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| Belinda Alexandra with her rescue kitten |
I love cats. I have three. I
am also passionate about Australian wildlife. I very much understand the
heartbreak and frustration felt when a beautiful animal or bird is destroyed by
someone’s pet cat. It is unnecessary and easily avoided. That hunting cats have
devastating effects on our local wildlife, already pushed to the brink by human
activity, is undisputed. Therefore, our work in educating cat owners is vitally
important. But unfortunately, many wildlife advocates go about it the wrong way
and therefore often do more damage than good.
The first thing to understand
is, whether you like cats or not, they are here to stay. They have been around
since Ancient Egypt as beloved companions and bring comfort and joy to many
people. With loneliness on the rise, more people working from home, the
increase in single child families and the trend towards apartment living, it is
likely cats as the favoured companion animal will increase. You may not like
them, but your dislike of them could well be doing a disservice to your cause.
That’s because in many cat
owners you already have people who are half-won over to being champions of
wildlife. They already see the value of an animal and appreciate the joy it
brings into their life. Because of that, many of them are more open to seeing
the intrinsic value of other animals and the need to take care of them, much
more so than you would find with people who see no value in animals, have never
had the pleasure of an animal companion, and feel no compassion for other
living creatures at all. Don’t lose that opportunity to win these people over to
taking responsibility with your own negative attitude.
Like most of us, some cat
owners have simply learned bad behaviours. They may have grown up in families
where the cat was put out at night, or male cats weren’t desexed. They may
simply, like many of us, be so occupied with life they don’t stop to think how
their actions are affecting others. But habits can be changed. And it is
developing this insight and humility in yourself that will make you a much
better educator and communicator. Let me give you an example:
Two-thirds of Australian
adults are overweight or obese. You may be one of them. What if one day
in my self-righteousness, I marched up to your door and said: ‘Look, Fred, I
want to talk to you about your fat. Did you know that because of lazy,
irresponsible people like you, and your lack of community-awareness, taxpayers
like me and the generations after me are going to have to foot the bill for the
Medicare costs it will take when you develop a chronic disease!’
The reality that people not
taking responsibility for the things they can control about their health is and
will be an enormous burden to our economy is a fact. The rest of it is
assumptions I’ve made about Fred that may or may not be true. Am I likely to motivate Fred to get into the
community spirit and look after his health? I doubt it. Most likely he will shut
the door in my face and dismiss me as some sort of sociopathic nutcase and go
eat a tub of ice-cream instead.
So don’t make assumptions
about cat owners before you’ve even spoken to them. And don’t forget your own
shortcomings. What’s going on your dinner plate tonight? Could an animal
advocate criticise how your choice is causing untold suffering? Do you save up
and buy ethically produced clothing or do you get your shoes at the discount
store and throw them away after a season? What would a human rights campaigner
or environmentalist say to you? All of us need to improve and do better in some
aspect of our lives.
There are some people who are
really irresponsible and don’t look after their cats, I know. But don’t make
assumptions about people until you are sure. Go talk to your neighbour, or the
person you have rescued an animal from. Ask questions to get to know them
better and find out what their attitude actually is. Then you will have built
up a much better rapport with them to win them over to the side of taking more
responsibility for their cat. One of my favourite wildlife education stories
was that of a rescuer whose Italian neighbours netted their fruit trees in a
way that wildlife was getting horrifically tangled in the nets. No matter how
many times she spoke to her neighbours they would not change their behaviour.
But this rescuer was smart and understood that you catch more flies with honey
than you do with vinegar. She knew that her neighbours treasured the hard work
they put into their fruit trees so she wasn’t going to convince them to share
their produce with the local wildlife. But she also understood that there is
something that Italians love even more than fresh food – bambini! (babies). She took them pictures of the orphaned flying
foxes she’d rescued, wrapped in their swaddling and with teats in their mouths.
The neighbours’ hearts were opened and the trees were netted properly.
Take the same smart approach
to cat owners, and believe me you will win far more people to the cause than
you will lose.
Belinda
Alexandra is the author of nine bestselling novels. She is also the patron for
the World League for the Protection of Animals, Australia. Her book: The Divine Feline: A Chic Cat Lady’s Guide
to Woman’s Best Friend will be published in November 2020. For more
information www.belinda-alexandra.com
***
Break out box:
GOOD REASONS TO KEEP YOUR CAT
INDOORS
Even well fed cats will
continue to hunt even though they are not hungry. This is because they, like
most animals, have evolved to take the opportunity to secure food as soon as it
is available. This behaviour means that domestic cats can have devastating
effects on wildlife populations already struggling due to land clearage and
other human activity. There is also the suffering caused by cat attacks. Any
rescuer will tell you of the heartbreak of finding an animal that has horrific
injuries and is in agony and the only humane thing to be done is euthanise it
quickly. Even animals that escape with a bite may die up to days later from
infection due to the fact that our native fauna doesn’t have resistance to the
bacteria in a cat’s salvia. If you love and appreciate the wildlife in your
area, keep your cat indoors or in an enclosure, especially at night.
There are also several
benefits for your cat:
·
Indoor cats live much longer than their outdoor
counterparts – the average outdoor cat has a lifespan as short as two years.
While an indoor cat that is given a loving, stimulating environment can live up
to 18 years of age.
·
You will be keeping your cat safe from motor
vehicle accidents, disease, injuries from fights and dog attacks, poison,
paralysis ticks and cruel people (the number of unspeakable acts of cruelty
towards cats and other animals such as possums has increased alarmingly in
recent years according to the RSPCA)
·
You will always know where your cat is – it is
heartbreaking to lose an animal and never know what happened to it
· An indoor cat will bond better with you and your family