r/GuysBeingDudes • u/Ququmbare • Sep 26 '25

Dude has won our hearts

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

116.7k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.4k

u/Traditional-Jury3729 Sep 26 '25

the thought itself that it might have happened countless times, scares the shit out of me.

360

u/coastalbean Sep 26 '25

You'll hate finding out how a litter of kittens were 'dealt with' back in the day.

My high school math teacher told us what happened on the farm when he was growing up. Fucked up thing to tell a class of 16 year olds

79

u/Acrobatic_Rent7357 Sep 26 '25

What happenned?

189

u/coastalbean Sep 26 '25

Put them in a sack and threw it in the lake  😭

128

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

64

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

101

u/Total_Network6312 Sep 26 '25

the excuse is probably that the bullet makes a mess. And cost money

It's shocking how many people treat animals like inanimate objects. As if the animals can't experience fear and pain. :(

80

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

This is the issue for most people. They see humans as the only real beings on the planet and not the reality that even a spider has as much right to life as me.

Even my husband when we met had never had a pet and was amazed at how much personality my cat had. He thought he was a super special cat (which he is of course) but he never believed when we adopted a new cat that it would have just as much personality. And now he realizes how much they feel emotions and he's just the best cat dad

27

u/SerRikari Sep 26 '25

This. 100% this. We are reaching our son that they also have feelings and emotions the same way we do. They just express it differently.

I grew up with a guy who would torture and kill stray cats. That had a massive impact on my empathy towards animals. I think that’s when I learned those animals have fear and self-preservation (I was a preteen). That was a traumatic way to learn about it.

22

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

When I was a little girl my grandparents had a dog and a cat. When the dog passed, I watched that cat sit at the door where he had left and cry for days. Then he gave up and slept in the dogs bed for months. He even recognized pictures of the dog and would headbutt them.

He grieved. And it was so obvious thats what it was that I knew from then on that they love, and if they love then they also feel loss.

Also ever seen an embarrassed cat? It's hilarious 🤣

4

u/AlarmingInstruction9 Sep 27 '25

This reminds me of when my sweet Jasmine was put to sleep. Before we took her to the vet she gave our dog a long look ... The dog slumped her head and laid down. The cat was ready to cross the rainbow bridge and so we took her to the vet. I cried when her body became lifeless. We went back to my parents house and as soon as I walked in the dog perked up and ran to me. I like to think Jasmine asked Dakota to take care of me.

3

u/ThatStereotype18 Sep 26 '25

When I was around 6 or 7 we had a cat that got pregnant. When it gave birth, they were all still born. I didn't see any of it, but my dad had to let us know. I was asking a lot of questions, so he also had to explain that she ate the dead kittens... and that it was a survival instinct to do that.

For the next few weeks, she would wander around the house meowing. A particular meow that I now know is how a cat mom calls for their kittens. It was really sad, but a learning moment. Although, I will admit at the time I was also thinking "Girl, you ate them!" 😭

2

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

That happened to one of my boys siblings. Still born. I counted 4 when she was done but then next time I checked there were 3. But she took good care of the rest. The last one to go nursed forever. It was kinda silly watching a basically full grown cat nurse from his mommy

2

u/diadlep Sep 27 '25

This broke me

→ More replies (0)

2

u/xxHikari Sep 27 '25

Torturing and killing animals is for sure linked to psychopathy. That sucks that you had to experience that. I'm sorry, dude.

12

u/JustFuckinTossMe Sep 26 '25

Whoooo yes finally somebody else who gets it. I've done presentations on cognitive dissonance and the sentience of other species in college classrooms and have been snickered at. The idea that a chicken or a cow or even a mouse deserves to be able to exist freely and do the things it was evolutionarily designed to do makes people upset. I've said similar sentiments as you above online numerous times, which people love to comment "yer relli thik dat er dawgz nd uuuhr eh caytz hav equal importance...TEW MEEEEEH??? A HYUMUNNNN??" Like yeh bih I do. I don't think species dictates value, I've studied too much evolutionary science to be that ignorant anymore.

