As a Catholic am I entitled to kill a neighbour's cat because it is stalking my bantams? What would St Thomas Aquinas have to say on the matter I wonder?
This is the moral dilemma facing me (the topical one at any rate).
If I shot this marauding moggy it would equate with breaking the 'Thou shalt not steal' commandment but what other options do I have?
I know that if I approach my neighbour and make a case for restricting the cat in some way it will be met with a point blank refusal; a cat is, after all, a free agent able to roam the fields and hedgerows as it will. Fences will not contain it. The only solution would be for the neighbour to make the cat a 'house cat', never to see the great outdoors again - that seems a bit harsh.
Meanwhile, as pastor of a flock I have a duty of protection towards them. It's not as though my bantams are pets precisely; they have essential functions like laying eggs and eating all the things that creep under the earth and providing my garden with enrichment (if you get my drift).
And I cannot keep them penned up either. My bantams are all either pure blood Old English Game or second generation thereof and that means they are, basically, as wild as the Jungle Fowl that they are descended from. They would pine and fall sick if confined, even in a roomy pen.
Now, in the context of global warming, economic meltdown, war, famine etc., this problem is pretty paltry (oops! sorry) but I find it refreshing to have such parochial issues to worry about from time to time; it takes my mind off the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (and Bishops) and boots me back into being some sort of sane(er) person.
So, after some internet research I have come up with the answer which I am happy to share with Mulier Fortis and other cat lovers...I shall commence a novena to St Gertrude...who she?
Patron Saint of cats of course......but hold on...shouldn't I be looking for a patron saint of chickens?
Well, after another web search I find that I should be praying to St Brigid of Ireland, patron saint of poultry keepers.......I shall do both!
This is the moral dilemma facing me (the topical one at any rate).
If I shot this marauding moggy it would equate with breaking the 'Thou shalt not steal' commandment but what other options do I have?
I know that if I approach my neighbour and make a case for restricting the cat in some way it will be met with a point blank refusal; a cat is, after all, a free agent able to roam the fields and hedgerows as it will. Fences will not contain it. The only solution would be for the neighbour to make the cat a 'house cat', never to see the great outdoors again - that seems a bit harsh.
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| Bantams may safely graze......how to avoid a cat-astrophe! |
And I cannot keep them penned up either. My bantams are all either pure blood Old English Game or second generation thereof and that means they are, basically, as wild as the Jungle Fowl that they are descended from. They would pine and fall sick if confined, even in a roomy pen.
Now, in the context of global warming, economic meltdown, war, famine etc., this problem is pretty paltry (oops! sorry) but I find it refreshing to have such parochial issues to worry about from time to time; it takes my mind off the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (and Bishops) and boots me back into being some sort of sane(er) person.
So, after some internet research I have come up with the answer which I am happy to share with Mulier Fortis and other cat lovers...I shall commence a novena to St Gertrude...who she?
Patron Saint of cats of course......but hold on...shouldn't I be looking for a patron saint of chickens?
Well, after another web search I find that I should be praying to St Brigid of Ireland, patron saint of poultry keepers.......I shall do both!
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