Why Australia is anti-cat

Direct evidence of the impact of feral cat predation is difficult to collect, as feral cats tend to be shy and elusive. It is also difficult to separate out the effect of feral cats from other factors that may lead to the decline of a native species, such as competition from other introduced animals and clearing of habitat.

In some areas of Australia, such as the tropics, Kangaroo Island and Tasmania, feral cats have been around for more than a century and don’t appear to have contributed to extinctions of any native animals.

The NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change Pest Animals website

It seems no creature has ever been more maligned than the cat, but interestingly it’s quite an ‘Australian’ thing to hate them. Accused of wiping out native species, it seems almost patriotic to be anti-cat, but other countries such as the UK don’t persecute cats in the same way and actually have quite a strong preference to cats as great companions for people who work.

Australian men really don’t like cats (sorry to any cat loving Australian men) it is extremely unusual to  meet a single Australian male who owns a cat, but not so in the UK. Cats are easily rehomed and just as popular with blokes as women or couples.

PetRescue’s Vix commenting on her recent trip to the UK

So if they make such great pets and are only one small part of the ecological destruction that’s taking place in Australia, who are these anti-cat sentiments being drummed up by?


Well, obviously there are the conservationists who see cats as a threat to wildlife. And the associated debate tends to focus on two images; the big nasty cat vs the small furry marsupial. Of course our heart strings are going to be plucked for the native mouse – but is it a realistic argument to say cats are to blame for their extinction?

Approximately 2.5 million native animals are killed by motor vehicles in NSW alone each year, that’s 7,000 a day.

WIRES

Cats do impact on wildlife, but there has been a great deal of misinformation and propaganda about the true harm they cause. This debate has become so heated at times, fuelled by a minority of vocal cat haters who often have the ear of government, that people have lost sight of the fact that it is humans themselves who are the real culprits. Massive, ongoing and largely irreversible damage to the environment by human activity is the main reason for the loss of wildlife, the impact of cats being infinitesimal in comparison.

The truth about cats and wildlife puts some perspective on the issue

Further sources of anti-cat sentiment are media ‘personalities’ who still think it’s funny to hurt cats;

I tried the traditional methods — water, screaming, Caligula — but the thing about cats is that they always have an exit strategy, so it’s hard to nail them in a way that convinces them to never return.

The Age’s Jim Schembri on Adventures in cat proofing

(I wonder if it would had been so ‘hilarious’ if it had been a golden retriever rather than a cat that he had been trying so hard to ‘nail’?)

And finally, the very people you would think would actually be on the cats’ side – cat protection groups – seem to feel unless a cat is an indoor, owned cat it’s better off dead and happily push the ‘cats kill wildlife’ agenda, which seems completely at odds with their pledge to save cats.

The Minister for Agriculture, Joe Helper, today joined the Cat Protection Society to urge people to restrain from feeding Victoria’s half a million stray or feral cats, and arrange for any strays to be collected by the local council.

“People think they are being kind by feeding stray or feral cats without realising they are contributing to a massive problem that condemns the animals to a life of disease, neglect, public nuisance and threats to native wildlife,” Mr Helper said.

Eleven animal welfare and industry organisations are taking part in this public education campaign, which will run throughout the state for a minimum of 12 months. Organisations supporting the campaign are the Animal Welfare Science Centre, Australian Veterinary Association, Cat Protection Society, Department of Primary Industries, Lort Smith Animal Hospital, Monash University, Municipal Association of Australia, Pet Industry Association of Australia, RSPCA, The Lost Dogs’ Home and Victorian Animal Aid.

‘Who’s for cats?’ campaign launch media release With friends like these…

While it seems easy to just make cat laws the same as dog laws (desex + confine) by demanding this we’re giving charte blanche to councils to ‘dispose’ of any cats living outside these parameters. With no one defending a cats right to live and not always be as reliant on humans as the dog, we’re saying to our community ‘it’s ok to hate cats, owners should keep them out of your way, otherwise consider them fair game for abuse”.


But what about the ownerless? And the semi-owned? As animal welfare ambassadors it should be our role to defend the right of all cats to be respected as living, feeling individuals, just as important as any other and with a right to life and protection.