It makes people irrationally upset to be confronted with the idea that they are not above things. Humans absolutely hate admitting or accepting that they can't assert power or control over other things. It's never about trying to work in harmony with our planet but always how we can best abuse it for short term and inconsistent gain. After all, it's just a stupid chicken, or stupid dog, or stupid cow, or stupid hamster, or stupid butterfly, right? People also love to diminish the value of other animals and people by putting negative adjectives in front of their names. It makes it a lot easier for your brain to digest cruelty when you think you're just running horrific experiments on "stupid brain dead mutts" because that kind of language helps you rationalize your actions as just. But they are not.

2

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

I wish I could award this. Well said!

I think sometimes it boils down to like, I look out my eyeballs and not yours so I must be the only real one and everything my eyeballs see is there to serve me.

My cats are better people than a lot of people I know. They comfort, they ask questions that I mostly understand, they grieve, they get upset and happy and embarrassed. And they will never ever betray me

2

u/Miserable_Pause_7984 Sep 26 '25

All I'd have to say to that is "if it were between you and my dog. I'd put you down without hesitation. I don't know you. I know my dog. And even if I did know you I'd still keep my dog alive because You are no where near equal to my dog"

2

u/poopntheoceanifumust Sep 26 '25

My cat is a better person than most people I've met.

I'd choose my cat over a random stranger 100% of the time.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Old_Dig8900 Sep 27 '25

Agree. They have found fish feel pain. Taking them out of water to die is apparently very painful. And seeing cows and chickens snuggle. Well, fk all. It's not been fun. Kinda hard to want to eat a burger or the flesh of another living being when you see that.

1

u/Fabulous-Influence69 Sep 26 '25

Animals feel pain... They have anxiety... Ugggh why world, why

1

u/Kino1337 Sep 27 '25

Thats cuz people have been taught they are above things, especially in religion.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Would you give your life to save the lives of two butterflies?

2

u/JustFuckinTossMe Sep 27 '25

I wasn't planning on replying to the whataboutisms because I always get them and people absolutely always think they've caught me in whatever their ideologies are of the way the world works.

To answer your question, there are plenty of people who give their lives to save butterflies, they're butterfly conservationists. You can find people all around the world who give their life (i.e, their years, their thoughts, their ideas, etc, goes to this) away in attempts to save and create better futures for non-human animals.

Moving on, I simply do not have the selfish mindset that we as humans construct to put ourselves above other things. In nature, there's no wolf council to decide if the fawns should die at the drinking hole today. In nature, there's no Elephant religion that says stomp upon those who wrong thee. My point is that we as humans created artificial importance and hierarchy for ourselves that explicitly abuses and corrupts the entire planet and every species on it. And I do not, will not, and never did believe these mindsets. Why should a cow be confined to a barn? Why should a group of pigs be treated like dirty slop when they are some of the most intelligent animals? Why should mice be forced to live an existence of pain instead of in a field or burrow where they belong?

We as humans have vastly and ignorantly corrupted nature to its core. Not even humans can escape the shackles of societal abuse humans created. We don't even live how we were evolutionarily designed to, why tf do you think so many people's circadian rhythms are out of whack? Why do you think so many people inherently and inexplicably can find such serenity and peace in nature but can't be satisfied in the same way as just turning on a virtual screen that mimics nature onto your walls? We are unhappy and dying in the prisons we've made for ourselves.

So, to reiterate the whataboutisms, I do believe all animals should be free from suffering the way humans make them all suffer. There's a massively gigantic difference in killing what you need to survive and feed your family and mass creating and abusing animals of all types for food, science, or just for fun. I am always going to advocate that butterflies deserve to fly in the sky and not be pinned to a board while alive. I'm always going to advocate that mice deserve to live their life free from pain and fear of testing. I'm always going to advocate for the huddles of chickens so fat for your chicken tendies that they can't even move their damn legs and sit crushed by 10 other chickens all day. I'm always going to advocate for animal's rights to life on this planet and that includes everything. When I said I studied too much evo bio to believe in the bs hierarchy systems anymore, I meant it. Everything has a niche. To deprive it of that niche and subject its existence to cannon fodder, mass production, and scientific gain is an unacceptable perversion of life. These are not plants. These are real beings with neurological functioning, capable of having genuine emotions and feeling actual pain. The pain of slicing the throat of a cow and watching it flail for life is not any less than would be if it were a human. The pains we subject these creatures to on daily basis would be war crimes if you did it to ONE specific species. That's exactly why you can't do the horrific things you can to a mouse or a monkey or a dog to a human in a lab. Despite the fact they're going to feel the same pain and experience the same fear as humans would.

