Cats, Conservation, and Controversy: Finding the Balance in Ethical Pet Ownership

Following the public debate sparked by the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission’s recent report, Animals Asia's Global Director of Animal Welfare and Sentience, Dave Neale answers a key question: How can we balance wildlife conservation with the welfare needs of cats and the rights of pet owners? His insights highlight the need for compassionate, evidence-based solutions that protect both animals and the environment.

Last month the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission issued a report to The Scottish Government on “Responsible ownership and care of domestic cats (Felis catus) in Scotland.”

The report contains a raft of recommendations on microchipping and registration, fertility control (by neutering and containment) and vaccination against disease, intended to maximise the welfare of owned and feral cats in Scotland, alongside public education measures on cat welfare issues.?

One such recommendation for consideration is that "new housing developments in rural areas could have a stipulation that cats may not be kept in conservation-sensitive areas/other areas that have not had high levels of predation, especially with red-listed or amber-listed birds/other species."

The issuing of the report led to widespread media coverage of a possible cat ownership ban in Scotland, forcing Scotland’s first minister and the UK prime minister’s spokesperson to deny any such plans in recent days.

The Importance of Ethical Cat Ownership

Many cat owners provide cats with free-roaming access outdoors, and this alongside large numbers of semi-feral and unowned cats, presents us with ethical issues. In the UK, an individual owned cat kills approximately 22 animals per year and these numbers are likely to be far higher for semi-feral and unowned ones.

Estimates suggest that in the UK alone a further 0.3 million birds are released annually by cat owners but subsequently die. The overall mortality rate for birds that have been attacked by a cat but not killed is 78%. The presence of a cat within an ecosystem also leads to disturbances in a bird's ability to forage, and feed their young and contributes to increased levels of stress and fear in wild animal populations.

Domestic cats consume over 300 species of conservation concern and are implicated in the extinction of at least 63 species of birds, mammals and reptiles.?

This is a considerable ethical issue for cat owners that allow their cats to free-roam leading to the suffering of many billions of animals globally and contributing to the population decline of threatened species.

Outdoor access is also a significant risk factor for parasitic infection in owned cats. Cats with outdoor access being 2.8 times more likely to be infected with parasites than indoor-only cats, with many parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii and Toxocara cati having potential health implications on humans, other domestic animals and wildlife.??

Cats that freely roam also live a significantly shorter lifespan compared to cats that live inside due to contracting illnesses from other animals and being injured or killed by cars, wildlife and dogs.

Compassion is the solution

Despite there being no imminent prospect of a ban on cat ownership within Scotland, the report acknowledges the scale of the wildlife predation issue caused by cats as well as the issue of free-roaming cats competing for resources with vulnerable wildcat populations in specific locations, and includes the option of compulsory containment of owned cats in areas classed as vulnerable (to be defined by Scotland's Nature Agency, NatureScot ).??

Such measures for consideration are to be welcomed to further protect wild animals,? alongside an understanding of the potential welfare impacts for the cat of preventing access to outdoor environments, including the restriction of physical opportunities to exercise as well as the cats ability to perform their exploratory and territorial behaviours and fulfill their natural desire to stalk and hunt.?

To mitigate against such issues, Animals Asia supports the vaccination and neutering of owned cats, and trap-neuter-release programmes for communities with free-roaming cat populations to manage the size of the cat population.??

We also recommend that cat owners provide a stimulating indoor environment which allows their cats to exercise, explore and play as well as supervised outdoor access within a secure environment that allows their cat to exercise and explore but not to roam and subsequently hunt freely within the community.?

Restricting cats to specific locations may have an impact on their welfare but this is offset by the positive impact it will have on wild animal populations, the reduced risk of being involved in a road traffic accident, and a reduction in the risk of parasitic infections.

Such measures will require a significant investment in time and resources on the part of cat owners, as well as an investment in educational programmes to shift the societal view away from cats being free-spirited roamers, with an increased emphasis on the responsibility of cat owners to prevent the unnecessary suffering and death of billions of wild animals and the associated conservation impacts on populations of vulnerable species.?