What if council was using the registration fees you are paying as responsible cat lover, to collect and kill other, less fortunate cats? Guess what? They probably are…
The City of Whyalla is about to start targeting cats. And they’re going to use the registration fees from cat lovers in the community to do the collecting and killing.
The City have bylaws passed in 2007 which required microchipping, cat registration and a 10pm-6am curfew. However, Whyalla City Council animal management officers had been unable to proactively police these bylaws to date, due to “resourcing issues”.
Ranger Services Team Leader Matt Werner told local media, that he believed the City had a “cat problem”. And that their plans to begin enforcing cat registration, will generate enough income for Council to begin running “proactive cat trapping programs”.
(They had previously relied on the RSPCA to manage the City’s unwanted cats, but the RSPCA practice ceased in 2012 with the RSPCA refusing to take any cat surrendered to them by members of the public or Council).
What will happen to the cats once they’re brought in?
“When we pick them up we hang onto them for as long as we can, probably for about 72 hours”
Council says it is currently euthanising only about 12 to 15 cats per month, but that it hopes through it’s efforts, to grow that number;
“We want to know which cats are owned and which ones aren’t so we can manage the cat problem we have.”
“Our main drive is to get rid of the feral, ill and stray cats that are around which nobody owns and to distinguish which ones are owned,” said Whyalla City Council ranger and compliance officer Rachel Coles;
“Get rid of” is at least an honest way to describe expanding the City’s cat culling plans. Council also will be arming cat-haters in the neighbourhood;
… if someone had a problem with cats in their area they could hire a cat trap for $15 per week, with a $50 deposit which would be refunded upon return of the trap.
If a cat is caught the person cannot dispose of the animal, they will have to take it to the council.
Council has identified that their ‘problem’ comes primarily “from stray, semi-owned and feral cats.” While the City has considered more humane, non-lethal management techniques, they have since discounted them;
“A lot of people like the idea of catching a stray cat, getting it desexed and releasing it, but there’s a lot of problems with that,” Mr Werner said.
…
“You can desex a colony and you only have to miss one male or one female, a female can have up to two kittens a year, so there’s another colony that forms again, so it’s a huge issue and I think the best way to do it is to take those animals out of the environment.”
If you miss a cat and don’t desex it, then yes, you have a problem. Which is why the cat welfare groups target locations known to support cat colonies to keep picking up any new cats joining the group (managed colonies).
Lethal programs suffer EXACTLY the same issue of ‘missed cats’, except in the lethal scenario, some cats are killed, a few cats are missed, no one pays any attention, more cats move in, and cats breed up to nuisance levels again and yup – more killing. REPEAT the cat killing forever.
Despite its claims, Whyalla animal management isn’t known for proactive, pet-friendly policies. Up until 2010, it was still stuffing unwanted cats and dogs into a homemade carbon monoxide unit, powered by an old Holden motor.
Currently, cats are being killed at a rate of about under a contract through Whyalla Veterinary Clinic, at a ‘discounted rate’ of $55.00 per cat.
Killing pets is no big deal in Whyalla. Stay tuned for many more ‘oopsie’ kills as people’s pets start being ‘proactively’ removed from the street – paid by the community’s cat registration fees – and culled at the local vet.
Ref articles: Council to introduce cat registration – Whyalla News (April 29, 2014)
Council to become cat proactive – Whyalla News (Sept 24, 2013)
Whyalla Council Agenda March 13, 2014 (pdf)
An end to gassing – Whyalla News (Sept 22, 2010)
