Saving Species, Killing Cats

The city of Vallejo, Calif., is paying the Agriculture Department to trap and kill animals that prey on an endangered bird and mouse living on the site of the shuttered Mare Island Naval Shipyard. And until recently, those animals included cats, the Vallejo Times-Herald reports. The weapon of choice of the USDA employee who's responsible for getting rid of the predators is a .22 caliber handgun. But since June he's been told that while it's OK to put down trapped raccoons, skunks and opossums, cats should be taken to the local Humane Society facility.