Time for legislation regarding [I]Felis Catus[/I]

I don't know how I feel about this one. Outdoor cats have always been in my life, but mostly as pest control. Of course getting rid of rats and mice doesn't stop them from killing MANY other forms of wildlife... but mouse/rat traps and poison never seemed to fix the problem.

It's something I'd want to read more about and educate myself on. We don't have any cats as of right now (not on a farm anymore, or an urban house backed against a school dumpster). If I ever do get another it'll be something I consider more seriously though

I firmly agree that feral cats are a huge problem, there's TONS here in Phoenix. My mom has owned cats my entire life and I do understand that it can be hard to keep cats inside, some just WANT to be out and it's tricky to avoid having them run out from between your legs every time a door gets opened.

I personally feel that something that would make a HUGE difference would be if all states made it free to spay or neuter cats, this could be great for dogs too. Even better yet, for the first few years they could encourage people by awarding something (store credit to a pet supply store maybe???) for bringing a cat into get fixed. You know there'd be people going around rounding up cats by the droves to get fixed if they got something for it.

I know for a fact many of the unwanted cat births arise from people owning cats and not being able to afford to have them fixed. Cats are generally seen as a low cost, low-responsibility pet and are easy to come by, meaning a LOT of low-income individuals own them. It can be VERY difficult or impossible to find assistance with free or low cost sterilization. To me this is along the same lines as charging to properly dispose of hazardous waste, it's just plain stupid because all it does is encourage people to hide it in the regular trash and further ruin the environment. To fix a problem everything has to not be so much about money money money.

As to the already feral cat population, many will disagree with me, but I'm of the opinion that they should probably be exterminated by the state. I find it stupid that certain animals: cats, dogs, and horses mainly, have so much more protection than other species. Why can I own chickens, pigs, or cows and slaughter them for food but if I did the same with cats, dogs, or horses it's considered animal cruelty. It's a ridiculous double standard imo.

Where I am they have attempted 3 times to pass legislation on cats. The legislation basically would restrict cats to indoors unless you build a enclosed run (roofed over) The last time it was voted on only one vote separated it. They would also require tags with name and address of owner.

I would say that so far people opposed to legislation feel the way they do based off of their emotional attachment to cats/their cats and aren't considering the affect that they have on the environment. Let's get some more input on this, I am very curious to see how more people feel.

When I forst saw the cat proposal on the docket I thought there was no chance but not so it was and it has been every version placed forward, I expect to see it passed in the next year at least it seems very likely. I hope so where I live there is a huge feral cat population they are a massive issue.

I'd love to get the actual legislatiion that was proposed. Do you think that you could PM more info so that I can contact the folks that proposed the legislation?

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Originally Posted by gsarchie

I would say that so far people opposed to legislation feel the way they do based off of their emotional attachment to cats/their cats and aren't considering the affect that they have on the environment. Let's get some more input on this, I am very curious to see how more people feel.

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I know the impact it has on the environment, however, I also know that it's going to be close to impossible to enforce.