Dec 6, 2007 – ‘Who’s for Cats’ campaign launches at the Lost Dogs Home
The Minister for Agriculture, Joe Helper joined the Cat Protection Society’s Dr Carol Webb at the Lost Dogs Home animal shelter to jointly launch what was lauded to be an innovative public awareness campaign.
The $5 million dollar ‘Who’s for Cats’ campaign, aimed to educate the one in five Victorians who fed stray cats, calling for them to “take ownership or call their council”, with ‘ownership’ under Victorian animal welfare legislation being defined as microchipping the cat and keeping it from wandering.
Jan 20, 2008 – ‘It’s not mean to keep strays lean’
“Feeding an un-owned cat enables it to grow strong enough to reproduce which in turn results in more kittens being born into a life of disease and neglect,” Dr (Carole) Webb said.
“We know many people – often very well intentioned people demonstrating genuine care – feed un-owned cats without realising their actions are contributing to the growth of the stray and feral cat population.”
People feeding a stray cat should contact the council to either take ownership or take the cat to a shelter, she said.
Apr 23, 2008 – Pearcedale RSPCA inundated with impoundments
Pearcedale RSPCA becomes inundated with unwanted cats and kittens.
Shelter supervisor Carrie Mudge said more than 230 had been handed in to the shelter during the first two weeks of April. Last year saw a total of 286 for the whole month.
But she said the dramatic increase was likely the result of the Cat Crisis Coalition campaign to reduce the number of unregistered and fertile cats roaming in the area.
“The Who’s for Cats campaign is asking people to stop feeding the problem and either take full ownership of the cat, or to do the humane thing and bring it to a shelter. And judging by the huge increase we’ve seen this month, the campaign is working.”
Apr 29, 2008 – Record impoundments at RSPCA Peninsula
It’s raining cats and no dogs at the RSPCA Peninsula Shelter.
Manager Carrie Mudge said that as of last night 382 cats and kittens had been handed been handed into the shelter this month.
Ms Mudge said the recent ‘Who’s for Cats’ campaign encouraging Morningington Peninsula residents not to feed cats was to blame for the record numbers.
“We are struggling. We are trying to get as many as possible adopted, but every day more and more cats are getting handed in,” Ms Mudge said.
Jun 24, 2008 – Who’s for Cats ‘successful’
The program starts to be hailed a ‘success’, even though just 73 cats were desexed under the program;
The Who’s For Cats’ May special offer has been successful in helping to reduce the impact of cat overpopulation in Melbourne, Director Bureau of Animal Welfare Dr Steve Tate said today.
Dr Tate said during the month of May, five shelters across Melbourne offered desexing, vaccination and micro-chip identification of semi-owned cats for just $60.
Aug 1, 2008 – Record number of impounds – WFC Campaign update August
The ‘Who’s for Cats’ campaign update in August revealed the following:
* Various council pounds and animal shelters across Victoria have reported record numbers of cats being brought in for surrender since late last year.
* Further evidence of the campaign resulting in behavioural change comes from a recent RSPCA Inspectorate report. The report states that compared to the previous financial year, there has been a 41.9% increase in the number of calls regarding cats and that “the increase began around January and has continued throughout the ‘Who’s for Cats’ campaign.
Sep 17, 2008 – Global warming blamed for cat boom
Despite evidence that the campaign was responsible for the rise in impounds, the idea that ‘global warming’ is to blame is introduced;
The RSPCA claims climate change is producing a boom in the number of feral felines prowling streets in Melbourne’s leafy east.
The society, based in Burwood East, said warmer seasons encouraged breeding and urged moggy lovers to lock up their cats and stop feeding scraps to strays.
RSPCA animal welfare spokesman Andrew Foran said Melbourne’s stray cat population had eclipsed 500,000 and was on the rise.
Oct 29, 2008 – Lost Dogs Home drive campaign publicity
Stray cats: either adopt them or call council – Melbourne’s stray cat overpopulation is at crisis point. There are over 500,000 stray cats living on Melbourne’s streets with disease, neglect and starvation.
Are you feeding a stray cat? Do the right thing and either call your local council, or take full ownership of the cat by desexing, vaccinating and microchipping it.
2008 – Lost Dogs Home sees 40% increase in impoundments
In 2008 The Lost Dogs’ Home saw a 40% increase in cat admissions compared to 2007.
This was mainly due to Melbourne’s cat over population crisis which saw more strays collected of the streets and brought to the Home.
Feb 9, 2009 – Cat crisis clogs shelters “500,000 unowned cats roaming”
Shelters expand operations to cope with the influx of cats.
“Thousands of cats and kittens are being culled and hundreds turned away as animal welfare shelters struggle with a stray cat crisis.
……
The Lost Dogs Home – determined to remain positive during the crisis – last week installed a $70,000 condominium to boost its cat capacity by 50% (30 condos total)
Mar 1, 2009 – Empowered trappers: WFC Campaign Evaluation March 2009
“Who’s for cats?” Campaign Evaluation – March 2009
* With the majority of people responding to campaign messages choosing to impound rather than take ownership of stray cats, it seems that ‘non’ owners have had the biggest impact by getting unowned cats off the street (more so than by semi owners taking ownership of cats).
* Focus group research results provide further evidence that the majority of people taking action were not the semi owners of cats themselves, but rather members of the wider community who were experiencing nuisance associated with unowned cats. Focus group participants thought the ‘Who’s for cats?’ campaign gave people ‘moral permission’ to have stray cats impounded.
* This finding has emphasised the importance of communicating to the ‘Daves’ in the community, i.e. the people who are not semi owners of cats themselves, but who are experiencing nuisance associated with unowned cats, and are therefore likely to respond to campaign messages about the need to have these cats impounded.
* It must also be acknowledged that many semi owners have a bond with the cat they are feeding, and may therefore be unlikely to ever have it impounded. Focus group discussions identified various reasons why these people may also have difficulty in taking full ownership of the cats.
Jun 5, 2009 – The Lost Dogs Home sees ANOTHER 40% increase in impoundments
The Home has seen a 40% increase in the number of cats and kittens admitted to its shelters throughout 2009.
Jun 27, 2009 – The Lost Dogs Home blame global warming for impound increase
Scientists skeptical of Lost Dogs Home ‘global warming’ claims.
October 2009 – Cat statistics for a single month at the Lost Dogs Home
Intakes 840
Adoptions 60
Reclaims 45
Euthanasias 720
March 02, 2010 – Relaunch of the Who’s for Cats Campaign
The WFC campaign is an initiative of the Victorian government supported by Local government, the AVA and the animal welfare societies of Victoria.
* It is estimated that there are at least 500,000 unowned homeless cats living “on the streets” in Victoria.
(Editors note: Still 500,000? I thought this campaign was being deemed a ‘success’ – if so, by what measure?)
* The aim of the campaign is to convince those who feed unowned cats to either adopt them properly, or turn them in to Local government or Animal Shelters for rehabilitation, preparation (health checks and desexing) and rehoming.
March 10, 2010 – 100 cat desexings offered to the community
Similar to other years, just 100 cats desexings are offered to the community;
As part of the “Who’s for cats?” animal welfare campaign, The Lost Dogs’ Home, RSPCA Victoria, Cat Protection Society, Lort Smith Animal Hospital and Animal Aid will desex and microchip a ‘semi-owned’ cat at the heavily discounted fee of $85 ($65 for pensioners/ Healthcare card holders) for people who are willing to take full ownership of semi-owned cats.
March 19, 2010 – Introducing The Lost CATS’ Home
Having driven the cat intakes up to record levels, animal welfare groups are now able to call on the community to help them build bigger and better pounds!
With over 11,000 cats and kittens coming into the Home each year – now outnumbering dog admissions – The Lost Dogs’ Home is committed to providing cats and kittens with the highest level of care.
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Representing one of the most important achievements the Home has made for cat welfare, your gift to The Lost Cats’ Home will help shape the future for cats and kittens and offer them the very best chance at a happy and healthy life.
These shelters could have spent the last three years working with their community to have every single one of these community cats desexed.
So, I (the public) is being blamed for the fact that LDH is killing all these cats.
Maybe the blame should be shared with the shelter, who can but won’t implement a more sensible approach. One being catch, desex and realise. It’s been done in the usa successfully, so why can’t a big organisation like the LDH be part of the solution. I guess there will be a million and one reasons against this. Money being one of them but I do not believe an organistion so large, with so many donations can’t afford it!