Pet cats under fire from the ABC

 

The ABC is still going on about cats. Except the claims are getting broader, less accurate and more fanciful with every article. From ‘Calls for Australian cats to be kept indoors’;

 

“With feral cats killing as many as 75 million Australian creatures every day…”

This ’75 million Australian creatures’ quote seemed to first come into being in 2012. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) stated;

Total population estimates vary from 5 million to 18 million feral cats… Each feral cat kills between 5-30 animals per day… Taking the lower figure in that range (five) – and multiplying it by a conservative population estimate of 15 million cats – gives a minimum estimate of 75 million native animals killed daily by feral cats.

 

That is how they worked it out. They simply took a ballpark number (15 million cats) and multiplied it by another ballpark figure (5 animals) and *dusts hands* job done.

Except. Ecologists don’t know how many cats there actually are in Australia.

Professor David Pimentel and colleagues at Cornell University in 2001 quoted a figure of 18 million feral cats in Australia, with the reference being an anonymous 1996 New Zealand newspaper article.

Then in 2004 a Pest Animal Control CRC report cited Pimentel for the figure of 18 million cats and in 2008 the Commonwealth Threat Abatement Plan for predation by feral cats cited the 2004 report also for the figure of 18 million.

In their 2010 report, Dr Elizabeth Denny and Professor Chris Dickman stated the following: “Pimentel et al (2001) estimated that there are approximately 18 million feral cats in Australia, although the accuracy of this estimation is unknown”.

The series of reports detailed above are all relying on a single citation of an anonymous 1996 New Zealand newspaper article.

The newspaper article in question takes its figure of 18 million from the same Parliament speech by MP Richard Evans on October 17 1996 that called for the eradication of feral cats. Evans also quoted figures of 5 and 12 million, but took the figure of 18 million from a 1993 NSW Parliament speech by then state Labor MP Bob Martin where he stated “Wildlife experts state that between 5.6 million and 18.4 million of these animals are roaming Australia”.

A number of sources incorrectly cite a 1991 report for those figures, which seem to have come from this 1993 pamphlet. In turn, the pamphlet doesn’t say where it took its numbers from. (highlighting mine)

Wherever they came from, these figures seem to be the best estimate we have.

 

and

Calculating an absolute number of feral cats in Australia is a very difficult exercise. Australia is a vast and diverse continent, both spatially and temporally.

Estimates of cat population densities range from 0.03 to 4.7 cats per square kilometre in relatively unmodified and pastoral landscapes, and from 0.7 to 800 cats per square kilometre in highly modified landscapes, such as rubbish dumps.

Extrapolating these figures across the entire continent would yield some fairly wide confidence intervals. Taking a conservative estimate of 1 cat per square kilometre across the entire continent would amount to nearly 8 million cats.

But calculating a more reliable estimate would involve using different density estimates for different climatic regions and would also need to consider inter-annual variation caused by rainfall.

 

And while the quote in the media has rapidly become ’75 million native animals’, these rubbery, pulled-out-of-the-sky numbers were actually for ALL animals cats prey upon. Rather than eat ‘native’ animals exclusively these cats eat all kinds of animals, including a large proportion of other introduced species;

The assumption that cats eat five native animals each night may hold true in northern Australia where European rabbits are largely absent, but it won’t always stand up in the southern half of the continent where rabbits form a staple part of cats’ diets in many areas.

 

(Not to mention rats and mice in more urban locations).

So why did the AWC want the ’75 million native animals’ ditty to catch hold? Well, they were very clear in their original piece;

 

That’s right – FUNDRAISING. This was a direct mail piece to potential supporters, but now they want the government to fund the programs they provide. This whole effort – report, media and catchy-dead-animal slogan – is designed to direct money into AWC coffers. And the ABC has unwittingly become the major mouthpiece for the campaign.

