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 cat proof your garden to keep the buggers in, not out @PinkSparklyPussyCat !

Try reading it again.....

Why, what have I missed?

Diskish answer, well you sound like a massive twat, your lack of reply says it all! Why shame on me, do you like living blissfully unaware that actually you’re far more selfish than you think and you don’t affect/impact anyone? Why choose to ignore my question?

That they have cat proofed

She pointed out that the poster with an issue with cats in her garden has not cat proofed. Like that would help.

I know, that's why I did it!

The poster I was replying to pointed out her garden is wild and not cat proofed

But she doesn't have cats 🤦🏼‍♀️

Well you can cat proof for both. In and out.

Sure, but non cat owners only have to do it when the selfish buggers who insist on their cats having the run of neighbouring gardens refuse to do it themselves.

My cats bring a lot of pleasure to my life and no downside to yours.
Having a front garden that is unsafe for my child due to constant cat shit in it, having to pick it up twice a day and having to clean the walls in my back garden where cats spray….absolutely no downside for me whatsoever.

“I’m alright Jack” eh?

Which I've done (mainly so little fuckers with catapults don't hurt him and because he's old) but that doesn't appear to be good enough for some posters as it means I can't encourage wildlife.

My cat does literally none of those things so yes, I am alright. Unless dogs are subject to the same vitriol because frankly they’re the ones making things unsafe for my child.

All my neighbours welcome my cats. Well 2 of them! They have beds and food at multiple people's houses. The little old lady 3 doors down would be devastated if I stopped their visits. Just being a kind neighbour 😉

Fair enough. For the record, I'd never hurt any of the cats that haunt my garden, annoying as they are.

I meant 2 of my cats not 2 of my neighbours.

I know the majority of people wouldn't hurt cats but unfortunately we had a spate of kids killing wildlife with catapults. They killed the male of a pair of geese but anything that moved appeared to be fair game. We also had some bully cats move into the neighbourhood so it seemed the obvious solution to keep him in our garden and everyone else away from him!

. People can be right arseholes.

It's one of those "it's a brilliant idea, but not for my cat" things!

Cats, like raptors, are carnivores and wreak havoc on bird populations.

The experts in this article don’t share your view as far as the UK is concerned:

amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors

They agree cats kill millions of birds; but birds have many young and cats tend to kill the weaker ones, who are already “doomed”. The organisations like the RSPB see the major threats to bird populations in the UK as global warming, intensive agriculture and new buildings!

We have 2 cats - one, who goes outside whenever he wants, hasn’t a clue how to catch birds. We’ve watched his attempts - he’s black and white, running across a green lawn and taking a flying leap at a bird! It sees him coming and is flying out of his reach, before he’s launched himself at them! Absolutely useless!

His sister doesn’t believe in the big outdoors, probably having had enough of it as a feral kitten - she’s been outside once in the last 6 months!

So, it’s unfair to generalise about what the whole cat population are doing, when some of us with cats, know they are about as much use at catching birds as a chocolate teapot is!

Anyway they are crepuscular hunters - it’s easy enough and safer for them, to keep them in at night!

The additional issue of cat proofing gardens though, is you proof it to all other wildlife. Our hedges are populated by hedgehogs. We are really lucky. We have even had nests with babies. If we fenced and wired everything you cut off their access to gardens which are crucial for food and shelter.

We have a lot of poo in our garden. Our cat, someone else's cat, hedgehog, fox, bird. I can't get too worked up about it really. Nature.

Your argument here seems to be that since global warming, agricultural practices, and loss of habitat to development, one more major threat - cats do kill millions of birds annually after all, and ten cats prowling at any given time in any given neighbourhood are going to kill far more than the weakest; they're not doing the bird population a favour - isn't that big a deal.

And that is bunkum.

When it comes to the natural world, everything we choose to do has consequences that we are responsible for.

We choose to keep a cat. We choose to let the cat loose to kill whatever it can.

We choose to turn a blind eye to pesticide and herbicide use.

We elect public officials who allow the paving over of vast swathes of cities and suburbs and endless development that encroaches on green space.

That's all on us, and those choices are all as bad as if you went out for a spot of fly tipping every weekend.

But which choice can you actually do something about, realistically?

It's nice that your cat is useless at killing birds. But you do see the big picture here, right? Millions of other cats exist. A large proportion of them will predictably and verifiably kill millions of birds in the UK every single year.

I think birds will still be able to access your garden even if you cat proof it @KnittedCardi - even though it might be best if they didn't. As for other wildlife you can still leave entry points for most things that will be too small for your cat to use. Badgers and foxes may be excluded, and the fattest hedgehogs, but everything else will be fine to come and be killed go.

@Untitledsquatboulder birds can and do come into my garden but I don't encourage them. My cat did catch a couple of birds last year but we released them when he gave them to us! Unfortunately we couldn't leave much in the way of gaps as our cat has always been a tunneller rather than a climber and so would have dug his way out given half a chance

It's nice that your cat is useless at killing birds. But you do see the big picture here, right? Millions of other cats exist. A large proportion of them will predictably and verifiably kill millions of birds in the UK every single year.

Well I won't be preventing mine from going outside in my own garden because of what other cats are doing!