Meet Lucy and Bean, two of our favourite people. But even our favourite people have flaws. We love our cats at KittySafe, but we also realize that they are killing native wildlife. The cute pouncing and batting with their paws, chasing after anything that wiggles, biting you through your socks, the very things we love about our cat make them hazardous to the Australian environment. cats are apex predators, make no mistake.
There are no native felines in Australia. The Australian ecosystem is not equipped to deal with a predator like Bean or Lucy. In fact, a recent parliamentary report, Has found that cats kill 1.7 billion native animals each year. That’s more animals each year than were killed in the 2019 – 2020 bush fires in the eastern states. It’s more than a serious problem, it’s an apocalypse on the Aussie environment. We’re not trying to make anyone feel bad. We have cats, too. We love them, too. We just want to point out that we, as cat owners, can do something positive, and it’s so simple.
We just need to remember that our cats have claws. The report found that around towns, pet cats kill 30 -50 more animals per square kilometre than feral cats do. The average pet cat makes 748 kills of native birds, reptiles and mammals every year. Our moggies are not harmless. Not in Australia.
Don’t give me that innocent look, Bean. I know what you’re thinking, you want to go outside and hunt that bird. Not on my watch, cutie.
Just like a third of all cat owners, who keep their cats inside, you can save 748 native animals a year by keeping our cat in, too. You can take 120 species off the endangered list by encouraging your friends with cats to do the same.
You’re here at Kittysafe, because you care about living things. Because you feel that connection to your cat, and it’s not that big a stretch to feel that connection to the mammals that cats are destroying.
So, cat owners, let’s do this. Let’s take the simple and effective step of keeping puss out of where he doesn’t belong, which is everywhere in Australia that’s outside.
Now, please excuse me while I scratch some furry tummies and get clawed for my trouble.
