We Have To Talk About Cats…

It is with heavy heart that I write this blog.

I grew up with cats, so I can’t help but like them.

I was privileged to be the owner of Sauron (aka Blackie; aka Lord Thunderpurr; aka the Imp from the Pit; aka Conqueror of the Lamp) who was the coolest cat who ever lived. He was soooo intelligent, playful and loving.

That’s right, loving. Every day when I came home he used to run in through the bedroom window, get up on the dressing table, and put his arms round my neck while purring into my ear. I absolutely adored him and cried my eyes out when he died in 2000.

Thing is though, having reached the ripe old age of 60, I now perceive that there shouldn’t be cats in Australia.

I have made the decision that my current cat – Grishnakh – whom I also love to bits, will be my last cat. He’s about eleven now which means he has four or five more years, then that’s it. No more cats.

Neither should there be feral pigs, feral dogs, foxes, goats, horses, camels, rabbits or cane toads. They do unbelievable damage to our native environment and wildlife (over a million birds a day are killed by cats and god knows how many ground dwelling animals) so, sadly, I think it’s time we, as a community, made some hard judgments about those creatures we most value.

I am calling on everyone in Australia to make a similar decision. We will lose our native animals if we do not take the responsible decision – hard though that be – to rid the country of cats, and all other damaging feral pests.

I’m not saying it has to happen overnight. There will be breeders and others who make their living from cats so it would be deeply unfair to require them to go out of business overnight. I am proposing that Australia commits itself to being cat-free by 2040 with no more cat sales after 2025.

As for feral cats, there needs to be an aggressive program of deleting them from the environment. I’d do the same thing for other feral pests but cat lovers need to confront the fact that cats are by far the most destructive to native wildlife so that’s where our focus needs to be.

My heart bleeds for Blackie, and Grishie, and for all of your poor pussycats who can’t help being what they are.

They know not what they do.

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