Pet cats - proposal to ban in places.

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palo1

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There has been a proposal to ban pet cats in some new housing developments -mostly in Scotland it seems. But it could be proposed more widely I guess. I understand the rationale but suspect it will be going nowhere! As there has been discussion on the issue of cats and wildlife previously on HHO, I'm interested to hear what people think about this proposal.
 
Don't know about Scotland but here in Switzerland, they are trying to reduce the numbers of cats drastically

They are killing too many birds and other small mammals.

At the moment, the proposal is to stop cat's importation and reduce the breeding, making it more expensive for people to have them.

They also talked about a curfew for cats at night, not being allowed to be outside after sundown, it seems impossible to do tbh.
 
Janique said:
Don't know about Scotland but here in Switzerland, they are trying to reduce the numbers of cats drastically

They are killing too many birds and other small mammals.

At the moment, the proposal is to stop cat's importation and reduce the breeding, making it more expensive for people to have them.

They also talked about a curfew for cats at night, not being allowed to be outside after sundown, it seems impossible to do tbh.
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My cats have always been kept in at night. I wouldn't like to see a restriction, certainly in rural areas. I had 2 cats who hunted a lot round the outbuildings and fields. I lost one last year and the other is nearly 18 so rarely goes out and for the first time in years I saw a rat in the haybarn the other week, which I don't think is a coincidence.
 
I would support that but it isn't going to happen.

Indoor cats fine.
Outdoor cats that kill so many birds and small animals, not fine.

You wouldn't be allowed to have any other predator animal as a pet and just let it out without supervision to wander on other people's property and kill wild animals.

I'm glad our whippets keep cats out of our garden and keep the many songbirds we have here safe.
 
I guess there are plenty of people that don't want pets and the environment we live in makes it increasingly dangerous for cats to roam now. Seems to be a report of cats being killed on the roads daily on FB which is very depressing. Five cats were killed on the stretch of lane where i live including one of mine in the space of 18 months. We now have cat fencing round our garden so our remaining two "barn cats" have access to the garden but seems sad when we're literally surrounded by fields. We have so many birds in the garden and the cats rarely catch any, only if they fly into the window and are stunned have they ever caught a bird. Still catch rats and mice though.
 
I don't think a ban on any pet would achieve anything, but I would like to see mandatory courses/exams, like taking your driving theory, before people are allowed to buy certain pets.

So many people buy animals on a whim without having enough knowledge of how to look after them, or without the common sense to keep them and others around them safe. The number of small pets I see for sale or being given away because the owner is going on holiday (and apparently didn't plan this far ahead) is staggering. No wonder rescues are inundated.

To answer the above message, a blanket ban on outdoor cats would be akin to a blanket ban on dogs walking off leash. Do you think that's fair to the responsible owners with dogs with a good recall who don't maul sheep?

My cat is free choice outdoors and has only killed one bird in the past decade. If I was being brought trophies every week then I would be responsible and get a catio. I once saw him attempt to hunt a grasshopper for a good half an hour - and fail miserably. Some cats just don't have the instinct or prey drive that others do. Owners need to use their common sense.

Equi, near me they built 8000 houses over what was once farmland. Grand old trees were felled and you would never know that it was once teeming with wildlife. If anyone gets a cat on that housing estate, they will be lucky to catch an earthworm.

In summary - I advocate for educated and common sense based pet ownership.
 
Where are these prolific hunters that are decimating the wildlife? From my own experience of currently owning 4 healthy cats, they rarely catch anything. I have a bird feeding station that has literally thousands of visitors on a weekly basis and never seen a bird murder. One brought in a furious starling once, who had to roost on the curtain pole overnight but left unscathed the following morning.
 
The 'right to roam' for cats is now so outdated. So many get killed on our ever increasingly busy roads.

We get 5/6 of the local cats in our large garden, sitting at the bottom of trees or sitting near bushes just waiting for a bird to appear 😢 Our dogs have to go out on a lead first, so make sure the coast is clear before they can visit their own garden, it's getting ridiculous. There needs to be more accountability for cat owners to encourage them to keep their pets in their own gardens, just not sure how they go about it 🤷‍♀️
 
Over the years I have had six cats. Probably killed six birds between them. But countless mice and rats, the odd squirrel and even a stoat. My garden is full of birds, but I am super rural, surrounded by woodland and fields. It’s not the cats that’s killing the birds, it’s the pesticides, people feeding inappropriately and loss of environment. There’s been cats here since the Romans, the bird population has survived fairly well since then. It’s our more recent impact that is causing loss and disease in overall populations.
 
9tails said:
Where are these prolific hunters that are decimating the wildlife? From my own experience of currently owning 4 healthy cats, they rarely catch anything. I have a bird feeding station that has literally thousands of visitors on a weekly basis and never seen a bird murder. One brought in a furious starling once, who had to roost on the curtain pole overnight but left unscathed the following morning.
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mustardsmum said:
Over the years I have had six cats. Probably killed six birds between them. But countless mice and rats, the odd squirrel and even a stoat. My garden is full of birds, but I am super rural, surrounded by woodland and fields. It’s not the cats that’s killing the birds, it’s the pesticides, people feeding inappropriately and loss of environment. There’s been cats here since the Romans, the bird population has survived fairly well since then. It’s our more recent impact that is causing loss and disease in overall populations.
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^ What they said, four cats here, only one has any inclination to hunt (and is in overnight for her safety more than anything). She has from memory killed two birds total, and I've saved two who went on to fly away, my bird feeding station is over-run with birds. Lillycat does a great job on the local rodent population and I did buy her an anti-bird collar when she caught her first bird (which is hilarious and looks like a clown collar), but I've not really had to put it on her as she just doesn't seem to catch birds as a rule. I have been careful to keep an eye on what she is bringing back as I could not condone her hunting song birds as there are so many already in decline, but I've been pleasantly surprised at the lack of birds.