The huge number of anti-cat articles coming out of the ABC is getting a little absurd

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But the ABC isn’t done yet regurgitating half-truths. And make no mistake, now they’re coming for your pets;

 

“The call for tighter restrictions on cat ownership is being echoed across the country as councils cotton on to the carnage stray cats can cause.

Legislation in most states allows councils to set local cat by-laws around whether desexing, microchipping and registration are compulsory. In many councils in Australia cats are not required to be desexed or microchipped or confined, meaning if the cat escapes or runs away, there is little chance it will be returned to its owner, and may breed in the wild.

The WA State Government has attempted to stem the flow of cats escaping to the bush through the Cat Act (2011), making it mandatory for cats to be registered, desexed and microchipped. The new laws came into force in 2013 with a minimum of fuss for cat owners… an additional benefit of greater cat control is a reduction in stray and unwanted cats. WA saw a 25 per cent drop in the number of strays being handed in after the Cat Act came into force.”

 

A 25% drop, eh? That’s pretty gosh darn impressive! At least it would be, if it were even close to true.

This quote comes from the biggest cat killer organisation in the state – The Cat Haven – who back in March of this year told the ABC;

The number of strays taken in by the Cat Haven has dropped 25 per cent since the Cat Act was introduced last November.

They received 6,229 cats last year – 2,259 fewer than the year before.

 

So let’s check that timeline.

November 2013 – Cat Act introduced.
December 2013 – Cat Haven statistics for January 2013 to December 2013 released… and gosh darn it, look at that. A 25% drop on the year before!

That’s the quickest fricken’ example of a law achieving ‘success’ that I’ve ever seen. It’s almost unbelievable – as in it literally cannot be believed.

Of course the reality is, rather than endure the busy Nov/Dec months in-house, under the new legislation the Cat Haven was able to tell councils ‘cough up’ (for our pound services) ‘or shove off’, pushing these cats into the Council pound system, and which (inconveniently, for any claim of a reduction in intakes) saw an extra 4,000 or so animals entering the pound in 2013/2014.

While the Cat Haven is quick to call the cat laws ‘successful’, none of the still-at-capacity rescue groups in the state would say there are 25% less cats in the pound system in WA. It’s simply false.

* * * * *

And what ant-cat piece would be complete without the RSPCA waxing lyrical about the irresponsibility of pet owners?

“In Victoria, the RSPCA says state and local governments spend around five million dollars a year managing domestic cats.

RSPCA Victoria’s Shelter Manager Liz Walker says that of the 10,831 cats brought into their shelters last year more than 8,000 were strays.

“On average, RSPCA Victoria gets in 208 cats per week. And we only take in around 40 per cent of cats across the state.

“People who have cats or are feeding stray cats need to be accountable and owners who still let their cats out all the time need to understand the bigger picture,” she says.“

 

I don’t even know where to begin with this…

Five million dollars in a single state being spent via domestic animal management channels, to impound cats who eight out of ten times have no hope whatsoever of being reclaimed as they are ‘stray’ (ownerless).

And that the problem of pounds impounding cats in Victoria is probably in the vicinity of 30,000 animals per year.

Meaning Victorians are paying $170 per cat impounded.

And while Victorians are generously gifting $170 per cat to agencies…

… they are simultaneously ‘irresponsible’ and to blame for these agency’s failures to come even close to solving the ‘problem’ of all the cats they keep taking in.

Meaning, in ten years of these kinds of operations, around $50 million dollars has been given to animal agencies – in Victoria alone – specifically for the purpose of cat control. For that huge investment, we have exactly ZERO achievement in coming up with a solution for cat management… other than blaming the public for being ‘irresponsible’.

Which frankly, is a terrible result for tens of millions of dollars – blaming the public costs nothing and they’ve been spending 100% on impounding (and killing) cats.

Does anyone else have a problem with these outcomes?

* * * * *

I hope this crucification of the cat at the ABC ends soon. As Australia’s second most favourite pet, they contribute more than they take and they simply deserve more respect than they are being shown currently. Boo ABC. BOOO!