Flogging a dead cat

It’s kitten season!

COFFS Harbour RSPCA took in 127 cats and kittens in December, but only found a home for 14.

Darwin’s RSPCA is “bursting at the seams” with about 55 cats and kittens.

It’s “raining kittens” at Unanderra’s RSPCA shelter.

Cat Haven will kill as many as 135 kittens every day through January because it had reached its 130-cat capacity and there were few short-term foster homes available.

RSPCA QLD says as few as one in 10 cats dumped over the Christmas period might be lucky enough to find new homes. They have had more than 840 kittens surrendered since the start of December.

A “flood” of kittens have arrived at the RSPCA Noosa Shelter.

RSPCA NSW said this week it had been forced to kill dozens of kittens each day because it was unable to find suitable homes.

The RSPCA WA has extended its opening hours extended to cope with the enormous influx of kittens seen during the last few months.

and The Warrnambool RSPCA has 90 unwanted kittens up for adoption.

So what is everyone calling for as a solution to this yearly problem? Compulsory desexing of course!!

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The RSPCA says compulsory desexing is still the best way to control cat and dog numbers. ref

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

So what’s happening in the ACT, which have had compulsory desexing for over 7 years – surely by now they would have the kitten problem under control? Err… nope!

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Tabby, black, tortoiseshell, spotty and ginger; the RSPCA (ACT) is overrun with kittens.

More than 160 cuddly, pink-tongued bundles are waiting for adoption at the Weston Creek shelter.

RSPCA ACT chief Michael Linke said yesterday Canberra’s compulsory desexing laws were being ignored.

”The number of kittens presented in December was 278, some 50 more than our five-year average,” he said.

”This is an astonishing increase suggesting the desexing message is still not getting though to some people.”

The animal campaigner said the number of kittens surrendered rose by more than 25 per cent this year. ref

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

From the Australian Veterinary Association;

In 2007, data was collected from the RSPCA ACT and from RSPCA‟s national website, to compare the impact of mandatory desexing legislation after 6 years.

There has been no positive impact associated with the introduction of the legislation. Trends in cat intake and euthanasia in the ACT RSPCA shelter parallel those for NSW (which has no mandatory desexing legislation) and for Australia as a whole.

President of the AVA Dr Kersti Seksel said that while the AVA supports moves to reduce the number of unwanted pets, a strong body of research shows that compulsory de-sexing of owned pets is largely ineffective.

“Research from Victoria has shown that it is the unowned or semi-owned cats that are major contributors to the problem of unwanted pets. Compulsory de-sexing will have no affect on this population, as you cannot make anyone de-sex an unowned cat,” Dr Seksel said. “The majority of cats that are euthanased in shelters come from these cats because they produce more litters, and the animals are not socialised, and cannot be re-homed,” she said. ref

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

So if they’ve tried compulsory desexing and like everywhere else it’s ever been tried, it’s not only not reduced the numbers of cats and kittens, but it has increased shelter killing and wasted valuable animal management resources.

Contrary to what is often repeated, the overwhelming majority of loving pet owners are compliant and are desexing their pets. The shelters are swimming each and every year in the offspring of the semi-owned and ferals and it’s only when we bring in programs to care for them and their welfare, that we will ever see an end to the annual kitten downpour.

In 2009, with what we know now, the ongoing killing is simply a symptom of animal welfare organisations refusal to implement programs that have a chance of success and who feel duty bound to keep repeating defeatist rhetoric’s about ‘irresponsible owners’ that continue to see them fail in their duty to save the lives of pets.