Sorry you were shocked and apparently offended. I'm a bit of an animal rights person and I don't hunt, fish or eat meat. But that doesn't keep me from utilizing leather. And if something is damaging my property or health, I'm gonna kill it.

If I don't get that rat, a hawk or cat might. What's worse? Neither.

From a certain point of view, death by trap is probably kinder to the critter. Cats and hawks don't know/care about "feelings". When a predator catches prey, they don't think "I'd better kill this thing as quickly as possible with as little mental anguish to my food as possible." WHen I was younger I had cats, including one that was an outside cat that killed lots of stuff. It occasionally brought home birds that were mangled but not dead (still making noise and twitching). I've seen birds of prey catch food and start pulling it apart and eating it while it was still alive.

I once watched a juvenile bald eagle swoop down on a mallard duck, snatch the duck out of the water and then stand on it on the shore. The duck was mostly immobilized, but not dead and still moving (the eagle had a serious hold on it, so it wasn't moving much). After 5-10 mins of standing there, the eagle flew off with the duck which was still moving the one dangling wing around.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pfkFL0bn6Vo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

there is currently a bald eagle around my property, and where there is one there are likely two nesting this time of year. worried about my cat, but she won't come in unless she feels like it.

I'd always known that they were big, but since I'd always seen them from a distance, I didn't really get just how big they are. Seeing that one in person from 15-20' away on my mom's back porch was impressive. And the duck that it grabbed wasn't a small bird.

Gophers here seem to have several tunnels to escape to/into. One of the best things I've found to work is one of those garden hose manifolds with four outlets that screw onto a garden hose. I put various length of hose on one and put them down four different holes and turn the water on. Lots of times I get a water logged gopher to pop up from another hole. I make short work of them with a shovel or similar.

i did a search for it to share and could not find a video i saw years ago of an eagle, not a bald eagle but a large bird taking a cat. it was in the burbs as there was a cyclone fence the battle went on against and a guy doing play by play of the battle.

My Favorite Gopher Spoon