How we treat cats shows the health of a nation

Australia’s approach to controlling cats raises serious questions about effectiveness, cost and animal welfare, writes Ashlley Morgan-Shae.

LAST TIME, ABC aired An Australian chef’svery excited’ about a ‘‘cat sandwich for lunch’.

ABC has previously broadcast cat hunting, cooking and eating on television. Celebrities seeking publicity are given the ABC’s publicly funded platform.

The common misnomer of domestic cats as “feral” and “feral” condemns many urban residents of homeless and lost cats. Weasel words like “safe,” “protect” and “education” become killer phrases.

Australia definition:

Feral cats do not live in human environments and do not take food from humans either intentionally (direct feeding) or unintentionally (e.g. via food waste bins). Feral cats are not fully socialized with humans and none of their needs are met by humans.

Feral cats are not found or stranded near human habitation, are not the subject of nuisance complaints, and do not enter Australian council shelters or animal sanctuaries.

Ninety percent of Victoria’s seized cats are homeless; There is no one to control, blame and condemn. Rescuers are fighting to raise money, save money, desex, find and find homes for kittens, mothers, battered old toms without help from the government.

Felines are associated with femininity, nonconformity, and independence. Dogs with loyalty and obedience. Australian dogs get a good press. Often cats get bad press. Rural working dogs and rat poisoners benefit from tax breaks.

However, working cats or ‘cat farmers‘cats doing equally important work As working dogs and horses they get no deductions, no desexing benefits, no government recognition.

Mandatory cat protection laws are expensive failures. Australian Pet Welfare Foundation Victoria’s Casey Council reports currently spending Implementation of the 24-hour cat curfew generated an estimated $1.83 million annually and foreclosures increased by 680%; This is more than double the population growth rate in 27 years.

Australia kills 50,000 cats and kittens every year. A quarter of council pound in New South Wales and Victoria is murder 67-100%. While cat curfews target owned cats, they make matters worse by arresting 90% of homeless people. Rescuers face a greater risk of suicide than do Australian police and firefighters.

Paid organizations, celebrities and politicians are fueling the feline craze. Caregivers and rescuers are subjected to hate speech and threats.

Former head of the NSW Cat Management Inquiry Emma HurstMLLC, says:

Cat protection laws are simply cat killing laws.

…they are pushing for the killing of cats through cat protection laws, even though there is no evidence that this will work to protect wildlife.

The biggest threats to wildlife are deforestation, climate change and overdevelopment…

Managing Cat Populations in New South Wales 2025The government’s response states: ‘Desexing is the most effective way to reduce the stray cat population’ from beginning to end ‘Targeted, accessible desexualization programs’.

Community Cat Programs Targeted, intensive and free cat desexing, helping homeless and stray people. This reduces costs for municipalities, reduces liens, reduces complaints, and results in more pet registrations.

These programs It also reduces the retention of dogs and frees up more resources for the care and rehoming of dogs. Collaborating with rescues and caregivers helps residents foster pets. This ‘One Prosperity’ approach optimizes the well-being of people, animals and their environment.

Cats keep mice away. Removing cats from being seen increases the risk of disease. My neighbor poured rat poison and killed the two ring-tailed possums that greeted me by my window every day. I found their bodies with blood flowing from their mouths. I watched it from a baby being carried on its mother’s back.

Australia announced that Ratsak has been removed from shelves. Toxicologists report The resistance of mice to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, which prevent blood clotting and cause internal bleeding, kills Australian tawny frogmouths, boobook owls, eastern barn owls, frogs, toads, possums and reptiles. Toxins are leaking into waterways, warning of a possible human health crisis.

Estimated catch figures are inaccurate data and have been refuted by scientific analysis. Australian Pet Welfare Foundation:

‘However, it is important to note that there is no scientific evidence that domestic cats living near humans are affecting native Australian wildlife populations. In fact, population studies have found no measurable impact of domestic cats on native birds and mammals.’

Local councils’ punitive curfews are targeting tenants, the elderly and struggling families. For five years, Knox AdvoCats He tried to get counseling about 24-hour lifetime isolation. Registrations of cats and dogs have decreased. Council of Knox Pet Management Plan 2026-2029 spends more money on patrols and door knocking to issue fines.

Knox dogs are free dog training programs and dog desexing programs. Cats and caregivers receive nothing. Knox says they don’t have the money to desex the cats. Knox is already paying more to confiscate cats than it would cost to desex them.

Knox’s off-leash dog order allows dogs to run off-leash in more than 300 parks, reserves and sports grounds, as well as four dog parks; and exercise pets in the park. The RSPCA does not recommend leashing a cat. Knox silences questions and deletes all public questions from meeting minutes, dismissing facts as “preamble” and “collateral.”

Knox’s pet surrender fee of $146 per animal will likely lead to more cats and kittens abandoned on the streets. Consequent fruitless spending by municipalities causes collateral damage to residents and cats.

I wrote to the celebrity chef’s major shareholders: friendly and pasta, family-friendly brands. questioning eating “cat sandwich for lunch” with its sexual innuendos. Annoyingly calling the kids’ lunchboxes. The chef sent me a reply confirming the meal ‘wild’ animals as they are not ‘local’without reading the Australian definition sent.

2025 media reports question celebrities’ use of millions of public dollars. In 2014, ACCC Misleading food labeling found. Without ABC’s liability, could hawkers promote a provocative cat sauce – saucy cat, tomcat sauce, tabby pickle, perhaps a beer-brewed, slang “cat piss” liquor?

I take the un-Australian stance that cat sitters are not “crazy”, “childless”, not “in need of mental help” because they don’t like the “right pet”, and do not fit the “real dog lovers” that Knox states. We don’t need your “education”, thought control and dark sarcasm or media misinformation.

Brigitte Bardot Foundation It is the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation’s main sponsor of cat desexing.

“Your country is polluted with the blood of millions of innocent animals” Brigitte told one after another Australian governments “So please don’t add cats to this sick registry.”

Australian politicians are describing the cat curfew as “designed to save wildlife”, knowing full well that curfews waste money and cost more lives. Imagine if Australian felines were as valuable as dogs?

Ashley Morgan-Shae started Save Dandenong Skirts to save native birds and canopy trees. Knox AdvoCats came together for consultation, integrity and science-proven solutions.

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