SPCA CALLS FOR NATIONAL CAT LEGISLATION

Cats are poorly served by existing legislation and deserve comprehensive law reform, the SPCA​ argues.

“There is good reason for the New Zealand government to take a stronger leadership role in cat management,” concluded Christine Sumner​ and two colleagues from the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals​ (SPCA).

“People with cats enjoy the benefits of companionship, but do not pay the true cost for letting their cat roam, especially if they are not desexed,” the trio wrote in the peer-reviewed and free journal Animals.

“A second argument is that there is a failure of government to protect … cat welfare and native wildlife.” Government should also reduce the transmission of toxoplasmosis to native marine mammals and pastoral animals, and control nuisance in communities.

The 19-page, academic-style article, with 115 footnotes, maps out how cats are currently managed in New Zealand. It turns out regulation is very ad hoc, Sumner said.

“You get this patchwork quilt-approach – you’re trying to manage cats in different places for different reasons,” she said.

A stray cat can be considered a pest (and destroyed) in one part of New Zealand and not others, the authors report.

Current cat management falls on various levels of local government, many of which have their own pest management plans and bylaws.

“Our review demonstrates that there are multiple policy mechanisms used to manage cats in New Zealand for a variety of reasons, including animal welfare, pest management, and nuisance, and that these different policies have both positive and negative implications for cat welfare.”

In the SPCA review, cats were assigned to categories based on their relationship with humans. Companion cats are almost entirely reliant on humans for food and care. This group is allowed to roam outside the home.

At the other end of the scale are feral cats, which are wild and not reliant on humans at all.

In the middle are stray cats, which are reliant on humans to varying degrees. They may be lost companion cats or abandoned. They may get food and attention from humans from time to time. Some are “semi-owned”.

The SPCA wants “cat welfare to be central to any conversations about managing them,” Sumner said. “We recognise they may be managed to protect native wildlife in certain situations. We want it done humanely and effectively.”

In the SPCA’s ideal world, there would be no feral cats and few stray cats. All cats would be microchipped and desexed, except for those raised by registered breeders or which have medical reasons to remain fertile, Sumner said.

The greatest barriers to chipping and desexing are cost, Sumner said. The SPCA runs occasional Snip ‘n’ Chip campaigns where those “needing a helping hand” can desex and microchip their cat for a nominal fee.

Cats are “complicated animals to manage”, she said. “In New Zealand, they are beloved companion animals, which we absolutely recognise. But they also have some challenges with how they can impact native wildlife and communities and so forth. So, you know, it’s a complex picture.”

There are about 1.2 million companion cats in 41 per cent of NZ households. About 88 per cent of cats are desexed, although this number is lower than previous surveys.