The managed colony of cats are of happy disposition and form a part of the framework of our animal inhabitants, who contribute their fair share in the balance of nature.
Their elimination is both foolhardy and cruel.
Bob Kerridge CEO Auckland SPCA
This month’s (US) Animal Sheltering magazine features no less than three articles on Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) programs and the enormous effectiveness they’re having overseas.
Twenty years ago, the typical municipal response to public complaints about stray and feral cats fell into one of two catergories; the cats were trapped and killed, or the call was simply ignored.
But research has increasingly indicated that trap-and-euthanase (kill) programs fail; because of cat population dynamics; when some cats are removed those remaining have larger litters, more of whom survive.
More and more communities have come to recognize the humane and practical value of well-managed TNR programs. With proper implementation and monitoring, TNR can help to permanently reduce cat numbers and improve quality of life for feral cats. ref
So how are Australian cat welfare advocates embracing the new wave of animal saving programs taking place overseas?
The Victorian ‘Who’s for Cats?’ campaign is regarded as one of the forerunning initiatives to address the cat overpopulation problem in Australia. Based around the premise of addressing the semi-owned cat issue, the slogan is simple;
“stray cats: either adopt them or call your council”
(read: adopt it or call us and we’ll catch it and kill it)
Which is exactly the same way animal welfare has been handling the cat issue since the RSPCA started in 1871 and it hasn’t worked yet. However, they seem to think this year might be the year.
In light of this new thinking from overseas that TNR programs are a humane answer to stabilising cat numbers, while presenting at the recent AAWS on the ‘Who’s For Cats?’ Dr Carol Webb, the head of the The Cat Protection Society, was asked “has your group considered Trap Neuter and Release as part of the program?”
Her response;
In terms of in Victoria, it’s actually illegal at the moment and it’s difficult to get around the legislation because all the cats must be registered and so there has to be somebody who takes responsibility for them.
Caring for homeless cats is illegal!? That seems like a law someone who hates cats might dream up. So who was it lobbied for compulsory registration? The Cat Protection Society!
In the next couple of weeks, the Cat Crisis Coalition (CCC)- made up of the RSPCA, the Lost Dogs Home and the Cat Protection Society – will make its official debut
This is the same coalition that successfully lobbied for the Domestic Animals Act 10 years ago. ref
The Domestic Animals Act that requires that;
(1) The owner of a dog or cat must apply to register that dog or cat with the Council of the municipal district in which the dog or cat is kept, if the animal is over 3 months old.
So the laws prohibiting TNR programs were initiated by the CCC. The very same group now blaming these laws for not being able to be able to implement these life saving programs!
But laws for compulsory registration have been a huge success, right? Well, despite claims at the time that compulsory registration would reduce the killing by helping shelters identify lost cats, according to the CCC, they didn’t effect the cat population or euthanasia rates one box’o’kittens;
The numbers of cats entering shelters has not decreased over the past twenty years, in fact numbers have increased and the percentage being euthanased has not changed significantly. Overall, 53,000 cats enter Victorian shelters annually, of these 35,000 are euthanased (75%)
So compulsory registration has been a massive failure in reducing pound populations or the number of pets killed.
Well no. Despite their last attempt at crafting laws to curb ‘irresponsible owners’ being a flop, rather than look to trying new ideas based on programs that have worked elsewhere Dr Webb and the CCC are working to up the strength of the old legislation;
For the first time, all major Victorian shelters have joined together with the sole aim of achieving mandatory desexing of cats, in order to reduce cat overpopulation and stop the heartbreaking destruction of so many cats each year. Cat Crisis Coalition website
But hangon; wasn’t the problem that the old laws that they didn’t actually address the issue of unowned cats? And aren’t these new laws also targeting animals that have owners? Well yes…
The president of the Australian Veterinary Association, Kersti Seksel, agreed the cost would be unjustified, and said compulsory desexing was largely ineffective.
