From the Border Mail…
“Friendly, domesticated” cats killed in droves
Just eight of the 183 cats impounded in Albury over nine months have been returned to their owners.
And Albury pound assistant manager Alicia Taylor says she is sick and tired of having to put down cats because their owners can’t be bothered to claim them.
Ms Taylor says it angers her that complacent owners don’t think to call the pound to see whether their pet is there.
Ms Taylor estimates about 80 per cent of cats not claimed by their owners have been put down, with the remaining animals sold to new owners or, on rare occasions, picked up by rescue organisations.
“These are friendly, domesticated cats,” Ms Taylor said.
If we are to ever see a reduction in the number of cats killed in pounds and shelters, we have to move beyond the idea that there is only two kinds of cat ownership – full ownership (likely including confinement)… OR… completely unowned ‘ferals’.
For a start, truly ‘feral’ cats (ones who live without dependence or interaction with people) simply don’t live in urban and suburban areas.
Take a walk down the corridors of your local ‘kill’ shelter and you’ll actually find a mix of moggies, nearly all of which are varying degrees of friendly. They are largely pet cats, who for one reason or another have either been separated from their families, or who have lived in close proximity to people for their entire lives.
Some will have been housepets up until they were impounded. Some would have been ‘semi-owned’ or living off handouts from people not wanting to see them go hungry. Others will have been born wild, but have become used to cars, kids and community living. But regardless of their histories, these cats do deserve compassion and care.
Pounds collecting these cats – as in the case of Albury pound – fails on every level.
– The cats often don’t have ‘owners’ in the traditional sense, so no one is ever going to claim them. Albury’s reclaim rate is a pathetic 4% – continuing to rely on reclaims to save these cats is futile.
– If a cat is not starving, and is otherwise well, they likely have one or many people looking out for them, out in the community. As free-roaming cats, they go ‘missing’ and come back – it’s just what they do. So while they won’t be reclaimed, they do have families who care about them.
– Most will be ‘friendly’ but not oochy-smoochy housepets, so won’t be considered ‘adoptable’. This guarantees the 70%, 80%, 90% kill rates in many pounds and shelters.
– Killing these cats, does not help the cat, nor does it help the community. It doesn’t increase the median desexing level of the cat population to simply keep removing cats (who are happily and healthily living in the community) and killing them. Cats, being cats, will simply fill any ‘vacancies’ with more (undesexed!) cats.
– It is terrible for the staff and rescue groups working on the front line. It eats up their compassion and condemns them to emotional issues.
“What we have here at the moment is the cream of the crop that me and my staff are really battling to not want to put down,” Ms Taylor said.
“It’s just so frustrating … I feel anger towards the owners…
Her fellow staff agree that it is an emotionally draining and upsetting job to put down an animal.
– And impounding free-roaming cats has never worked – ever – to solve our cat ‘problems’. It is a day-in-day-out treadmill that can continue to expand, or remain the same – but that never has an end.
Keeping cats out of shelters isn’t just bleeding hearts wanting to save individual cats. It’s about deciding to take control and put in the programs and services which reduce cat intakes and stabilises and reduces their populations. No pound should be accepting for disposal, a healthy, friendly cat. That cat has a home. She is an outdoor home in the community. She must be returned there. Killing her doesn’t help the community, or the cat.
Are we ready to discuss widescale desexing programs for ALL cats regardless of ownership status yet? If not, then we need to accept that we have no answers and that the killing we’re seeing today, will be the same killing we’ll see tomorrow. And that will be our choice.
