Link to article: Feral cats on the march in Ingleburn

(they made a joke here, which has since been removed – I think they thought I was laughing with them)

………

…. I’ve still not heard anything.

Look, I realise I’m probably just busting the balls of some PR/marketing person who know jack all about stray cats, but it bothers me just how quickly the major groups are ready to jump on the ‘council has to kill the ferals for their own good‘ bandwagon. When you have a supermarket cat colony, with concerned citizens all around and a council who seems at a loss as to how to proceed, to suggest owners desexing their pets is the answer, frankly makes my *headsplode*. There also seems to be a certain amount of lip-service being paid – in one breath they can advocate removal, the next ‘colony stabilisation and care’; whichever suits the discussion – rather than them taking a serious position on cat welfare.

Twitter, frustration in 140 characters or less…

Individuals and community groups taking an interest in, and if required challenging, the action of local councils in regards to their companion animal management is vital in our drive to a No Kill Australia.

Today, the Society of Companion Animal Rescuers (SoCares) is in court, objecting to their council’s decision to award the low kill Kurri Kurri pound services contract to the high kill RSPCA (NSW) Rutherford shelter.

CESSNOCK City Council and an animal rescue group are in court today after a challenge to the handover of impounded animal services to the RSPCA.

The NSW Land and Environment Court has set aside two days for the Society of Companion Animal Rescuers (SoCares) group’s legal challenge to an agreement between the council and RSPCA in June last year.

In a summons lodged with the court in September, the rescue group alleged the decision was invalid and of no effect because the council did not put the matter out to tender.

The group, represented by the University of Newcastle Legal Centre, also alleges a council decision on the closure of Kurri Kurri pound was invalid and of no effect.

These kinds of campaigns are a huge amount of work behind the scenes, so I wish SoCares every success today – good luck guys!


See also: Rutherford overcrowding highlights problems with ‘multiple-tender’ pounds

It’s hard to imagine that just five months has passed, since the community of Geelong demanded the killing end at their local pound, the Geelong Animal Welfare Society (GAWS).

The organisation had been defending killing for decades, citing that they couldn’t stop killing animals because they were simply not savable, they were unsocialised puppies, there was too much irresponsible breeding, their ‘inbreeding’ made them dangerous, the weather was warming up, people kept treating their pets as ‘expendable’, the ‘28 Day Rule’ made it impossible, the rising cost of food and fuel, global warming and a mice epidemic… and all of these factors meant the organisation was ‘forced’ to kill pets.

GAWS encouraged the trapping, impoundment and killing of feral cats, claimed the majority of the pets entering the shelter were untreatably aggressive, and killed pets for being non-english speaking. Video emerged showing dogs being drugged and left overnight to struggle and sometimes die unmonitored and cats being killed by heartstick while staff joked about the inhumane conditions.

In fact, so high on killing were they, that in 2009/10 they killed 852 dogs (~30%) and rehomed just 487 (they also ‘misplaced’ 217 dogs), and killed 2,426 cats (~80%), rehoming just 546. During that same period, the group refused to work with openly with volunteers, release to rescue groups or even advertise pets on the web, instead they called on the government to crack down on irresponsible owners and complained that they were being ‘harrassed’ and ‘vilified’ by animal advocates.

Then, when the community finally said enough is enough…. they walked.

Vice presidents DAVID CECIL and MARK OSBORNE have both resigned, just weeks after president IAN WALTER left the organisation.

The Society has been under siege since the release of hidden camera footage allegedly showing the mistreatment of animals at the society’s Moolap pound.

A new dawn

Under the new leadership of Mike Bailey, GAWS is now a very different place.

The shelter is using PetRescue to advertise available animals to the community. They have engaged volunteers and foster carers to help with the holiday influx. They are using the local media to get the word out out about available animals and pet safety. They are calling on the public to help out those pets who need extra treatment. But most importantly, they have committed to a mandate of life saving and are using the No Kill Equation to get there.

