Cat bylaws

I read with dismay an article a couple of days ago about our council wanting to desex, microchip and register all cats in the region. Thankfully I misread the article as it was really saying that the council was to consider whether to introduce a new cat-management policy. Its wish was for cats to be microchipped and desexed, but for these not to become mandatory, nor for cat numbers to be limited. The article stated that the policy was a compromise between introducing a bylaw forcing cats to be microchipped and desexed, or doing nothing about stray and feral cats. This would have been discussed at yesterday’s council meeting, but I haven’t been able to find anything on its website detailing its decision.

I have a lot of views against any kind of cat policy. Why would anyone introduce rules if one was not able to police them? Why is it necessary to regulate every single thing we do, right down to the pets we own? Although the policy being considered was a compromise, has anyone thought about the ramifications if desexing was forced? When the existing cats died, there would be no new ones, as all the existing cats would be desexed. Imagine the black market in the kitten trade if this was to eventuate. And who are we to decide whether an animal can go on and reproduce? And who are we to take that right from an animal?

When I got my late cat, Paws, from the pound back in 2000, I was made to desex her before I was able to pick her up. I felt really bad about this as I felt she should have been allowed to experience at least one litter. Being a mother brings a lot of joy to any being. Why do we superiorly take this choice as the only solution to our feral cat problem?

I am not against desexing an animal, but in the case of females, perhaps let them experience one litter, and I do like the idea of providing free desexing for those who want it.

I get that feral cats are a problem and it is perhaps these where any legislation should be targeted, rather than our domestic cats. And look at the dog issues. One just has to visit the local Facebook page to see that people are constantly complaining about wandering dogs, about dogs attacking their own pets or scavenging their rubbish or barking incessantly. We have a lot of policies around dogs, yet the problems seem to continue. So my question here is, would any policy really solve the problem? People who never register their dogs will continue in this vein. People who maltreat their animals will probably continue to do so. Perhaps the answer is in education or supplying more people to actually enforce the rules the council has laid down.

But then I have another issue around introducing new policies. Wouldn’t that time and money spent drawing up a proposed new policy be better spent carrying out the other things the council is already responsible for. It seems that every service is deteriorating and yet council wants to take on more responsibility. None of us are happy with our rate’s rise this year. Is part of that because of the time spent working on this, a proposal that it says, wouldn’t be enforced anyway?

The saying, let sleeping dogs lie – in this case, leave our cats alone.