This case study was taken from the University of Buffalo National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science. This case is a true story of a Texas man who was prosecuted for killing a cat that was killing piping plovers, an endangered bird. At the time of the incident, in Texas, it was illegal to kill an animal that belonged to another person. Although the cat lived under a toll bridge and appeared to be feral, there was some evidence that it was being fed and cared for by someone.
Read the New York Times article Birder Admits Killing Cat, but Was it Animal Cruelty? for a summary of the incident. Optional: for more information on cats and birds, browse the American Bird Conservancys website, watch the Nature Conservancys video on piping plovers, and/or watch the National Geographic documentary Secret Life of Cats.
After reading the newspaper article on the incident, write a justified response as to whether you would convict or acquit James Stevenson. In addition, from a conservation biologist point of view, how would you deal with feral cats? What are your personal views?
Be sure to include full citations for any resources you used to obtain your facts or formulate your opinion for your entries.
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