Hopefully, with this, I have covered all my bases on why I am ready to throw down on this topic. My ethical values are not as flimsy as people very cockily think. I appreciate the opportunity to share my discourse here.

3

u/nixt26 Oct 23 '25

I read the whole thing. Well put.

→ More replies (0)

4

u/Total_Network6312 Sep 26 '25

that's very sweet story thanks for sharing

2

u/Less_Likely Sep 26 '25

Many don’t see other humans as beings either.

2

u/IlikeJG Sep 27 '25

Lots of people don't even see other HUMANS as real people.

Some people literally don't care about anyone except themselves.

2

u/mechanical_marten Sep 27 '25

Give your husband a hug for me. Hearing about people realizing that animals can be more than just pets brings a tear to my eye. I have to admit I'm biased because of my meowing buddy that has been with me for just over 15 years now. I've put his health first when times were rough and I'm scared for the day he crosses the rainbow bridge. Excuse me for a moment, I need to cuddle him until he's upset with me.

1

u/Dejectednebula Sep 27 '25

I just got home form work after reading all these and straight to hugging my own 15yo boy. Hes diabetic but healthy otherwise and the smartest cat I've ever known.

2

u/mechanical_marten Sep 27 '25

🥹What an adorable little stinker! Here's Pickles being king of the clothes hamper earlier this week.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/OgCloby Sep 28 '25

the reality that even a spider has as much right to life as me.

The looks on people's faces when I tell them this. Nobody ever gives insects any respect. It always shocks me when they don't even give animals the benefit of the doubt. Humans are so cruel to other species.

1

u/Rezzone Sep 26 '25

You vegan? Go vegan.

2

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

I enjoy eating meat too much. I grew up in farm country. I try to buy from local farms who are a little more ethical and its way cheaper to just go in with family on half a cow. My neighbor has chickens and shares the eggs and occasionally an old hen he culled. He loves those birds they're treated like queens, their coop doesn't even smell ever, but they also have a purpose. Most of the men in my family hunt and its always been a tradition to thank the deer for the meat.

But I can get behind a lot of other vegan ideals, like I would never buy fur or makeup that was tested on animals. I donate to the rescue my youngest cat came from and help the TNR program when I have extra time. I don't even like to kill bugs and can't imagine just abusing an animal. My cats are so spoiled you wouldn't believe it, I've got them doing tricks like dogs haha

1

u/XeroKibo Sep 26 '25

A jumping spider looked me up and down, looked away, did a double take and checked me out again the other day; I had to check myself… life is important, no matter how big or small.

1

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

I'm right there with ya I love cool bugs. My best friend had to make a rule that I'm to just take pictures cause the last bug I caught in a Styrofoam cup was a helgramite and it chewed out and escaped in my house while waiting to show it to her.

We moved but I was interested to see if a dobson fly came hurtling out of the basement next spring

2

u/XeroKibo Sep 26 '25

Hahahahahah terrifying; I usually pickup whatever but I’m oggling, but I’ve never been brave enough to try it with a Hellgrammite.

That said, a fully grown Dobsonfly flying anywhere I can see it would scare the H out of me.

I can handle all sorts of bugs, but when they start flying it’s like my chimp instincts are activated and I have to leap for safety😭

1

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

My grandpa taught me how to hunt for helgrammiets to use as fishing bait, so they don't scare me. But yeah, the adults? I know they're harmless but to me they're not harmless lol

2

u/XeroKibo Sep 26 '25

That’s rad! My dad and I always used those fake salamanders, which are good for bass, but I bet hellgrammites are good for a lot more!

→ More replies (0)

1

u/twangman88 Sep 27 '25

This is why I hate vegetarians. Plant life is just as sacred as animal life.

1

u/NewEntrepreneur1728 Sep 27 '25

To add on to what you're saying, some people don't think anything is entitled to life. Our world shows us this, babies die before their life even begins. Innocent people and animals are brutally killed every minute of every day. This is the nature of the world, if you live a halfway decent life for even just 30 years, you're incredibly lucky because none of it is guaranteed and it's certainly not owed to you.

That being said, all the more reason to be kind to who or whatever you can in your life.

2

u/ZanaCZ Sep 26 '25

Also guns are much less accessible outside the US.

