Circle of Blame
Step 1. Have your community alert you to unacceptably high cat kill rates.
Step 2. Blame ‘the irresponsible public’ for the numbers
Step 2. Provide cat traps
Step 3. Blame ‘the irresponsible public’ for the surge in impounds
Step 4. Send cats to pounds with a 90%+ kill rate
Step 5. Blame ‘the irresponsible public’ for the killing
Step 6. (See step 1.)
Repeat
Moreland (VIC) pet-owners are urged to desex cats and dogs to help arrest the problem of illegal pet dumping.
After collecting more than 1000 animals off the streets since July 2009, Moreland Council said it is alarmed by the number of pets being dumped in the municipality.
The council handed residents some 800 cat cages to trap stray and feral cats over the period.
Lost or abandoned pets are sent to the Lost Dogs Home or Cat Protection Society where they must be destroyed if unclaimed within 28 days under a state Code of Practice.
While those caught dumping an animal can face 12 months in prison and up to $14,000 fines, RSPCA Victoria Senior Inspector Simon Primrose said there was still about half a million stray cats.
“The community should be taking more responsibility in this regard and cutting the problem off at the source by getting their pets desexed,” said Insp Primrose.
“If these animals are not able to indiscriminately breed, we would see far fewer unwanted animals being abandoned.”
It’s genius. At no point does the council have to actually address the ‘half a million’ stray, breeding animals with humane solutions, but it can be seen to be taking action by lending traps and maybe even punishing the ‘irresponsible public’ in the coming months with some new cat laws.
Speaking of cat laws, an update from Wyndham (VIC). After being criticised last year for not providing any enforcement for their dusk to dawn curfew, and with 1200 cats impounded by council for the year (781 killed), the Council did what councils often do – not terribly much. This year celebrates the 10th anniversary of their cat curfew with the news that not a single person has been fined under the law in a decade. Cat impoundments however remain steady at 1100 cats impounded in 2009-10 (935 killed).
The council could not say how many complaints it was taking about cats wandering at night, saying these were not recorded.
On why no one had been fined under the curfew, prohibiting cats being off their owners’ property from 10pm and 6am and banning them from public areas, the council said most residents did not know where wandering cats came from.
It also said most trapped cats had no identification and were never claimed, meaning there was no one to fine.
The only cats effected by laws like curfews are those animals unfortunate enough to be living without owners, meaning we’re not punishing an ‘irresponsible public’ with these laws… but the cats themselves.
Whether its registration, curfews or mandatory desexing, the laws are proving not only unenforceable, but ineffective. If you genuinely are a cat lover, only support those initiatives that help and protect cats. Cat laws fail to do either.