She said research from Victoria showed unowned or semi-owned cats were responsible for most unwanted offspring. “Compulsory desexing will have no effect on this population, as you cannot make anyone desex an unowned cat.” ref
Even the CCC agrees owned cats are desexed;
As the majority of cat owners are responsible (AVA cites 94%), compulsory desexing will not add any additional cost to owners as they are doing it already.
So if owned cats are desexed and unowned cats aren’t, does Dr Webb really think this new law will work? And is it really anything new?
Nope! Dr Webb has been thinking we should have this new law that won’t work, for more than two decades;
Mandatory desexing of cats? I unashamedly say I’m a strong supporter of it. There is a reluctance in some quarters to introduce it because they don’t believe it will be effective. In terms of whether on it’s own is going to be effective then no, a holistic approach is required with all the tools to be directed at varying levels of the population to bring it under control. But a strong supporter yes, I’ve been that for twenty years and I’ll be it for twenty more.
Dr Webb, AAWS Conference Q&A Session
Any new laws should be based on science, on what works and not cause more problems than it solves. But once again the people pushing for this legislation are not doing so based not on fact, but emotion and the old fashioned premise that they have to ‘punish’ and already compliant public to be effective.
The result of the ‘Who’s for Cats?’ program to date? According to Dr Webbs presentation; a 25% increase in cat intakes and shelters receiving record numbers of impoundments. They’ve bought some trapping cages to reduce the waiting list for council provided traps. 3 out of 4 cats that wind up in the shelters are put to death. And the campaign is being hailed a success!
Despite a history of failure of new laws or campaigns based around catch and kill to improve the situation for cats, the failure of the CCC to improve shelter kill rates from 75%, the likelyhood that compulsory desexing will actually increase the number of cats killed and that these new laws will render proven lifesaving TNR programs completely workable, the ever-enthusiastic CCC are pushing ahead.
From this weeks Manningham Leader
Animal welfare agencies are not pussyfooting around their anger at Manningham Council’s decision not to introduce mandatory cat desexing.
The Cat Crisis Coalition, a group of 12 cat welfare organisations, wants Manningham Council to only register cats that have been desexed.
Coalition spokeswoman Carole Webb said the council’s revised Domestic Animal Management Plan, released last month, was “manifestly inadequate†and “does not seriously address the issues of cat overpopulation or high euthanasia ratesâ€.
Sure, they’ve been rejected this time. But with local government being pressured by the state’s main animal welfare groups, it’s only a matter of time before the people who purport to care for cats, get the powers they need to kill many, many more.
Legislation may be worded so that the result of non-compliance is the impoundment and death of the animal. Many jurisdictions have seen their impound and death rates increase following the passage of laws which give agencies carte blanche to round up and kill outdoor animals. If a shelter has high rates of shelter killing, it makes no sense to support the passing of laws that give them greater power and more reasons to impound – and subsequently kill – even more animals.
Redemption – Nathan Winograd
How many cats have to die before we stop history repeating and look to other countries to find out what works? Only time will tell.
There are more than 30,000 unwanted cats born in Victoria every year. More than half of these end up in Carole Webb’s office. She kills about 10,000 a year.
The average life of a shelter worker is six months. “I understand why people have to get out, but I can’t,” says Dr Webb. “There is no one willing to take my place.” ref
Lost Dogs Home director Graeme Smith said the shelter was fully behind the legislation.
“The Lost Dogs Home sees 10,000 cats or kittens a year, with an adoption rate of 5 per cent,” Dr Smith said. ref
“Unowned cats are a significant source of nuisance in the community. They prey on wildlife, fight with owned cats and spread disease.†RSPCA animal welfare spokesman Andrew Foran
The unacceptable truth is these groups are busy doing what they’ve always done, blaming an irresponsible public and continuing to kill. Cat lovers should be outraged that those who claim to care the most for cat welfare would rather have more laws to allow them to kill even more cats than fully support piloting lifesaving TNR programs.
