While I sympathise with the loss of a loved pet (‘The kindness of strangers’, Letters 12.8.11), cat owners should wake up to what wildlife biologists and smart catlovers have known for years. Pet cats live longer and healthier lives if permanently confined to the owner’s property, indoors or in a constructed outdoor enclosure, where they won’t get run over, or injured or infected during fights (with nasty or fatal diseases, and don’t forget toxoplasmosis in our kids!).
Neighbours’ cats yowl, fight, dig, defaecate, vomit, leave bits of ‘my’ little native wild birds on MY garden, patio, driveway etc, and I can’t do anything because the government is too gutless (read vote-conscious) to get councils to bring cat laws into line with dog laws.
If I catch an offending cat ON MY LAND and take it to the pound, I’m breaking the law! (Or if I approach the owners, I risk neighbour relations). And don’t get me started on irresponsible dog owners who foist their mutts (and dog faeces) on the public, in supposedly dog-free places like the Mall, or in public parks where kids play”¦ It’s all about responsible, considerate pet ownership, and the recognition of other people’s right to be not pestered by someone’s uncontrolled cat or dog and its leavings.
Name and address withheld