So what kind of a difference can just five months make?

Shelter deaths slashed

GEELONG’S animal shelter has recorded new lows of dog kill rates as it moves on from a controversial era.

The Geelong Animal Welfare Society’s latest figures show that just 2% of the 325 dogs admitted to the shelter in December 2011 were euthanased, with 148 finding new homes.
…
The shelter had to kill 25% of the 294 cats admitted to the shelter last December, finding 124 of them homes.
…
Mr Bailey said an initiative to place existing shelter animals into foster care before New Year’s Eve had allowed more space to host runaway dogs in the notoriously busy post-fireworks period.

The majority of the dogs were quickly returned to their owners, with the pets fostered out then returning to the Moolap shelter.

“Traditionally, shelters will put dogs down beforehand to make space (for the new arrivals),” Mr Bailey said.

Widespread promotion of the benefits of adoption and increased hours on Sundays had also helped improve the shelter, he said.

New blood. New ideas. And new hope for the shelter pets of Australia.

The time for change at your local pound or shelter is now. Join us.

Just after the new year, a little scrawny cat started appearing around our place. He took off like a shot whenever we went out the front door, but I noticed that unlike the other cats in the neighbourhood, Secret Cat was happy to have him around. I felt I needed to take some action on behalf of this poor bub; everything about his behaviour said ‘displaced untame puss’ rather than ‘cheeky neighbour’s pet’ – in fact the difference between him and Secret Cat (who has definitely been around people since she was young) couldn’t have been more textbook!

Secret Cat vs Other Cat

Since Secret Cat was cool with him, I started giving Other Cat a bit of food. In three weeks he went from a skitty feral, to a chubbabubba who would stay nearby as I filled his bowl… even though he gently hissed at me as I did so! It was sad to see the little guy so fearful.

But you know – just like in the Community Cats campaign – feeding on its own isn’t enough. Fast forward to yesterday when my humane cat trap arrived! Woo!

And as it turns out catching him was easy peasy! I put the trap out early yesterday evening (so he’d have all night to get in there before his appointment first thing today), I walk inside & hear ching! through the open window… success!

One very pissed off cat in a convenient, transportable package…

The vet has been able to confirm that he’s… a he! He’s about three years old and apart from a few fleas is in pretty good health. He’s now had his harblz removed and in a few hours he can come home and go back out into the garden.

Hopefully he’ll forgive me & stick around, but if not that’s fine too. I’m just happy to know he will no longer be the local Lothario.

Long live the Community Cat! <3






*** Update – Saturday ***

Lookit who’s sleeping on my steps – my big tough (ex)tom cat!

“… of a radical or a revolutionary is not the willingness to confront the orthodoxy and arrogance of the rulers but the readiness to contest illusions and falsehoods among close friends and allies.” ~ Christopher Hitchens

In the field of animal protection, with large, national organizations taking in the lion’s share of resources for the stated purpose of helping animals even as they use that money and influence to undermine the No Kill cause – the need for the public and activists to become more savvy – to learn to read between the lines of cleverly worded press releases and fundraising appeals – is, in fact, an urgent need. We need to learn to separate whimsy over substance, to demand results, and to be intolerant of those organizations which never evolve their approach to overcome obstacles to success, that endlessly fundraise on a problem they do not strategically combat, and which sacrifice the best interest of animals to their merciless, greedy fundraising machines.

This is a must read article, showing how the movement will need to be driven here in Australia too, should we ever want to see shelters be a safe place for pets.

Nathan Winograd – Pat the bunny

Photo: BBC News
The RSPCA UK message about free-roaming cats is simple; if it’s happy, leave it be.

If the stray cat is not friendly, it may be feral or semi-feral. Feral and semi-feral cats are able to look after themselves and, so long as the feral cat is healthy, leaving it alone may be the best option.