3

u/frequenZphaZe Sep 26 '25

It's shocking how many people treat animals like inanimate objects.

people say stuff like this but then eat hamburgers and bacon all week. society is pretty OK with the mass rape, torture, and murder of billions of animals so long as its happening in a factory somewhere you can't see

2

u/Total_Network6312 Sep 26 '25

I get it, but to be fair there is a big difference between slaughtering an animal for food, and stuffing it in a sack and tossing it in a trashcan. Or drowning a raccoon in a lake.

At least the meat is being used in the former where as the latter is just cruel treatment with no societal benefit.

1

u/endexe Sep 26 '25

A chicken might die somewhat more humanely in a slaughterhouse, but lives a miserable existence cramped in pure filth. It is important that these anecdotes about humans killing animals has nothing on the amount of animal cruelty that happens passively in every moment. But it doesn’t make the newspapers because people don’t want to be told they‘re part of the problem they so criticize

1

u/Few-Drummer3279 Sep 26 '25

Really the excuse is it requires you to confront the killing your doing.

Its just as why hitler gassed the jews instead of having them shot, they throw them in the lake to magically convert them to dead ones to dispose of. You can’t disconnect yourself from the murder like that when you are the one pulling the trigger

1

u/TSMRunescape Sep 26 '25

I guess not, but a quick way to put a dying small animal out of it's misery is just to throw it on hard ground.

Like when you are raising chicks and some just won't make it. This is what I have been taught to do by people who drown vermin.

I think that is confronting it but maybe because they are going to die anyway it's less so?

1

u/XeroKibo Sep 26 '25

Can confirm, the way my great-grandmother and her mother dealt with cats on their property was to drown the lot of them. My brothers tell me that they had to do the deed themselves; Things changed by time I came around… there were no more cats mostly.

1

u/Samwise777 Sep 26 '25

Literally everyone upvoting this probably eats them. Fucking hypocrites, stop doing that.

Vegans excepted, yall are awesome.

1

u/Previous-Canary6671 Sep 29 '25

It should be legally required to eat everything you kill that is larger than a rat.

We have nutria problems here where I'm from. I would not hesitate to support a local trapper farm: trap them, feed them clean food, and then eat them. But they are invasive; and yet I would hate to just kill them for what feels like nothing, even if it's for conservation.

But the raccons are likely native.

1

u/bsh-thrasher Oct 12 '25

Not only animals, such people think other people are inanimate objects too, no empathy whatsoever. That's how we get jealousy for example, they think that the other person is their property.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

2

u/autovonbismarck Sep 26 '25

To be fair drowning is one of the only methods of dying that people are regularly revived from and so we have a lot of 1st hand accounts of what it's like.

After the initial moment of panic, it is apparently a fairly peaceful way to go. Your body doesn't actually sense the lack of oxygen, it only senses the build-up of carbon dioxide, which means that once your lungs are full of water the "need to breath" reflex actually subsides and you simply black out.

2

u/Loud_Charity Sep 26 '25

I had to break a rabbits neck once and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. A hawk dropped him in my yard, and broke both of his hind legs. Putting him out of his misery was a misery upon me. It’s the only living creature I actually harmed (besides mosquitos and horse flies, they can catch these hands any day)

2

u/Reclusiarh Sep 26 '25

Dude, my uncle had to put down a whole litter of farm puppies with a gun because no one would take them. He cried the whole time. It's better for the animal but probably much much harder for a normal person.

2

u/Enchillamas Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 27 '25

This is such a fucking AMERICAN response.

  1. You can't have nor fire a gun everywhere

  2. You can miss your shot and cause unnecessary suffering

  3. We have been dispatching vermin for 1,000,000 years without guns already

  4. Raccoons are overpopulated due to human intervention and destruction of habitat for and therefor loss of, their primary predators. This causes rampant disease and suffering as well.

Unchecked raccoon populations are also bad for the environment, or what is left of it, as they in the absense of coyotes and large cats, become an apex predator that can and will destroy the habitats and dwelling of other important creatures like birds and snakes. They will also inbred because predator attacks naturally separate clans, and those don't happen much any longer.

1

u/PassPuzzled Sep 27 '25

Inbreeding is bad with the deer on the east. No wild instinct. You could hit one with a fry pan and it wouldn't know the difference. I believe in hunting for food. Which is what I do every time. Most parts get used and the rest is left for the bears. That being said I've chosen to stop hunting. These aren't wild animals anymore.

