I am not here to make the case that cats should be kept indoors for the sake of local wildlife – that case has been made over and over and over and over again. Cat owners know these arguments, and if they have not been persuaded by the fact that cats kill more than 6 million native animals in Australia a day they will not be persuaded by me.
There is a fairly tedious assumption that if you love wildlife you must hate cats, and visa versa. And nothing will turn cat people off faster than encountering a person who hates cats.
I understand this. I also hate people who hate cats. So let’s set the birds and the bettongs to one side for the moment, and consider the other, obvious fact: cats should be kept indoors for the sake of cats.
Where do you live, in Australia or NZ, that doesn’t have a requirement that all Cats (and Dogs for that matter) be registered and microchipped?
Its all lf new zealand. Regional councils may have different rules.
Wow, that’s disappointing. In Victoria, both have been required since I was really little. I remember taking our cat & dog into a free council clinic to get them chipped. There’s also been a dusk to dawn cat curfew for about a decade. I thought NZ would at least be as progressive as my state on the issue.