Via TDPF, the latest round of Madisonian infamy featured by The Smoking Gun is the lethal poisoning of two cats by a septuagenarian near east side resident. As reported by the online scandal sheet, Myrtle Maly, 78, was arrested last week "for poisoning her neighbor's cats after the animals came into her backyard and attacked some birds."

Maly admitted to MPD officers that in late May, she spiked a can of "Special Kitty Salmon Dinner" with d-Con rodent poison and set it out for her Spaight Street neighbor's cats, Tiger and Tangerine. According to her statement, this was in retaliation for the cats' continued hunting of songbirds in her backyard.

These acts of felicide instantly bring to mind Q62 at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, i.e., Wisconsin's flirtation with legalizing the killing of wild, free-roaming uncollared cats. After generating widespread national attention for and ridicule of Wisconsin, the question was dropped from consideration in mid-May.

The report from TSG contains Maly's mugshot and the three-page criminal complaint (pages one, two, and three), including Maly’s statement that "I have a good feeling, because the birds are happy now." The details of the State of Wisconsin vs. Myrtle C. Maly in Dane County Circuit Court are also available.

Though Q62 remains only as a legacy of state embarrassment, some people are still working to address the issue of feral cats. Yesterday, a Feral Forum was held at Monona Terrace, intended to "bring together groups and individuals that have an interest in revolutionizing our state's outdated and uncoordinated approach to confronting the harsh realities that so many cats in our state face on an annual basis." Persons attending the forum included affiliates of the Humane Society of the United States, Dane County Friends of Ferals, Country Animal Haven, Alliance for Animals, Alley Cat Allies, Dane County Humane Society, and the Wisconsin Humane Society.

The Feral Forum was organized by WisconsinCAT (an outgrowth of Don’t Shoot the Cat). Don't Shoot the Cat created to lobby against Q62 by Ted O'Donnell of MadCat Supplies, and has been lately organizing around promoting feline welfare.

Previous local recipients of attention from TSG include Audrey Seiler, a complaint about a license plate spotted at West Towne, and a couple of instances of lewd and lascivious behavior on State and Regent streets.

Besides being featured on TSG, this unneighborly affair was reported at the end of last week in the State Journal and the Cap Times. More (mostly asinine) discussion about the crime is available via the Capital Newspapers message board.

Note: The graphic of d-Con is courtesy The Smoking Gun.