A PLAN to allow people to shoot cats found on public land has raised the ire of a Bendigo animal welfare group.The Sporting Shooters Association of Australia’s Victoria (SSAV) branch is lobbying the state government to allow its members to shoot cats in state and national parks.The association’s chief executive officer Don Piccoli said cats were destroying Victoria’s wildlife and the government had to act.“What happens is a lot of domestic cats run wild and become feral damaging our native wildlife,” he said.“That’s why things like the bilby are almost extinct.“What we’re saying is our members, under a proper program, should be allowed to dispatch cats in the wild.“If we have our hunters out in the bush, if they see a cat in a national park they should be fair game.” The proposal would also allow SSAV members to shoot cats that come within 200 metres of dwellings.Mr Picolli said that such a program would not result in vigilantes roaming Bendigo’s streets.Shooting a firearm is illegal in built-up areas, and Mr Piccoli said the rule changes would specifically benefit farmers and people abutting public land.“If a cat is on public land unsupervised they are breaching the law anyway,” he said.“If people care about their cats they should be caring about where they are.”The SSAV’s request comes after a Strathdale resident declared war against Bendigo’s cats, posting warnings on a public notice board that they would kill any cat that came onto their property. Mr Piccoli said he did not condone that kind of behaviour. “We are not advocating for stupidity like that,” he said.“If he was a member of our group I would be asking for him to be removed.”Bendigo Animal Welfare and Community Services president Debbie Edwards said any of the changes proposed by the SSAV would amount to animal cruelty.“You have people who might not know how to shoot properly,” she said. “The only humane way to euthanise a cat is at the vet clinic.”Ms Edwards said if cats were trapped and then taken to the pound they could be identified or re-homed.She said it was too hard to differentiate between strays and domestic cats, and pets would be put at risk.“We wouldn’t advocate shooting feral cats anyway,” she said.“It’s not a humane way to kill a cat.”