The stray cat kills more than a hundred animals annually.
In Australia, pet cats kill hundreds of millions of domestic animals, according to local research. A report released Friday found that 323 million animals, including birds, are killed by cats nationwide each year because the vast majority of owners let their pets roam free. This number is 34 percent higher than the 241 million figure measured during the 2020 survey.
Researchers attribute the sudden increase in wild animal mortality to an increase in the desire to keep pets during the coronavirus pandemic: the number of cats on the continent jumped to 5.3 million.
The study authors believe that lawmakers should also approach creating legal frameworks for responsible animal husbandry, and it might be worth considering a 24-hour curfew for cats.
In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), for example, legislation requires restrictions on the free movement of cats, and in the state of Victoria, half of local governments have issued some type of restriction. To date, legislative restrictions in other states have not allowed similar legislation to be put in place. According to one of the organizations involved in the research, the Invasive Species Council,
If only the Sydney region were to put in place a total ban on cats every year, they could already save around 66 million domestic animals each year.
It was jointly created by the three research institutes, is invasives.org.au The authors of a report posted on the website called for greater responsibility on the part of owners, as 71 percent of cat owners allow their animals to roam freely. About a third of Australian households have pets, with half having at least two or more.
Each year, each of these cats kills an average of 110 domestic animals as they roam and sometimes hunt. About 40 of them are of some kind of reptile, 38 are birds and 32 are mammals.
(Source: MTI. Pictures are illustrative.)
You may also be interested in:
