As the ‘Who’s for Cats?’ program winds up for another year in Victoria, there’s been an enormous trend toward the trapping and killing of cats;
In Geelong, they’re having the biggest year for cat impoundments ever:
More than 3000 cats and kittens have been handed to Geelong Animal Welfare Society over the past 10 months, making it one of the worst years on the pound’s books for unwanted, stray and feral moggies.
Climate change and a new City of Greater Geelong cat curfew have been blamed for the influx of the pets.
….
From July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 the centre received 3141 cats and kittens.By comparison, 3117 animals had been handed into GAWS for the 2009-10 financial year up to 4pm yesterday.
“We are having an influx of people who are relinquishing cats that have never been used to being confined and just won’t settle.
“A lot of people now know that they have the right to not have a cat or dog on their property and they have the right to do something about it and they are calling the council.
“The council are also picking up cats and bringing them into the centre.”
Most would not find homes, Ms Willers warned.
Which is code for, we’re gonna kill them. And ironic, given the curfew behind this surge in impounds was endorsed by GAWS, stating the laws…
… would help reduce the number of unwanted litters and dumped pets.
Instead, they’re looking at a 30% increase and killing over 4,000 cats this year.
But this astoundingly horrible result, isn’t enough to deter one of the most vocal cat law supporters, Nathan Miles, from contining to petition Melton and Brimbank Shires to follow suit;
A volunteer cat trapper has called for tougher council action on hoarders and irresponsible pet owners, who he says are fuelling the municipality’s growing stray cat population.
Nathan Miles of Caroline Springs devotes much of his spare time to trapping stray cats, collecting 182 in Brimbank in the past 10 months.
Nathan delivers these cats personally to the Melton Shire Council pound, who has a 97.2% kill rate for cats.
Catching and killing. Killing and blaming the public. Its the cycle that cat groups in Victoria are stuck in – calling for stricter and stricter laws on cat owners, that only see impoundment rates increase as free-roaming cats become the undeserving targets. And Councils and the ‘Nathans’ of Victoria are all too willing to help see these cats die.
It’s time that the cat owners of Victoria rejected the notion they are to blame for the current situation and start pressuring government and wealthy animal welfare groups, for services and outreach that protect cats and support semi-owned and feral cat carers. It’s no longer acceptable to still be championing killing.
These laws are the sign of a sick society, intolerance and ignorance and as aways shooting from the hip mentallity.
If someone is trapping cats and they trap your cat you should take legal action against them. There is a law that you can prosecute anyone who traps your cat and disposes of it when it is identified as your property. A cat is property just as a horse or cow is property so Criminal action can be taken for destruction of property.(nothing to do with the animal protection laws). You can prosecute through the magistrates court very cheaply. So call the police and take action a few dollars short in their pockets may bring some light on these people and hurt them and their families just as they are hurting someone whose cat they steal or kill.
A more serious side to all this is that people who trap and kill for the love of it should be closely watched as they would have pathalogical tendencies and it has been proven that these people go on to be serial killers and other undesirables. Well documented on the web.
I think, all the while cat welfare groups are echoing the message of those groups dedicated to the killing of non-native animals; scapegoating free-roaming cats for the habitat destruction and wildlife decline caused by humans… we will have this situation where no one is standing up for the rights of cats to live.
And with no one standing up for the cats – people like Nathan, will continue to be empowered, thinking they’re helping because that’s what they’ve been told.
It’s only when we stop pitting ‘native’ against ‘introduced’ and start acknowledging they both have the right to live in the environment, will we start to work on holistic programs.
You would think that cat ‘welfare’ groups would be leading the charge on this, but unfortunately they are still defending the killing. These cats, in their eyes, are better off dead.
I feel quite ill reading this article and seeing that photo. Pathological, indeed. Thanks for highlighting the stats and for the info on standing up for ‘cats as property’. Money does talk.
By discriminating between owned and unowned cats (90% of cats are not fortunate enough to have an owner) we promote discriminatory treatment of animals. The result of discrimination is always cruelty. Lethal and legislative means of reducing cat numbers have proved to be, not only expensive and inhumane, but also unsuccessful.
A program of education and assistance to voluntarily desex has proved worldwide to be the cheapest, most effective and HUMANE wasy to reduce cat numbers. Killing cats, apart from being cruel, often results in an increase in cat numbers because these cats will then be replaced by undesexed, fertile ferals who were previously excluded from the area by the patrolling (often desexed) ones defending their territory.
The damage cats do to the environment pales into total insignificance when compared to the real causes, namely: deforestation, pesticides, chemical sprays and destruction of habitat. Sixty percent of native animals are predators, including the quoll which is a native cat.