

You can download this poster full-size by clicking on it and magnifying it by clicking it again. Then right click on it and select 'save as'.