Why is it forbidden to let cats out in Australia?

Australian authorities decided to ban domestic catswalk freely through the streets. From October 1, the law will take effect in Knox, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. In terms of our money, the fine for letting cats out on the street for the first time will be about 5,000 rubles, and then it will reach 27,000 rubles. Needless to say, pet owners did not like the new rules because they entail a lot of responsibility and money. But why did the cats not please the Australian authorities so much? The fact is that they are predators that exterminate rare species of animals - in 2018 they killed more than a billion mammals. As part of this article, I propose to find out exactly what the new Australian law is and are there any alternative methods of protecting animals from cats? At one point, scientists even conducted a cruel experiment in which Australian animals learned to resist cats.

Australian cats will be under house arrest from October 2021

Danger of cats in Australia

How cats harm natureAustralia, my colleague Alexander Bogdanov has already told in this article. According to statistics, every year wild and domestic cats kill billions of other animals, including rare species. It is impossible to count the exact number of domestic cats, but scientists have reported 5-6 million individuals. And the number of wild cats is in the region of 4 million. Cats appeared in Australia about 200 years ago - they were brought in by European settlers. Since then, the life of the inhabitants of the Australian continent has been full of danger. Various rodents, reptiles and so on are especially affected. During all this time, cats have become the cause of the complete extinction of at least 29 animal species.

In Russia and other countries, cats are bred to catch mice. But in Australia, cats catch other animals along with mice.

The ban on walking cats

According to the Daily Mail, the residents of Knox willforced to keep their cats at home 24 hours a day. If you wish, you can enclose your home area with a fence and keep the cats on a leash, but you cannot let them out on the street itself. City Council Mayor Lisa Cooper initially suggested only a 7:00 pm curfew. But no one supported her proposal, because this does not make much sense - cats are nocturnal animals. Cat owners were as unhappy with the innovation as possible for a variety of reasons. At the very least, they will have to install fences that cost a lot. Isolation can also be bad for the health of their furry friends.

There is no point in introducing a curfew for cats - we need a ban on leaving the house.

But the introduction of a new rule in Australia is necessary.Wild and domestic cats do pose a great danger to native animals. According to environmental agencies, they kill several million mice, rats and larger animals every day and something needs to be done about it. In terms of domestic cats, the authorities have come up with the aforementioned bill. But what about the wild ones? In fact, the decision has long been invented, and it is very tough - in 2015, a decree was issued to exterminate more than 2 million wild cats.

Rabbit bandicoot (Macrotis lagotis)

Interesting fact: because of the cats, rabbit are on the verge of extinctionbandicoots (Macrotis lagotis), also known as eared marsupial badgers. But foxes with people are also a danger to them. Sometimes these little creatures get caught in traps.

How to teach animals not to be afraid of predators?

However, earlier scientists tried to teach the vulnerableanimals resist cats. Scientists at the University of New South Wales led by Katherine Moseby conducted an experiment in which small kangaroos and other vulnerable animals were allowed to sniff the bodies of dead cats. After that, they were placed in one enclosure and allowed to happen. As a result, many vulnerable animals died, but individuals of the next generations acquired stronger legs in order to be able to escape in case of danger. The method turned out to be working, but the researchers received a lot of criticism - the experiment turned out to be too cruel.

But sometimes kangaroos and cats find a common language ...

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In conclusion, it remains only to say that cats fromAustralia is badly out of luck. Domestic cats will soon be required to stay at home, but the worst thing is for wild individuals, because they are simply exterminated. Meanwhile, cats from other parts of the world feel great - everyone loves them because they help to get rid of depression and in general have a good effect on people, which has already been proven in many studies.