November 20, 2009Comments are closed.cats, mandatory desexing
Proponents of mandatory desexing legislation seem to be of the opinion that anyone who opposes it must be somehow disconnected from animal sheltering, an animal hater or just plain ignorant. So Dr Harry Corbett got referred to as all of these things when he pointed out to Melton compulsory desexing supporters, that applying laws to owned cats in an attempt to reduce the feral population is well… incredibly stupid.
A Melbourne veterinarian has urged Melton Council not to rush into following the populous view of making cat desexing mandatory.
Bayswater veterinarian Dr Harry Corbett says mandatory desexing is not the answer to curbing the shire’s spiralling cat population.
Leader has been inundated by messages of support for mandatory desexing laws for Melton shire during the past fortnight.
Melton Council is reviewing local laws and expects to strongly advocate mandatory desexing of newly registered dogs and cats next year.
But Dr Corbett says a change in the law was a short-sighted response.
“Over 95 per cent of female house cats are desexed,” he said.
“What the animal welfare people are wanting is a law that forces people to do what they are already doing. Mandatory desexing laws can only work if it is the progeny of household cats that are ending up in the pound.
“We know this is not the case.”
Dr Corbett said 80 per cent of all cats admitted to pounds and shelters were street cats.
Melton Council’s administrative services manager Peter Bean said council officers would investigate all options available before putting forward its recommendations.
He agreed that most of the cat problems were due to feral cats and said it was important not to disadvantage law-abiding owners.
“We have 4000 registered cats, of which only 150 aren’t desexed,” he said.
Melton, as a shire in Victoria, is in the privileged position that it doesn’t need to ‘guess’ the dynamics of the cat population entering its pounds and shelters – there have been university studies done on that population, based in Victoria. (I know – great huh?) These found that 80% of cats entering shelters were non-owned or semi-owned and of the owned cat population 93% are already desexed.
Unfortunately those driving these laws aren’t interested in these figures. Neither are they interested in the fact that mandatory desexing has failed to bring down cat euthanasia rates every single place it’s been tried. They don’t care that compulsory desexing results in more animals dying in shelters as people are pressured into giving up their animals, or that precious resources that could be spent on desexing programs that have been shown to be effective, end up diverted into the expense of enforcement. Nor do they care that the only people who are effected by these laws are poor people, as the pets of people who can afford the surgery are already desexed at near universal rates.
They don’t care and are not interested in any of these things because they’re not looking for, you know solutions.
The ugly truth is, they want to punish people. They honestly believe that with their new legislation they will be able to coerce and bully the public into behaving the way they want. The great irony being that overwhelmingly, people are already doing what they want them to do, and that with a little support, the few remaining would too.
But blustering with self-righteousness, the evidence that cat owners are actually not the problem is not able to be processed. Advocates argue that the laws weren’t enforced enough, or on a large enough scale… you know, when something isn’t working – do it harder (or the definition of insanity),
“Of course this law will work!” they declare. “If people are made desex their cats, then more cats can’t be born and then have to die in shelters.”
And then my favourite;
“If you are anti-compulsory desexing legislation, maybe you should go to your local shelter and kill some kittens; then you’ll see!”
Well, I work in a shelter AND I’m anti-compulsory desexing. If I thought for one moment it would work, then I’d be the biggest advocate around; I’d shout it across the interwebs. But it doesn’t work and has never worked. It fails to protect pets and drives more of them into shelters.
But worst if all, it makes those other programs, the ones that do work, like free pet desexing for low income earners, semi-owned community cats and multiple cat households nearly impossible.
Its time we stopped listening to those who are driven by their ‘feelings’, look at the facts and start rolling out programs that are actually effective.
The cats lives depend on it.
