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One of my relatives announced that he is planning to shoot the dozens of feral cats on his property. Is this legal??He claims animal control will not do anything because they are feral and that he has no other options/is worried about diseases being passed to his dog/native birds etc. He believes he is legally entitled to do this because it is his property, as a pet owner I am somewhat horrified and can't believe that this is the case. This is in northern California. Do you know the legal issues involved and can you recommend a better solution?
Country relating to Question: United States State (if USA): California
It is only legal if they are threatening him or his other pets. If he starts shooting them on his property without any threat of harm to him or his pets, they will charge him with animal cruelty. He needs to trap them and take them to some deserted area miles away and release them or turn them over to the local SPCA.________________________________________I hope you found my answer helpful, but please understand that if you did not get all of the information you may have wanted PLEASE USE THE REPLY TO EXPERT LINK IF YOU HAVE FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS AND NOT THE FEEDBACK BUTTON FOR BAD SERVICE. PLEASE CLICK ON “OK,” “GOOD” or “EXCELLENT” SERVICE. Kindly remember to ONLY rate my answer when you are fully satisfied. If you feel the need to rate anything less than OK, please stop and reply to me via the or REPLY TO EXPERT button with whatever issue or clarification you may need.I truly aim to please you as a customer, but please keep in mind that I do not know what you already know or don't know, or with what you need help, unless you tell me. Please consider that I am answering the question or question that is posed in your posting based upon my reading of your post and sometimes misunderstandings can occur. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. Also remember, sometimes the law does not support what we want it to support, but that is not the fault of the person answering the question, so please be courteous.PLEASE NOTE WELL, LEGAL ANSWERS TAKE MORE THAN “MINUTES” TO PUT TOGETHER AS WE ARE DEALING WITH LAWS OF 50 STATES PLUS FEDERAL LAWS, AS WELL AS DEALING WITH OTHER CUSTOMERS, SO PLEASE BE PATIENT IT WILL BE MORE THAN “MINUTES” IN SOME CASES BEFORE YOU GET A RESPONSE, BUT BE ASSURED YOU ARE NOT BEING IGNORED.There can also be a delay of an hour or more in between my answers because I may be helping other customers or taking a break. You can always request me through my profile at http://www.justanswer.com/law/expert-paulmjd/ or beginning your question with “For PaulMJD…”
If he were to go through with this, how serious of an offense would this be/what is the maximum penalty that he could face if he were prosecuted?
The crime in CA is a "wobbler" which means it can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the specific facts of the case. However, even as a misdemeanor it is punishable by up to 1 year in jail PLUS up to a $20,000 fine. That would be per cat he shoots, so you could see the penalty could be quite severe even as a misdemeanor. As a felony he is looking at 3-8 years in prison per cat.
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