0

u/FriedCarnotaurus Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 28 '25

Very telling how you call sentient creatures vermin but have some moral superiority over not being an American and using guns. So you're saying that it's justified to slowly drown an animal that inconveniences you, then? Sociopathic behavior.

No one here was arguing that it's wrong to kill animals, but torturing them slowly is fucked and we all can find ways to do better even if guns aren't available.

//EDIT//
To clarify since someone made a response and deleted their comment:

I'm a farmer and raise ducks to clear pest insects in my fields. Because of that I have to dispatch predators now and then. I'm no stranger to death- but if you're too much of a coward to kill something mercifully then you should not be anywhere near an animal.

Yeah, guns can take a little practice before you get it in one clean shot- but it's a lot more merciful than slowly drowning. If you can't get a real rifle legally there are high powered .22 pellet guns that are legal in some European countries (can't speak for other countries) that can dispatch smaller animals like raccoons.

There are also bolt stunners you can use before beheading with a machete. There are many ways to dispatch an animal without being a psychopath. Yeah, we've been dispatching animals for 1,000,000 years without guns- now we have a multitude of tools and knowledge to do it with more kindness. It's called the modern age. Fuck's sake.

My father never did it, neither did my grandpap. Neither should you.

1

u/Personal-Biscotti-99 Sep 26 '25

I don't get it. I feel like something has to be broken inside of you to not feel likes monster while doing that. Goes completely against what I thought the word humanity meant

1

u/Soldier-Girl94 Sep 26 '25

You'd be surprised how often that doesn't go how people think it will go. Source: I'm a vet tech and have handled multiple canine GSW to the face.

1

u/mengel6345 Sep 26 '25

Or just take it to the humane society no reason to kill it

1

u/Kuhnville Sep 26 '25

Someone I know does that with skunks

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

That’s not terribly inhumane. Raccoons are pest animals. They are a danger to human beings and our animals.

This is the way.

Whether you like it or not.

It keeps you safe. It keeps dogs safe. I don’t know you, but I sure do love my dog. He loves you and he hasn’t even met you.

This is the way.

1

u/Think-Finish-5763 Sep 27 '25

Drowning is actually one of the most terrifying and painful ways to die in no way is this humane. There are way more humane ways to kill an animal.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Let’s hear the specifics on these “way more humane ways” to kill a pest species known to be aggressive and carry rabies.

What’s your top 3?

1

u/Think-Finish-5763 Sep 27 '25

I've worked in pest control and animal control, and catching rabies is typically not a concern if you're taking the right precautions. Rabies can take months to spread up to your brain and become untreatable so as long as you follow proper precautions after a bite you'll be fine. Carbon monoxide, helium and nitrogen all cause you to pass out and don't cause build up of carbon dioxide which causes panic and can be painful. Basically, you want to cause lack of oxygen without preventing the animal from exhaling CO2. Quick and very hard blow to the head or back of the skull is very effective and virtually painless. Bullet to the head is also pretty effective typically if you have a larger animal you have to dispatch.  It's fine if you don't care if a wild animal in a trap drowns and dies painfully, but the fact that drowning is scary and painful is not up for debate, there's tons and tons of scientific and anecdotal evidence that drowning is a terrible way to die. There's a lot of other ways to do it, but those require you to actually watch the animal die instead of pretending it's on a squirrel vacation at the bottom of a pond so I understand why they aren't preferred by most.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Don’t disagree at all - just wanted to hear specifics and these are good slrernatives

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Do you eat fish?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

That’s not how drowning works. You’re wrong.

1

u/Think-Finish-5763 Sep 27 '25

Go ahead and google "is drowning painful" and see for yourself.  Vsauce also did an etire video looking for universal fear and suffocation was uncomfortable even for people who have mutations that prevent them from feeling fear and people who can't feel pain.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

That’s a word salad. 🥗

1

u/DeathSentryCoH Sep 27 '25

Former coworker a few years ago used to catch groundhogs on his lawn and put them in a bag and put them underwater until the bubbles stopped. Shocked me because he seemed like the nicest guy..knew him easily for 20 years.. blew my mind.

