G’day, a response to Toodyay animal carer Brian Foley’s catcall in last month’s Herald.
Yes, feral cats are killers.
Likewise house cats who roam freely and kill.
We have evidence on our property with dead birds and blue-tongued lizards.
Cats need to be in confined areas like inside a house or a cat-friendly cat enclosure as is the law in the Araluen residential area in West Australia and in Canberra.
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There, Bunnings and the Men’s Shed work with cat owners for such enclosures.
This could be done also in Toodyay.
We have a cat catcher, and some neighbours are upset that their free-roaming cat (which “always stays home”, we are told) has been caught and handed over to the ranger.
Cat owners must ensure their cats are not outside the entrance door.
Homeowners are to have no more than three cats, but some have more.
Any cat, not just feral cats, is a killer.
Millions of native animals have been devastated in Australia.
Feral cats and any free-roaming cat from houses and farms are not permitted in reserves and parks.
Do they know the law, do they care?
No.
They enter, live, reproduce and kill small animals and birds in those areas.
Sterilisation of cats also has no impact as cats, feral or house cats, still kill.
It’s their instinct, their nature.
A friend insisted on training her cat to become a vegetarian.
At night the cat roamed for her proper food – not in the house fridge, as you can imagine.
The best cat is one indoors, in a cat-friendly enclosure.
People need to become environmentally responsible and aware their furry darlings are more than sweet pussy cats.
Dr Monika Zechetmayr
Toodyay
