Something to consider before breaking out the Soylent Green:

Hunters across the state will be asked to vote next month on whether cats should be hunted.

A La Crosse man who hunts and traps wants to make free-roaming domestic cats an "unprotected species" that could be shot at will by anyone with a small-game hunting license.

Mark Smith's suggestion will be placed before hunters on April 11 at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress spring hearings in each of the state's 72 counties. Smith, a 48-year-old firefighter for the city of La Crosse, said any cat not under its owner's direct control, or which does not have a collar, should be considered fair game.

"If I'm in the woods and see a cat that doesn't have a collar, then I could shoot it," Smith said. "It gives people some leeway if they want to remove cats."

He added, "I get up in the morning and if there's new snow, there's cat tracks under my bird feeder ... I look at them as an invasive species, plain and simple."

I love rural Wisconsin.

Update: Looks like Australia's got this one figured out already: Want to go on a kitty-hunting safari? (Scroll down.) That's just wrong!

Another: Hah! Perhaps the cats won't take this lying down -- it seems this one just shot his owner: "A man cooking in his kitchen was shot after one of his cats knocked his 9mm handgun onto the floor, discharging the weapon, Michigan State Police said..."