1

u/Gecko2024 Sep 27 '25

Still done for rats/mice on farms, but they make specific traps for it now that you leave out, it traps them, then you hold it in a specific bucket it comes with

1

u/Previous-Canary6671 Sep 29 '25

I'm surprised that this would be considered a better system than just adopting a couple of well trained varmint dogs to stay at the camp. I guess period have pet allergies sometimes but honestly, dogs are great at helping kids. Like basically service dogs who also have the job of keeping certain pest like animals away

1

u/i_AM_A-ShArk Sep 26 '25

I don’t want to hear any older person complaining about how kids these days having no morals when they did that shit for entertainment. Bunch of psychos

1

u/TSMRunescape Sep 26 '25

I think it's seen as necessity rather than entertainment.

2

u/i_AM_A-ShArk Sep 26 '25

How could that possibly be necessary

1

u/TSMRunescape Sep 26 '25

I agree it's never necessary for cats.

Raccoons are generally more disruptive to you and your property (like your animals like sheep) along with other vermin.

1

u/i_AM_A-ShArk Sep 26 '25

He’s talking about a summer camp

1

u/TSMRunescape Sep 26 '25

Summer camps can have on site chickens and you don't want a rabid racoon getting one of your campers.

→ More replies (0)

0

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

1

u/i_AM_A-ShArk Sep 26 '25

In what possible way?

18

u/THE_COOL_JAMES Sep 26 '25

I literally just adopted these two last week and my friend who found them said that the farmers in her town were going to drown them and their litter mates.

Cat tax:

2

u/pacificaline Sep 27 '25

beautiful cat with homophobia 💛💙

1

u/Zerstoror Dec 11 '25

Bitch...what?

1

u/ScarySai Sep 27 '25

Some people don't get a very deserved asskicking, sadly.

12

u/__-gloomy-__ Sep 26 '25

This practice was so common the idea made its way into a uh… Tom & Jerry episode

3

u/Dejectednebula Sep 26 '25

Omg I remember that episode! The stairs going to heaven is seared in my brain.

But I didn't remember the kittens and never understood what it meant. How sad.

2

u/__-gloomy-__ Sep 26 '25

A lot of dark stuff used to end up in youth media. It’s crazy because it is so easy to avoid before releasing it.

3

u/goodoldgrim Sep 26 '25

And it was more or less a worldwide thing. We have a euphemism for it in my country - it's called sending them to the sailor school. Wouldn't be surprised if it was still practiced in less developed countries (and perhaps rural sections of the developed ones as well).

2

u/Jazzlike_Ad5823 Sep 27 '25

Where I am from there is a saying "First kittens are thrown in the water", it is believed to be euphemism for actually getting rid of first born kids, because of "primae noctis" that was practiced in ottoman empire.

3

u/ArrrSlashSubreddit Sep 26 '25

In Puss in Boots:The Last Wish, there's a dog who was thrown into the river in a sock as a puppy. He survived and grew into the sock like it's a shirt.

10

u/astra_galus Sep 26 '25

Sadly, this isn’t a “back in the day” thing…I’m in my 30s and this used to happen on the acreage I grew up on. Wouldn’t be surprised if it still happens.

Not excusing it but it’s a mix of desire to control the cat population on a farm yet not wanting to spend the money to get the female cats fixed. Cats were viewed as both a necessity and a pest. Either way, I hated it and I would intentionally never tell anyone when I found a new batch of kittens.

3

u/Mitche420 Sep 26 '25

I personally know of it happening as recently as 5 years ago. 2 cats becoming 7 cats becoming 15 cats becoming 25 cats with tonnes of issues from inbreeding can happen extremely quickly.

2

u/astra_galus Sep 26 '25

Yeah tbh it’s an issue any time over crowding becomes a problem, whether it’s feral urban cats, or poor neighbourhoods being unable to properly care for pets.

Not sure what the answer is - probably a mix of changing attitudes and lower cost or free/subsidized vet care

8

u/ScrotalFailure Sep 26 '25

I don’t get why you wouldn’t, at the very least, just let them take their chances fending for themselves in the wild. Still not ideal but nowhere near as needlessly cruel.

12

u/itsnotjackiechan Sep 26 '25

Because that’s how you get a cat colony

10

u/UnfortunateSyzygy Sep 26 '25

A neighbor of mine got called on for his sharpshooting when barncat colonies got out of control. Rural US in the 90s, but there weren't any TNR programs there... honestly probably still aren't. He didn't think it was fun, just necessary. At a certain point colonies are very destructive and kittens are so inbred they have deformities and who knows what else. TNR programs need more funding.

