I am not here to make the case that cats should be kept indoors for the sake of local wildlife – that case has been made over and over and over and over again. Cat owners know these arguments, and if they have not been persuaded by the fact that cats kill more than 6 million native animals in Australia a day they will not be persuaded by me.
There is a fairly tedious assumption that if you love wildlife you must hate cats, and visa versa. And nothing will turn cat people off faster than encountering a person who hates cats.
I understand this. I also hate people who hate cats. So let’s set the birds and the bettongs to one side for the moment, and consider the other, obvious fact: cats should be kept indoors for the sake of cats.
Cats messing up the wildlife is at the fault of humans. These articles aren’t telling you we need to get rid of or punish cats, it’s telling humans they need to treat their cats with better understanding. Talking about how cats mess up wildlife isn’t blaming cats, it’s blaming humans for putting them there and letting them fuck up wildlife, especially when all signs point to everyone being happier and healthier if they are kept indoors.
