EU: Putting a cat on a leash is denying its rights

[quote]Tilburg University scientists wrote in Oxford’s Journal of Environmental Law that free-ranging domestic cats “impact biodiversity through predation, disturbance, competition, disease and hybridization,” and added that the predatory impact is worse than often assumed.

DL loves its cats, but I agree with the scientists - protect biodiversity first and foremost. But it's tricky for the EU because the UK (falsely) claiming they're forcing them to only sell certain shapes of bananas is what added to the Brexit sentiment. So they don't want to be seen as the body that regulates every aspect of life.

Delighted. The American sanitization of everything including cats has been pushing at our shared for the last year or two. Enough if the bullshit. Sharpen claws! Kill vermin! Roam the city my pretties!

If you want an indoor pet with no claws get yourself a bunny.

∆ That wasn't me. My cat got on the iPad and has been trolling here all morning with his crazy political beliefs.

Bunnies can scratch, r2....

As an Irish person I'd never even heard of an indoor cat until last year. It just wouldn't work here. Most people in my area regard cats as outdoor animals and only have them to catch mice and rats. Even the staunchest animal lover in this country would be horrified by the notion of a declawed indoor cat. It would be considered awfully cruel.l to stop a cat from hunting and roaming. It would be impossible for the EU to enforce. They can't even get people to licence their dogs here. We aren't good little soldiers like the Americans.

Good. The EU says something sensible for once.

Don't get a predator for a pet if you don't like them hunting.

They probably remember what happened last time Europe got rid of all the cats.

Like R5, I'd never heard of indoor cats until I started frequenting majority-American web sites as an adult. I was aware of declawing from reading Garfield as a kid though.

Quite frankly, if it's dangerous to let your cat out, you shouldn't be keeping them.

I agree r8 not everyone needs a cat. If it's not appropriate don't have one.

Pet cats only catch retarded birds and other prey that shouldn't be alive anyway.

If you have an actual barn cat or working cat, that's another story.

Where we live there are a few abandoned cats, dogs etc. I keep asking myself who would do such a thing to an animal. What was sad one of the cats was run over by a car. It's dead body lay in the street for a couple of days.

R10 is wrong. Cats are the reason for declines in songbird and small wildlife populations.

Releash the hounds!

R12 Beats being knee deep in vermin as any country person without a cat can tell you. Putting down poison kills owls and other predators. Traps kill hedgehogs and other small mammals. Cats are still the most efficient pest control. Just the smell on one in the locality will deter rodents. Feed them well and stick a bell on their collars to minimize bird casualties.

If cats have been endemic to Europe for the last 3000 years then why are they only wiping out the wildlife now? Bird numbers falling due to cats? Cats have been hunting Europe since the days of the Roman empire. Bird numbers have been threatened historically by the father trade, by hunting and currently by pesticides. Entire species are being wiped out by farming practices and by Italian hunters who take out entire migrating flocks. Cats barely register by comparison. If we stopped wiping them out in huge numbers we wouldn't have to try and curb their natural predators.

Because, R15, there are a lot more cats now. There are a lot more cats now because there are more people caring for cats and letting the run wild. There are more people caring for and feeding feral cats too. My community has banned all outdoor animal feeding except stationary bird feeders.

I tried it a few times and my cat would agree with the EU.

You mean I can't air my pussy?

R14, the problem isn't caused by "country people" with a limited number of barn cats. The problem is caused by entire cities of people permitting hundreds of thousands of cats to run wild, killing, in aggregate, hundreds of thousands of birds and other small animals. The study above got its numbers by actually observing the number of things cats kill, not by pulling numbers out of thin air. Insect populations have nothing to do with the study.

R19 The linked study also put most of the blame at the paws of feral cats and strays, not domestic cats allowed to roam.

R11, My neighbors in my very large gated condo complex frequently abandon their cats when they move out or get a dog. Thankfully other kindly souls have long since banded together and now each kitty has their own mini-condo on various patios along with being fixed/spayed, gotten basic shots courtesy of a local animal welfare charity, and are being well-fed twice a day.

Although a few mean neighbors complain they keep down the population of pigeons, rats, and other unwanted vermin. Kitties also fertilize the grass and plants although you never see their waste.

r16 No there fucking aren't more cats now. We spay and neuter cats now. We spay and even cull feral populations. An unspayed female can be responsible for 400 more cats in her breeding lifetime. Do you really think there were fewer feral/stray/domestic cats running around in times past? You think cats were a rarity in Victorian slums 15th century villages? and You must be high.

The only time cat populations fell as dramatically in European history was during the Plague years due to active persecution and hunting and in certain areas at the start of WW2 when they culled all the non essential animals.

Even the notorious street cats of Venice aren't around anymore. House cat population isn't an accurate barometer of overall population as it doesn't account for feral/stray animals. There are no accurate statistics on Feral populations in Euorpe but a 23 year study of a catch/spay/release programme showed the population halved.

r19 The studies on pesticide use, habitat destruction and hunting aren't 'pulled out of thin air" The majority of Ornithologists agree on them. As someone else said. It's feral cats that cause most of the wildlife loss and their populations are falling. So we'll have to look to our own species to stop killing the planet I guess.

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I bought a harness and leash for my cat.

I have scars.

We're worse than any other animal species for songbird destruction.

How do they feel about water torture?

Fuck cats. Fuck them in the ass.

A cat's penis is sharply barbed along the shaft.

Nobody puts my pussy on a leash. It’s got a mind of its own.

Nobody puts my pussy on a leash. It’s got a mind of its own.

Not all countries have the same issues, so it doesn't make much sense to generalize. Where I live (in the US), cats are frequently killed by coyotes (here in the East, they're actually coywolves: hybrids between coyotes and wolves, which are much larger than the coyotes out West). I like cats, very much, but if adopt one, I would be very cautious about letting it roam outdoors without some kind of supervision. And unlike dogs, cats can usually scale a fence to explore. I would have to think long and hard how to make my yard a secure place for a cat. But it wouldn't be easy or cheap. Anyway, cats never need to fear me: I do my best to care for the feral cats who haunt my yard: they don't let me touch them, but they accept the temporary shelters I make for them, and are always happy to be fed.