Does Scotland actually want to ban cats?
A report published by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) about cat ownership has produced a flurry of headlines over an alleged “cat ban” (a purrge, perhaps) in Scotland.
Those headlines are not quite true – the SNP are not banning cats – but they are looking at ways to promote “responsible cat ownership” due to increasing worries about the impact of specifically outdoor domestic cats on the environment.
Why are cats a problem?
In particular, they’re concerned about birds, the natural nemesis of free-roaming kitties.
“Not my Mittens,” you may very well think, but with an average kill count of 22 per cat, the UK moggie population is estimated to be responsible for around 27m bird deaths annually, posing potential risks to biodiversity.
Cat containment areas (zones where cats are not allowed to roam freely) or kitty curfews (bans on cats outdoor at night) are among the suggestions being put forward to combat the problem.
The global movement curbing cats’ rights
But this isn’t simply a product of sparrow-loving Scots, with opposition to outdoor cats having gained momentum elsewhere in the world in recent years. In Australia, for example, cat containment areas are utilised in Melbourne and Canberra to protect local wildlife, with owners facing fines if their cats are spotted outside without a lead.
In the US, the shift has been more organic (and cat-first), with more Americans choosing to own indoor cats rather than outdoor ones due to concern over their own cats’ safety.
Brits, meanwhile, have been slower to make the change, following the European preference for free movement (the EU explicitly defended the “free movement rights” of cats in 2019), as well as the advice of many cat protection groups, which advocate for the benefits of free-roaming.
Are there other ways to save the birds?
Fortunately, there’s compromise to be found. Making cats wear colourful bibs (arguably a risk of causing more human deaths) can help birds evade their killer paws, while playing with cats for 10 minutes a day can also soften their killer instincts. But if that’s all too new-age, Amsterdam, faced with a similar problem, reverted to a more traditional measure: bells on collars.