TNR (trap, neuter, release) is well established in Britain, while major investment by welfare groups in programs which offer free cat desexing to free-roaming cats of semi and colony carers, have for several decades supported community efforts in managing cat numbers. In fact the leading cat charity of the UK, Cats Protection helps desex more than 170,000 cats per year.

Along with embracing free-roaming cats, animal welfare groups in the UK encourage ‘barn cat’ adoptions, further cementing the idea that ‘working’ cats are a desirable member of the neighbourhood.

The effectiveness of their programs is evident; the public are encouraged to help keep cats out of shelters, meaning healthy, untame cats aren’t inflating shelter kill rates;

Breakdown of this graphic
- America kills 1 pet per 78 people
- Japan kills 1 pet per 453 people
- Australia kills 1 pet per 122 people
- New Zealand kills 1 pet per 169 people
- Britain kills 1 pet per 2,440 people <---- much, much less than the other countries.

In Australia, the situation is quite different. Our major animal welfare organisations encourage people to feel that cats should be neither seen, nor tolerated. The RSPCA was a driving force behind probably the most well known cat campaign in Australia - the 'Who's for Cats' program. Encouraging anti-cat sentiment in the community, the program asked people to take action against cats, trap or call council and ensure any unowned cats were impounded. The results have been of course new records in the number of cats killed in pounds.

With the blessing of major animal welfare groups, councils enthusiastically mandate all kinds of restrictions surrounding cats in the suburbs, including curfews. One of the first to do so was Bendigo council. In 2004 it introduced a curfew designed to ‘get cats off the streets’ and by gosh, it did! (Read more: Bendigo: a case study in cat management)

Which brings us to today’s climate. Where cat haters rule;

A Strathdale resident claiming to be euthanasing wandering cats has Bendigo’s feline-loving community outraged.

About three weeks ago a notice appeared on a community notice board at Strathdale Shopping Centre warning cat owners that their pets would be trapped and “humanely destroyed” if they came onto that person’s property.

A subsequent notice advised the person had killed three cats, two with collars, and was thinking about “tanning their hides”.

Sure, any psycho could make up a letter like this and post it for attention, but what is really disturbing is the enormous number of comments in support of his actions;

“If your cat was locked away like all dogs this would not be a problem!”

“Responsible cat ownership means keeping your cat on your property. I don’t see the problem with what this person is doing.”

“Simple solution to this people, keep your pets locked up like responsible pet owners should, if you can’t be sure of your cats whereabouts at all times then you should not own one.”

So if a cat is ‘out’, an owner is at fault and anything that happens to it, is really the fault of an ‘irresponsible owner’ – dangerous thinking which drives 1,700 cats into the Bendigo pound annually, most of which are killed there.

Surely, those advocating ‘for’ the cats would be calling for more acceptance? Unfortunately, no;

(Bendigo Animal Welfare and Community Services president Debbie Edwards) said she empathised with people who were plagued by nuisance cats.

“Cats are highly-developed hunters, they do kill things, and they can be noisy. No one wants to wake up to the sound of cats fighting,” she said.

“And if you’re a gardener you don’t want to be digging up cat poo, there’s nothing worse than the smell of cat poo. I fully support people’s right to use cat traps, but we don’t support the destruction of cats, that is against the law.”

By following the major welfare groups lead in supporting the idea that street-cats are beyond compassion, we’ve chosen vilification, abuse and killing for the cats of our community. We now have undeniable evidence that we’ve empowered the wrong people to act. We, as cat lovers, now have an obligation to advocate for the rights of cats to live free of harassment, if we ever want to see a future where our pet cats are safe and shelters stop the wholesale slaughter of unowned cats.

See also: There’s no No Kill without TNR

As seen on Twitter, a graphical representation of the problems at the LDH.

Is this the ‘animal welfare’ system we’re happy to have?

Image – The Newcastle Herald

The RSPCA Rutherford shelter has for several years managed pound services for the suburbs of Maitland, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle (NSW). The pound had long been criticised by animal advocates for refusing to release animals to community rescue, for working to overturn minimum impound periods making it easier to kill pets and for running overcapacity, especially during the busy holiday periods.

