Cats banned from going outside in Australia, could it happen here?

[JamBiscuitBun]

I'm interested to hear thoughts on this. Article here I can't ever see it working in the UK. I also remember Australian farmers having apocalyptic mice problems on some of their farms, so I'm not sure how this fits in with that. Though there are many people who'd love to never have the neighbour's cat pooing in their garden again. What d'you think?

You are kidding yourself. The research shows that any cat that is outside, especially at night, will hunt, even when their owners swear blind that they don't.

Absolute deal - I say that as a dog owner. I would be all over this. I hate cats shitting in my garden, I hate lazy-arsed dog owners who don't pick up their dog's shit.

Well said

We have indoor cats and they are more work needing more stimulation.

They have a catio and are taken for garden walks and have many window beds to watch birds from.

We've live in areas were cats have been targeted for attacks and poisonings current area is bad for road deaths. We've seen many near missed as desk overlooks road and many owners are in denial and insist their cats have road sense.

Traditionally cat roam in UK but with increase cars density not always sure it is best for them - though in countryside it probably is.

Other countries have different concerns in USA many cats are indoor because the wildlife can and will kill them Australia is trying to protect it's wildlife from cats - doesn't mean cats can't be kept as pets just need to be adapted with catios, leads and fenced in gardens and more playing from humans.

I’m probably one of the cat owners you don’t like - I have 3 and let them roam. 2 I have never seen leave our garden. 1 of these will catch rodents but doesn’t go for birds. 1 does but has only ever caught a fat slow moving pigeon. The cat who leaves the garden spends summer pretty much living in our neighbours garden and will catch and eat what he can. But, they’re performing a useful job. Before we got them we had a rat problem and our neighbours had a rat problem. 3 cats, now no rats. I’m sure the one who goes into our neighbours garden must poo there but I’ve spoken to her and asked if he bothers her and she loves having him over there as he’s dealt with the rats that were causing issues for them. They now have birds nesting in their outbuilding. We have more birds in the trees in the garden now than before as we can feed them (high up where the cats can’t go) whereas we had to stop feeding them before due to the rats.

Those calling for breeding regulations I’m up for anything that reduces poor welfare breeding of animals (like puppy farms). But it’s really not such a thing for cats as it is for dogs. There are a few pedigrees around - bengals and rag dolls seem to be quite popular. But the vast majority of cats are common moggies of no pedigree. Ours all came to us as rescue kittens, I’d never get a cat that was anything other than a rescue. If they hadn’t been taken in by the various rescues we got them from then they be strays - either dead by now or 100% living off wildlife. I’d support a license scheme for cats that insisted all owners had to chip their cats and get them neutered or register (and pay to be/satisfy conditions for) an official breeder. And I’d happily support a maximum of 2 cats per household if there weren’t so many strays needing homes. There are huge numbers of unneutered strays having kittens every year. Clamp down on this and you reduce wildlife kills.

Keeping any kind of animal permanently indoors is a type of animal cruelty. People who claim to love animals but never let them outside don’t actually love animals. They just keep them captive for their own entertainment. If you love them, you give them freedom. Keeping birds in cages, reptiles in terrariums, marine mammals is aquariums is barbaric and should be banned globally.
As some people mentioned above, not all cats want to go outside. But most do and they love exploring. Denying them from doing so is cruel.

Nonsense. We manage to contain them in Australia just fine, thank you!

So letting them get run over by a car, bitten by a snake, or eaten by a dingo is kind, then?

No darling, don’t keep them in the first place then!

I am the founder member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Worms. It is well established that the ecosystem cannot survive without these creatures yet songbirds kill trillions of worms every year. It's about time the environmental impact of songbirds is recognised and acted on.

Are you sure its cats? Cats don't generally like to poop in the open as its too exposed, so unlikely to sit in the middle of your lawn to do their business. They also like to cover their mess to disguise it.

With a nighttime camera, we've found it to be foxes on our lawn.
I don't believe in causing hassle for our neighbours so every cat we've ever had has been kept in at night. No caterwauling allowed to disturb anyones peace. Just takes considerate owners really.

Yep. The native wildlife haven't co-evolved with cats in the same way as rats have and don't have the adaptations rats have made over long periods of time to be able to co-exist with cats, and are easier prey. It's been made worse because of the speed at which cat (and fox) populations exploded.

Interesting, thanks. I would have thought that cat populations would have been higher without humans domesticating and spaying them, though? Sure, they would also die younger, but more hunting is carried out by kittens/younger cats than old ones anyway.

Dog attacks have increased 34% in the last five years. Shall we keep them indoors too?
Humans kill each other and pretty much any other species going every single day. Shall we lock ourselves indoors too?

fwiw I have a cat and she lives very happily indoors in a flat. But I’ve had enough cats over the years to know this just isn’t a workable idea, and if we do it to cats then dogs will be next.

Pause and actually think about your example a moment.

No cat owner is sending a newborn kitten outside. Very few owned kittens are allowed out before 12 weeks at the earliest, 6 months is more usual.

So there's no way in hell that poor kitten was owned. Most likely a feral, poor baby. So your example shows.. nothing.

@FairyPrincess123 you're being ridiculous. Domestic cats are not a natural part of our ecosystem (the only native cat to the UK is the wildcat). Songbirds (and worms) are. How can an ecosystem be balanced if it has predators like cats (nature's most efficient predator I heard somewhere) everywhere taking out our gorgeous birds.

People need to be more aware of the devastation that cats cause to garden birds, and do everything they can to minimise the destruction of our bird population, which is declining rapidly.

I would love it if cats were kept indoors, it might give our wildlife and ecosystems a chance to regenerate.

I don’t have cats (I’m allergic) but keeping cats inside 24/7 is just wrong. It is in their nature to roam and that’s one of the things that makes them cool.

I think part of the problem is people hear "indoors"- and assume it actually means always indoor rather most cases of managed outdoor spaces.

Catios, cat fencing of gardens, walking on lead are all options rather than letting them roam but you do have to play and interact much more- ours also have high shelves all way around one of the larger rooms and several large cats trees and window beds there's a lot of cat furniture in the house and catio.

My cat used to catch earthworms. I think he felt sorry for them being outside as he used to bring them indoors for us hanging from his mouth like a wriggling moustache. Thankfully that phase didn't last long!

Oh wow this would be great. I’m assuming cats would be able to be walked on a lead in the way dogs are - so not cruel but some work for the owners which is fair enough if we want to own pets.

I love to see you try and keep my cat indoors 🤣

People need to be more aware of the devastation that cats cause to garden birds, and do everything they can to minimise the destruction of our bird population, which is declining rapidly.

Some of us do. I'm not keeping my cat indoors as I have a one bed flat that is too small for that but the garden is catproofed. I drew the line at a catio as it would make the garden look like a cage. I don't encourage birds (I'm not keen on them so no hardship for me there) so I think that's a fair compromise.

That seemed to be built into a fair few of the council schemes people have linked to here. Cats in restraints fine, just not allowed to roam (variously at all or after dark depending on the area.)

Also who gives a shit about all the birds? Always shitting on my car 😠