Birdwatcher kills cat, faces felony cruelty charges…
Posted on April 13, 2007
Filed Under animal freaks, big toads, crime, current affairs, feral pigs, flyover country, pussa-cats, sewer rats, stupid people
I’m essentially a dog guy, but I like all animals (with the exception of feral pigs, sewer rats, and Asian swamp eels). That definitely includes cats and birds–I’m the kind of guy to hang a bunch of birdfeeders around the yard just to attract more birds. That notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure that being identified as a “well-known bird-watcher” is one of those terms of dubious praise like “NIT Champion”, “male cheerleader” or “Taco Bell manager”.
At least in Galveston, Texas, “well-known bird-watcher” is now a synonym for “cat-killing scumbag”. Jim Stevenson is charged with going after a feral cat in a manner apropos to the “Lone Star State”–with a .22 caliber rifle.
After devoting much of his life to protecting wild creatures, a prominent naturalist here now faces trial on a felony charge of cruelty to animals.
Jim Stevenson, 53, a well-known bird-watcher and founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society, was indicted this week by a Galveston County grand jury on charges that he killed a feral cat Nov. 8 with a .22-caliber rifle
The “prominent naturalist” apparently missed the part about the food chain, and about how cats kill and eat birds. And like any self absorbed jackass, he tries to spin it like he’s some kind of a “hero” for gunning down a kitty:
“What really bothers me, this cat was down there killing endangered species of birds and others protected by law,” Stevenson said in an interview Thursday. “Feral cats are not protected by law, and I stopped a cat from doing that and I get arrested.”
Assistant District Attorney Bill Reed declined to discuss Stevenson’s view of the law.
“All of those issues, I’m sure, will be flushed out in court,” Reed said.
Pretty simple concept here–even assuming that birds are a “protected species” that doesn’t justify taking matters into your own hands and opening fire on their natural predators. I’ll admit that I’m not entirely unsympathetic to the concept of “conservation by firearms” and that in some cases (the aforementioned feral pig) it is justified. In this case, however, it doesn’t wash–its a clear cut example of a self professed “conservationist” having a personal preference for one species over the other and taking matters into his own hands. This is in diametric opposition to every concept of “wildlife conservation”. You didn’t see Marlin Perkins, or his flunky Jim Fowler, opening fire on a lion when it was about to eat a gazelle on “Mutual of Omaha’s ‘Wild Kingdom‘” back in the day. You didn’t see the late Steve Irwin pull out a bullwhip or a big knife and kill a gator or a snake about to feed on a wallaby–and, present company excepted, no one knows more about invasive species than the Aussies.
Anyway, we learn that Stevenson admits to “species profiling” in his “conservation” efforts and that this isn’t the first time he’s gone loco on el gato:
Stevenson, who has lived on Galveston Island since 1996, has traveled the world studying birds and published four books, including the Wildlife of Galveston. and publishes the Galveston Ornithological Society’s quarterly newspaper, Gulls N Herons.
Despite his deep involvement with nature, or perhaps because of it, he has been accused of an aversion to feral cats because they prey on the birds he has studied.
I’ll send an aside to Axl Rose’s attorney at this point, since there could be copyright issues with the name “Gulls n Herons”. But I digress…
Although he admitted in a 1999 Internet posting to killing two dozen feral cats near his island home, Stevenson told the Houston Chronicle in November that he is fond of cats.
His arrest last year surprised and saddened many environmentalists.
“Jim Stevenson is not a bad man,” Dori Nelson, chair of the Seabrook Eco-Tourism Committee, told the Chronicle soon after his arrest.
I’d ask Ms. Nelson, as an expert on “eco-tourism” exactly how many pussa-cats Stevenson would have to gun down before we can consider him “a bad man”. Certainly that threshold is less than “a couple dozen”. And Stevenson’s caveat that “he is fond of cats” is as hollow as an assurance from David Duke that he’s “not racist”.
Hopefully Stevenson won’t be able to wriggle out of this one and will get to do his bird watching for awhile from the wrong side of some steel bars. Just remember to not drop the soap, feline assassin…:
One of the toll-booth employees, who had been feeding several feral cats and considered them pets, found the dead cat and pursued Stevenson. The employee said the cat already had a limp from an earlier bullet wound.
Stevenson is free on $10,000 bail. If convicted, he faces from six months to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
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4 Responses to “Birdwatcher kills cat, faces felony cruelty charges…”
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I was misquoted. I said that “he is not a bad man, he is misguided”. I have come to learn that he is indeed evil. Although I am Chairman of Eco-Tourism, every single day I feed, maintain, and have neutered a colony of 17 feral cats. My public personna is nice,but, I am passionate about TNR as the only reasonable solution to the cat overpopulation problem.I have come to know more than I ever wanted to know about Mr. Stevenson’s past life as a result of my alleged comment.
The Australian Government kills hundreds of feral cats each year through poison baits and trapping. Get your facts right.
The Australian Government kills hundreds of feral cats each year through poison baits and trapping. Get your facts right.
True, but cats are an invasive species in Australia and a threat to their unique ecosystem. Last I checked, Galveston, Texas was still in the United States where feral cats aren’t a threat to anyone except for sadistic birdwatchers…
Bless you for this write-up which both shares what facts are publicly available and provides insightful, humorous, dead-on commentary. I’ve known Stevenson for longer than I care to admit and have always been unsettled by his feelings about cats. At one point the bumper sticker “Looking for your cat? Check under my tires” was on his truck. I think I remember “Cats are great, they taste like chicken” being on there also. I guess they didn’t cover basic evolutionary survival concepts at whatever school he says he went to.