The great cat showdown; will the RSPCA choose compassion or killing?

In Mackay (QLD), a group of community cats live behind some shops;

The owner and staff at Divas Den, and workers at a nearby business have been feeding the cats for many months but with another blossoming cat expecting a new litter, say the situation cannot continue.

“They are only going to keep on multiplying,” worried shop owner Melinda Flingsby says.

“If we get any more we are going to be the crazy cat ladies.”

 

Why do these ladies believe caring for the cats is the right thing to do? It’s a no-brainer… they’re cat lovers!

She and co-worker Leanne Jones do not want the cats harmed.

 

Meanwhile, what is the ‘answer’ as presented by local authorities?

“Any cat caught should be brought to the Mackay Pound where it will be checked and scanned for identification.”

 

Even though the City has has compulsory cat registration since 2008, obviously the chances of an unowned cat having ID is practically nil. So these cats, on entering the pound, will have 72 hours before their lives are in danger. Unless they act ‘feral’ or have a transmissable disease like ringworm or flu (which they might since they’re unowned) which would mean they may be killed on entry into the pound.

The community solution = compassion.

The animal management solution = killing.

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Meanwhile, in Canberra a population of strays are living around office block.

Having schemed their way into the hearts of office workers in Woden, they have proved too elusive for rangers to corner.

The drains, bridges and causeway around the Callam Offices are the perfect hide-out for the black strays.

Senior ranger Matt Goodman says it’s impossible to know how many of the moggies live in the area, because when approached they slip up stormwater pipes off the main causeway of Yarralumla Creek. He says that’s only half the battle.

 

And why are people caring for these cats?  It’s a no-brainer… they’re cat lovers!

”Members of the public feed them. People think it is better to feed them than to let them starve. People around the offices leave cat food. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. They believe it’s a better option than the cats killing wildlife.”

 

The RSPCA in the ACT has long claimed that thanks to compulsory desexing, microchipping and registration legislation (since 2000), they no longer have a cat ‘problem’. However, rangers admit these cats actually exist in large numbers, and that they are impossible to remove;

Rangers are restricted from trapping on public land and even if they were eradicated, other cats would quickly replace them, much the same as possums will move in on a place vacated by another possum.

”Canberra has a big urban landscape [and]  it is near impossible to control stray and feral cat populations,” says Goodman.

The problem was raised in 2011, when Territory and Municipal staff estimated the city had a cat population of 24,000.

 

The City’s solution? To impound strays. Although boasting a ‘low’ kill rate, 100% of feral cats are still killed at the RSPCA ACT.

The community solution = compassion.

The animal management solution = killing.

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Last week I reported on the decision by the RSPCA in Victoria, to support Monash City Council’s ban on feeding unowned cats. While the Victorian ‘Who’s for Cats’ program acknowledged that up to one in four cat owners was feeding an extra stray or two, the organsation steadfastly refuses to evolve its position to assist and support people who care for cats, rather than demonise them.

However, over in New Zealand, animal welfare groups are actually standing up for animal welfare.

In one corner lobbying for cats, the national SPCA (Bob Kerridge) and Maddie’ Fund (Rich Avanzino)…

Mr Avanzino heads Maddie’s Fund, an organisation pushing for the euthanising of homeless cats and dogs in the US to be stopped by the end of next year.

“Here in America, we’ve gone from killing 24 million cats and dogs each year, to less than three million.”

 

… versus the cat haters & millionaire rent-a-gob Gareth Morgan, who embarrassingly, are holding up Australia as a model for cat management;

Dr Morgan’s Morgan Foundation is, meanwhile, pushing ahead with its controversial Cats to Go campaign, which aims to reduce New Zealand’s cat population in order to save native species. (They are) opposed the SPCA’s trap-neuter-release policy and considered the animals not stray but “feral”.

It seems to me the crunch is coming. Will the RSPCA evolve it’s thinking and national position to more accurately reflect the compassion of it’s local community – the people on the street – and, let’s face it, 50% of it’s donor base in cat lovers… OR… will it continue to side with the ‘Gareth Morgan’s’ of the world, calling for the widespread slaughter of cats?

They can no longer have it both ways. Claiming to be an advocate for our second most favourite pet, while simultaneously supporting policies directly leading to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of them annually – they’re gonna have to choose.

So what’s it going to be RSPCA? Compassion or killing?

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WOWzers! Crystal ball much? About an hour after I pressed ‘publish’ on this piece, this landed in my email;

 

Dear supporter,

Bill to support Trap Neuter Release of wild animals

What: Alex Greenwich, Member for Sydney, will introduce a bill in NSW Parliament to support TNR programs. TNR is a scientifically proven way to humanely control cat and rabbit colonies in our community. Please join him to show your support. We need as many people as possible.

When: Thursday 11 September at 10.00 a.m.

Where: The Gallery, NSW Legislative Assembly (the Lower House) Parliament House

This is the first time in Australia such a Bill has been introduced and its ramifications could potentially save the lives of and stop terrible suffering of trillions of animals if taken up around Australia.

Simply because it is revolutionary there may be great resistance to this Bill so please, as many of you and your friends and family come and join us in the Gallery to show other politicians this Bill must go through. By your numbers show other politicians this matter is of great importance.

TNR programs primarily involve desexing a large proportion of a specific population of un-owned, stray and wild animals and returning them to the place where they were found. The animals can no longer produce new offspring, helping to stabilise the population and potentially reducing it through natural attrition. Animals also get vet treatment before being returned such as vaccination, deworming and flea treatment and those animals who can be, are rehomed. For programs to work, new animals who join the group need to be desexed.

TNR programs exist around the world, particularly in the United States, as a humane alternative to euthanasia, which often involves cruel methods like baiting that causes a slow and painful death and can kill other non-target animals.

A number of TNR programs are being run in Australia and these are done by volunteers.

Generally TNR programs are carried out on urban cat colonies. Cats are provided with food and water, monitored for the need for veterinary care and can be provided with shelter.

TNR programs are also increasingly being used to control rabbit populations and there is interest in trialling programs on other introduced species.

TNR programs exist around the world, particularly in the United States, as a humane alternative to euthanasia, which often involves cruel methods like poisoning that causes a slow and painful death and can kill other non-target animals.

Here in Sydney the volunteer non-profit organisation the Campus Cat Coalition manages a population of homeless cats and kittens living on The University of New South Wales property. The coalition comprises of staff, students, residents and community volunteers. Cats and kittens are humanely trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated and either rehomed or released back onto the campus territory where they are fed and monitored. Before the coalition began the colony was rapidly expanding, but since implementing the program the population has stabilised.

TNR programs are also run at Callan Park, in Marrickville, and across the metropolitan area. The University of Victoria has entered into a pilot project agreement for a long-term management plan of a wild rabbit population on campus.

While the Campus Cat Coalition has been able to avoid potential breaches of the law by registering the university as the cats’ owner, other programs are in legal limbo because releasing an animal could constitute ‘abandoning’ that animal under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979. It could also breach the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974, which makes it an offence to liberate a non-native animal anywhere in New South Wales without a licence.

Time to choose – compassion or killing.

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On a personal note, this is terribly suffering ‘feral’ cat that the RSPCA says I shouldn’t be feeding. #LetHimStarve

 

 

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See also: HINT – if you find yourself siding with Gareth Morgan, you’ve taken a wrong turn.