Things I have seen impact bird populations as been the rise in number of corvids and removal of habitats...
 
mustardsmum said:
Over the years I have had six cats. Probably killed six birds between them. But countless mice and rats, the odd squirrel and even a stoat. My garden is full of birds, but I am super rural, surrounded by woodland and fields. It’s not the cats that’s killing the birds, it’s the pesticides, people feeding inappropriately and loss of environment. There’s been cats here since the Romans, the bird population has survived fairly well since then. It’s our more recent impact that is causing loss and disease in overall populations.
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On another recent thread, several people seemed happy to put out rat poison to get rid of yard rats. I'm not a fan of the RSPCA, but recently they shared a post on social media of a barn owl laying motionless against a fence in a field, which had eaten either a poisoned mouse or rat and was now extremely ill. In this instance they were able to save its life, but having personally lost 'my' barn owl to suspected poison from a neighbouring farm, I know it is all too common for this to happen. Charities like The Barn Owl Trust talk about it a lot.

Walk into any garden centre and you'll find an array of rat poisons opposite the bird seed. Both are wild animals (wildlife), one we enjoy feeding whilst trapping and poisoning the other, leading to an excruciating death which can then cause second hand death in birds of prey. I understand that rats are a nuisance, but I do find the cognitive dissonance hard to wrap my head around.
 
Ah yes, to protect wildlife.

Interesting that some wildlife is worth saving by banning pets and others we quite happily blast out of the sky (or ground) for sport.

Habitat loss to humans claiming more land should be what we are actually worrying about for wildlife but that’s pretty pointless speaking about and off topic.
 
For me, it's more the cats coming in and sh**ting in my vegetable beds that's the problem! I clean up after my dog, I hate that other people's pets are allowed to come and foul my property, and undo hours of work because of "right to roam". I've given up this year and have let the terrier have free rein all over the garden now, she was kept out of the veg patch too due to a fondness of digging up the carrots!
 
Peglo said:
Ah yes, to protect wildlife.

Interesting that some wildlife is worth saving by banning pets and others we quite happily blast out of the sky (or ground) for sport.

Habitat loss to humans claiming more land should be what we are actually worrying about for wildlife but that’s pretty pointless speaking about and off topic.
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For me it’s to stop people being infected with diseases cats carry, shit everywhere and leave as it’s no one’s problem. To stop people having to listen to cats fighting or shagging all night.
To stop next doors cat killing my bantams.
The wildlife is a bonus, but not the main reason.
 
AutumnDays said:
For me, it's more the cats coming in and sh**ting in my vegetable beds that's the problem! I clean up after my dog, I hate that other people's pets are allowed to come and foul my property, and undo hours of work because of "right to roam". I've given up this year and have let the terrier have free rein all over the garden now, she was kept out of the veg patch too due to a fondness of digging up the carrots!
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We have to net all our veg beds to keep the cats out. Which also means we catch hedgehogs, birds and toads in it. We patrol and release any catches every morning.
 
Ours are house cats, I won't have outdoor cats again, because the roads are unsafe, I don't want them getting stolen, and there's also far too many horrible stories out there of what nasty people have done to cats. Since I was a teenager we've had indoor only cats as saw far too many lost to the road growing up, and we've continued this both with my parents with their cats, and when I moved in with OH

It really winds me up a treat when the free roaming neighbourhood cats come and s**t all over our garden, we've had to stop growing vegetables because the patch would just incur cat s**t, so didn't fancy eating vegetables that had been grown in that. Also going to have to rip up the astro turf when the baby im expecting is walking as it regularly fouls that, and it'll be too difficult to clean properly as it's not like concrete and traps dirt. Cat scatter pellets and lemon juice seem to do very little to stop it.
 
Crazy_cat_lady said:
Ours are house cats, I won't have outdoor cats again, because the roads are unsafe, I don't want them getting stolen, and there's also far too many horrible stories out there of what nasty people have done to cats. Since I was a teenager we've had indoor only cats as saw far too many lost to the road growing up, and we've continued this both with my parents with their cats, and when I moved in with OH

It really winds me up a treat when the free roaming neighbourhood cats come and s**t all over our garden, we've had to stop growing vegetables because the patch would just incur cat s**t, so didn't fancy eating vegetables that had been grown in that. Also going to have to rip up the astro turf when the baby im expecting is walking as it regularly fouls that, and it'll be too difficult to clean properly as it's not like concrete and traps dirt. Cat scatter pellets and lemon juice seem to do very little to stop it.
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It’s a delight to hear that some cat owners are responsible! I’m sorry about all your troubles with the neighbourhood cats though.
 
Clodagh said:
For me it’s to stop people being infected with diseases cats carry, shit everywhere and leave as it’s no one’s problem. To stop people having to listen to cats fighting or shagging all night.
To stop next doors cat killing my bantams.
The wildlife is a bonus, but not the main reason.
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I could write the same about dogs. Next door neighbours dog killed one of my chickens, pulled feathers out of others, one collapsed to exhaustion and did recover but I felt so sad for her. I find dog sh*t on my property often. (can’t be just next door’s as the sizes of it)
Barking, growling, jumping up with dirty paws.

Dogs are far more of a menace to us than the neighbours cats.
 
I went to visit a friend who had bought a house on a new housing estate. What struck me immediately was the absolute silence, the estate was about a year old and there was no bird noise at all. I guess there was nowhere to roost, there are only small saplings, no chimneys and the houses are hermetically sealed. I know that I have a healthy population of house sparrows that overnight in my loft, I guess they can't do that in the new houses.
 
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