But in 2011, the RSPCA began negotiations with the Cessnock Council (Kurri Kurri Animal Shelter) to take over their pound, and in doing so expand the Rutherford shelter load by an expected 800 dogs and 300 cats per year.

The news was met with howls of protest from animal rescue groups in the area, with groups claiming they had been left out of discussions, that council had awarded the contract without calling for tenders and that more animals would die under the new management;

“Kurri Kurri pound has an extremely low rate of animals being put to sleep,” Hunter Animal Rescue president Jaimie Abbott said.

“This low euthanasia rate is because of the passionate and dedicated rangers and a large [number] of rescue groups releasing from the pound.

“This figure will not be maintained under the proposed new scheme and rescue groups will not be able to help save these animals.”

Despite these objections, council went ahead with the contract. So for the last few months, animals from Kurri Kurri with its “extremely low” kill rate are now being processed by the RSPCA NSW in Rutherford.

Fast forward to today, and how’s it working out for the pets?

Creatures swamp Rutherford RSPCA shelter

The number of animals dumped at the RSPCA’s Rutherford shelter since the start of the summer holiday season has jumped by almost 40% on last year’s figures with almost 1,300 pets passing through the doors over the past five weeks.

There has been a steady procession of animals since the beginning of December and staff are preparing for the numbers to continue to rise with three weeks of school holidays remaining.

Healthy kittens are being euthanised as staff struggle to cope with the unprecedented jump in the number of animals arriving at shelter.
….
(RSPCA spokeswoman Marianne Zander) said the majority of animals handed in at Rutherford had been dogs and kittens, many of the kittens having to be destroyed.
…
She said the shelter had also received many dogs and puppies, 175 of them surrenders.

She said as soon as the animals were behaviour- and health-assessed they stayed at the shelter for as long as it took to find them a new home but if it came to the shelter being too full, animals would be transferred to other shelters.

Now, this is where it gets interesting; the pound claims that should rehomable pets be in danger, they can simply be moved to other RSPCA locations. However those other locations aren’t likely a safe option either. The RSPCA NSW Annual Report 2010/11 contains no breakdown for individual shelters, but provides these overall number, state-wide for the year:

9,606 rehomed
5,509 returned
21,510 Killed (8,209 dogs & 13,301 cats)

Not very reassuring.

The Cessnock Council contract is worth more than $2 million to the RSPCA. Collecting multiple pound tenders, regardless of capacity seems to be a growing trend amongst major animal welfare organisations. And being able to explain away any surge in impounds by blaming ‘irresponsible owners’, ‘global warming‘, or the carbon tax has meant the public has largely remained ignorant the effects of pound management has on kill rates.

The RSPCA NSW is aware of the lack of capacity and had plans to expand its Tighes Hill vet clinic into an ‘animal care centre’ to cope with the pressure Cessnock city councils’ pound services are placing on the Rutherford shelter.

Unfortunately however, until other solutions are found, the lives of those pets who were once able to be saved by community rescue groups from the Kurri Kurri pound, will remain in the hands of an organisation who seems to be happy to use killing as the main tool to make its overcrowding problems go away.
- – - – - – - – -
If a member of the public was to acquire so many pets that it was ‘forced’ to kill some to make space to continue to acquire more, we would call that ‘irresponsible’. When shelters do it however, they blame the community for the killing…
- – - – - – - – -

Archive of news articles
1. Rescue groups want Rutherford pound animals
2. Lake Macquarie’s new policy on feral animals
3. Cessnock council puts Kurri pound decisions on a lead
4. Abandoned animals on death row
5. RSPCA planning to make room for more homeless
6. Fear for lives of pound animals
7. Animal welfare activists to protest pound closure

Like all councils in Victoria, Kingston has had compulsory pet microchipping and registration since 2007. In 2008/09 Council had 6,529 registered cats in their area and were impounding less than one cat a day (266). Despite the low number of cats ending up in the pound, cat welfare groups pressured the council to look at introducing cat management legislation targeting cat owners; requiring compulsory registration of pets over 3 months old and that all pets be desexed before registration… or mandatory desexing by stealth.

