Shoukd containment of cats indoors be mandated Victoriawide?

Cats are hunters, it’s in their blood to prey on other animals, because of this cats pose a risk to native wildlife when allowed outdoors. Keeping cats contained indoors may substantially improve the safety of Australia’s unique wildlife in many Victorian areas.

Cats are the 4th greatest risk to wildlife in Victoria, harming 123 different species. In Australia as a whole cats kill 323 Million native animals out of the 546 Million animals that fall victim to cats. A roaming pet cat kills approximately 3 animals each week and it is estimated that 2 of these will be native animals and in one year a cat will kill approximately 186 animals 110 predicted to be wildlife. (Victoria National Parks Association,VNPA)

Based on the data provided by Victoria National Parks Association, cats have a significant impact on the death of Australian Native animals.

Cats not only contribute to the death of wildlife, but they also are notorious for breeding whilst out and about. This leads to an increase in stray cats thus, contributing to the issue as a whole.

Cats may also get into fights or contract disease while roaming, hence providing more reason as to why cats should be mandated to be kept indoors.

In most of Victoria cats are kept under a cat curfew, meaning they must be kept indoors in the evening until the following morning, this is because a lot of the issues with cats occur at night, and a lot of Australian wildlife is nocturnal so there is less harm with cats being outdoors during daylight hours.

In other areas, such as Bass Coast and Phillip Island, it is mandatory that cats be inside at all times, punishable by a fine if the owners cat is found outdoors.

As a cat owner myself, with a cat that was raised as an outdoor cat I understand the difficulty of keeping your cat indoors, however a cat run or cage outdoors or even netting over fencing keeping the cat contained are great options, although the cat may still try to escape the risk will decrease if these measures are put into place.

With that said, not everywhere needs to have cats indoors at all times as many areas do not have as much wildlife, so in these cases a map could be created marking high risk areas and making cat containment at all times mandatory in these areas, and in all other areas a cat curfew should be applied and enforced. Cats are hunters and do pose risks to animals, which is why the correct action must be taken and followed, in doing so owners are contributing to a future with more abundant populations of Australia’s unique wildlife.