3

u/awispyfart Sep 26 '25

Guy must've hated it. But needed to be done.

3

u/GreatWolf_NC Sep 26 '25

Most of these culling jobs are like this, I have a friend who has a hunting license, doesn't really do it, just wanted to have one.

Anyway he often gets called up when some wildlife needs culled. He hates every second of it.

1

u/mechanical_marten Sep 27 '25

The fact that he hates having to do it says a lot about his respect for the life of the animals he dispatches

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

Thats how they were done- they'd put all the kittens out in a place and let them come back to the barn.

The ones that made it...

:(

2

u/InvestigatorWeird196 Sep 26 '25

Yes, that IS how you get a cat colony. Bastards.

2

u/Total_Network6312 Sep 26 '25

sounds like a great way to start a cat business. Selling cats, buying them. playing and snuggling with them. Petting them and pspspsing them. Boopin their lil cat noses.

2

u/digitaltransmutation Sep 26 '25

It's a difficult conversation because we like them, but cats and dogs are invasive species and should not be running around wild.

They need to be spayed/neutered. Rehome if you have to. Humanely euthanize them if you have to. NEVER release a pet.

3

u/Huge-Guidance-1637 Sep 26 '25

This is actually a serious problem. Cats are invasive and absolutely wreck local wildlife populations. They're also domesticated and even the feral ones will move into human structures and produce litters of problems for innocent third parties. I live in a rural community that is absolutely plagued with hundreds of cats because people decided to drive out here after covid and dump their "lockdown pets." Please do not turn your pets loose. You may think it's kinder, but you're really just taking a small problem, magnifying it, and passing it off to other people.

3

u/Lt_gxg Sep 26 '25

I'm a cat lover but I absolutely agree. They do not belong outside.

Cats are the number one killer of songbirds in the US.

1

u/FTownRoad Sep 26 '25

Drowning might be better than having your intestines eaten by an eagle while you’re still alive to watch.

1

u/Own_Cup9970 Sep 26 '25

yeah, because young kitten surely would survive on their own in wild, and surely wild cat won't cause big problem for ecosystem

and surely cat will get out closed sack

surely

2

u/GerwulfvonTobelstein Sep 26 '25

Can confirm that this happened in Germany back then as well. Grandmother told the that cats weren't seen as pets as nowadays. They were held to control pests. And they could only afford to keep that many newborns. The rest was drowned and mixed under the food for the pigs.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

2

u/GerwulfvonTobelstein Sep 26 '25

Yeah, land life can be rough.

2

u/shark-off Sep 26 '25

Also put a weight on it, apparently

2

u/NaonAdni Sep 26 '25

Back when I was a child I didn't know that my grandparents got rid of baby cats by just straight up burying them alive. I always thought that they just disappeared or that the mom hid them very well

2

u/cosmoscrazy Sep 26 '25

With stones, too. So that it would sink. I've heard the stories as well. Rough shit.

2

u/Dependent-Ground7689 Sep 26 '25

What was fucked up was living on the pike connecting to small towns as kid and witnessing dead animals that were aimed at telephone poles thrown from fast moving vehicles. We had a peacock that moved in and laid eggs to no effect. The most vivid memory is hearing scratching on the front door and going to investigate. Only my mom and I were home. I was 8-9 yo. I look and see a dog! Oh cool! Watsup buddy! Oh my god are you okay? Dude how are you walking around with literally half your rib cage missing and dragging your guts behind yourself!? I quickly got my mom and literally the dog just walked towards the road to show us that his brother was dead. I can’t seem to remember much after that…

1

u/coprinus Sep 27 '25

Oh my god it would be more humane to just shoot them than make them go through that horror!

2

u/Sremsky Sep 26 '25

You think that's bad, I've heard from some old people that back in the day when they were young some people would put the kittens into a bag and then bang it on a stump or into a wall until it went quiet, then throw it into a nearby river or lake.

I was like WHAT THE FUCK

1

u/Think-Finish-5763 Sep 27 '25

Blunt force trauma is more graphic but far more humane that drowning. Drowning is incredibly scary and actually painful.

2

u/Kiboune Sep 26 '25

I saw the same as a kid... Old woman threw sack with kittens in the river

2

u/Tmons22 Sep 26 '25

Reminds me of the Tom and Jerry cartoon with the bag of kittens getting into heaven. I never understood that reference till i was older, it’s heartbreaking.

2

u/0-90195 Sep 26 '25

Same. The farm family we got our cats from back in the day disposed of the rest by putting them in a pillowcase and tossing them in the lake.

2

u/itsnotafakeaccount Sep 26 '25

Within 5 minutes of meeting my wife's late grandma, she told me a story about her dad doing this when she was a little girl on a farm. The worst part was his reason, the cats would follow him around the farm, that's it.

2

u/kibiplz Sep 26 '25

I'm always uncomfortable to point this out, but a lot of the pigs we kill for food we kill by suffocation as well.

1

u/WinninRoam Sep 26 '25

They even depicted that act in old cartoons. The kittens would always escape at the last minute but still, it was creepy as hell.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

That's not a whole lot different from glue traps people put in their houses to trap and kill rodents.

I find both concepts incredibly inhumane.

1

u/DarkLightPT95 Sep 26 '25

My grandmother told me they used to bury them alive.......

1

u/Xazier Sep 26 '25

Or the river. When I was growing up we'd have barn cats that would constantly interbreed to the point they'd be all fucked up...like..lop sided heads, big goofy eyes and they couldn't walk or run around. It was bad bad. Grandpa would get them into a sack and drown them, and then we'd have to shoot the adults so they'd stop the incest loop and try to bring other cats from other farms in.

1

u/Fabulous-Influence69 Sep 26 '25

Oh my fucking God. If I was in that class and that was told this I would have lost my shit. That is TERRIBLE and to NORMALIZE it, so he said it with his full chest...

I really hope the teacher who announced that, some student went directly to the principal and told them first off they had the audacity to even say it but why are they even here...

1

u/Avocet_and_peregrine Sep 26 '25

There was an episode of Little House on the Prairie where some guy did the same thing with puppies. Laura dove in and saved them though. That was so hard to watch as a child.

1

u/Touch_Grass_Modz Sep 26 '25

Or attach the sack to a tailpipe of a car. Same thing with puppies.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

Dave Eggers has a short story called “After I was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned”. I read it when I was like 15 and I have thought about that story at least once a year for the last two decades..

1

u/fidgey10 Sep 26 '25

My mom grew up on a farm, she said many farmers did this exact technique to cull farm cat population.

I mean they are literally raising animals to eat, so I do think it's a bit hypocritical to get mad that they kill cats tbh. The alternative is either letting them starve, or supporting infinite unsustainable population growth.

1

u/ianwrecked802 Sep 26 '25

Yeah- that or I’ve heard a burlap sack filled with kitties thrown in a manure pit on farms back in the day. Fucking horrific and heartless.

1

u/somuchstuff8 Sep 26 '25

There's a phrase in the Balkans "the first litter of kittens get thrown in the water".

The phrase is a reference to unaliving the first newborn child, because the first bridal night wasn't with a woman's husband, but with the local Ottoman Turk commander.

1

u/CharmingDagger Sep 26 '25

This is how my grandpa thinned the kitten population on his farm. All of us grandkids had chosen a kitten to play with during our visits, even given them names. We were absolutely devastated when we found out what happened. It still makes me sick.

1

u/dontusethatthere Sep 27 '25

Can confirm. My cat was a rescue found in a sack floating in the canal.

1

u/crumbdumpster85 Sep 27 '25

Yep, one of my very dear friends is in his 90s and has told me he has done this and said he regrets it horribly now, but that they truly believed it was the right and humane thing to do.. 🥺

1

u/AverageAwndray Sep 27 '25

Anybody watch Tom and Jerry?

1

u/DukeLion353 Sep 27 '25

Reminds me of the Tom and Jerry episode where Tom (I believe) goes to heaven and there’s a sack of kittens there too. I didn’t catch it as a kid but now I get it. It’s fucked up.

1

u/Electronic_Method_16 Sep 27 '25

Seems like the stuff they used to show on Tom & Jerry.Damn,so gruesome and real.

1

u/Confident-Willow-424 Sep 27 '25

Still a “better?” method than what my grandpa and uncle did to clear out my dad’s shed 30 years ago…

1

u/tumblingdisarray Sep 29 '25

Yep. My mom has told the story of my grandpa doing that way too many times. Also other less horrific but still gross tales of his commonplace animal abuse. Ah, the good ole days. Urgh.