Have all these shiny, shiny new laws solved their cat ‘problems’? Of course not. As we’ve seen time and time again, mandates which target owners do little to improve outcomes for cats as overwhelmingly, cats who have owners aren’t the ‘problem’. It’s the large population of unowned cats who need help.

It did have an effect however; by 2009/10 – just one year later – the number of registered cats dropped to 5,920, putting more cats at risk of being killed at the pound by being unregistered.

Unsatisfied, the council in 2010 added a night time curfew to their cat management laws;

Kingston cat owners who let their moggies roam the streets at night will face a $60 fine from next month. The council’s controversial cat curfew comes into effect from Monday, November 1, grounding cats from dusk till dawn.

The curfew supported by the RSPCA and the Cat Protection Society;

Cat Protection Society executive director Dr Carole Webb said a curfew, already adopted by several Melbourne councils, was in the animals’ interests because it cut the risk of injury and spread of diseases such as feline AIDS.

So now they had their curfew, what happened next?

Once the curfew is official… the council will issue warning notices and ads before starting an after-hours’ trapping program.

Council acknowledged that the introduction of the curfew enables Council to more effectively target wild cat colonies and remove them from the community, minimising the chance of trapping owned domestic cats.
Council Annual Report 2009/10

Council was given the blessing of animal welfare groups to trap and kill cats without owners.

And they aren’t only trapping neighbourhood strays, they’re encouraging people to lure cats onto their property with food;

If you have a nuisance cat that you’d like us to remove from your property, your cooperation will be needed to establish a regular feeding time. To ensure the cat can be easily found when officers come to your property, you should feed it during business hours at the same time, and place each day. A feeding pattern should be established over a minimum period of at least 7 DAYS. The cat should NOT to be fed for 24 HOURS before the day the officers are to attend for trapping.

Kingston Council website

Remember, this council is being held up by cat ‘welfare’ as a council doing right by cat welfare;

Cat Protection Society executive director Dr Carole Webb said the (Kingston) curfew benefited the community and protected cats…

“I think all-round night containment is a win-win situation for everyone,” Dr Webb said.

So after all these moves to improve cat ‘welfare’, what’s the situation for cats in Kingston?

Well, the impound rate for cats remained constant;
2008/09 – 266
2009/10 – 295
2010/11 – 254
(Council Annual Reports)

(Whether ‘colony culls’ are included in these figures is unclear – the idea that anything trapped ‘after hours’ can be classified as unowned/feral and able to be killed immediately, certainly leaves this figure open to interpretation.)

And despite assertions that these laws would somehow improve cat health, feline ‘AIDS’ or FIV is still a problem the cat community.

But most worryingly, the community’s feelings around cats have changed. Having set the communities expectation that cats should be confined or removed;

Cruelty against cats in the area seem to be on the increase;

Our pet hate is cruelty in Kingston

Kingston pet owners are under fire after the number of animal cruelty complaints rose by almost 60 per cent during the past financial year…

And all cats are at risk from the newly empowered cat trappers;

Benjamin, 5, from Mordialloc with his severely injured cat Spotty, who was doused with an unknown chemical.

The two-year-old cat was taken to the pound on December 16 with pus seeping from her nose and face after a White St resident alerted Kingston Council to Spotty’s capture.

‘‘We let her out in the morning (December 15) and she didn’t come home, which was a bit strange.’’
….
The RSPCA warned against residents taking matters into their own hands regarding animal cruelty. “If people are concerned they should contact their local authorities to ensure the most effective and humane method of control is used,” senior inspector Simon Primrose said.

Seems cats have two choices; death in the hands of council, or torture at the hands of cat haters – things go from bad to worse for the cats of Kingston.