Countries like Hawaii, New Zealand,Australia and the Untited States are aware that cats pose a big threat to wildlife while others , like the United Kingdom, are just ‘waking up’.
Humans have expanded their own species from 370 Million people in 1350 to 7.2 Billion in 2012.With more people came/come more pets.Many of them are cats which unfortunatley are being allowed to roam free because their keepers think that it is natural that they must roam free- while in reality cats are a non native animal species who has been domesticated as a human companion for a estimated twelve thousand years and is therefore as far away being a natural animal as a chihuahua from a wolf.
Domestic cats are lethal hunters, killing at least 275 million other animals a year in Britain, a report showed …
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-19353/Cats-kill-275-million-animals-year.html
Image via Dailymail UK
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-13/greg-hunt-feral-cat-native-animals-fact-check/5858282
Belgium as one of the few cocountries has started to contain cats.With the help of keep keepers who understood the neccessity to contain cats in order to protect wiwildlife cats are now being kept indoors, roam in self constructed or bought catio’s or walked on a leash.There are plenty of useful tips how to train even a older cat to walk on a leash and/or how to build a catio.Keeping a cat contained is not only healthy for the wildlife but also heathier for the cat and the cat keepers.Dangerous to the cat or the keeper illnesses can’t be picked up by a cat and passed on, but the cat lives also longer ( http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/health_resources/Zoonotic.cfm ) . And a cat will be happy indoors or in a catio if the correct stimulation is given (there are also plenty of options to look into on the Internet).
It is time that cat keepers take responsibility towards their pet. ‘Any’pet, no matter how small or big or what species comes with great responsibility to be looked after and towards the environment. Other living beings ‘must be’ safe from them.We humans are not alone on this planet.We are only here for a short while and should do our best not to harm other creatures.Therefore our domesticated animal companions must be contained.
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