Dr. Hannah

“If you love your cat, keep Fluffy indoors.“

These were environmentalist and former Scarborough city councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker’s words to Toronto City Council Wednesday as a city committee discussed a plan that could prohibit cat owners from allowing felines to roam freely outdoors.

The motion, moved by Councillor for Ward 17 - Don Valley North Shelley Carroll, is rooted in the belief outdoor cats can be a danger to local ecosystems, hunting bird and rodent populations, and are themselves at risk of being hit by vehicles or attacked by wildlife while roaming.

Currently, city staff are proposing bylaws be changed to prohibit pet owners from allowed their pet to roam “at large” in the city, with the exception of cats and domesticated pigeons. Carroll wants to scrub cats from the exception with her motion, while still permitting pigeons to remain at large. Under the proposed bylaw, cats would still be allowed outdoors while on leash.

spay neuter return let them be stray cats, they help control mouse, rat, and squirrel overpopulation

if you remove the cats, the vermin will move in

Cats are absolute garbage at catching and killing rats. Rats are far too large, are rarely alone, defend themselves in groups, and are considerably stronger than little field mice.

Cats prefer smaller, more delicate, and easier to catch prey.

Rats, and rodents in general, carry toxoplasmosis, a parasite that cats can carry after being introduced to wild rodents even once.

Toxoplasmosis can cause miscarriages in pregnant humans (and possibly even livestock!), seizures, encephalitis, blindness, fever, swollen lymph glands, joint and muscle pain, and inflammation of certain organ tissue. Humans can get it from cats through contact with cat feces, including used cat litter.

Cats are also in danger of predation from wildlife and other pets, human cruelty, vehicles, poisons, and other feral colonies.

Trap and release DOES NOT WORK

A cat can give birth up to 6 times a year and reach sexual maturity at 4 months. Missing one male and one female in a TNR project can increase the population of feral cats in a single colony by 20+ kittens in a year, which also can reproduce.

Also, domestic cats can drive away small prey species like mice, which in turn drives away actual wild predators like owls and raptors that are evolved to hunt mice and smaller birds.

Outdoor cats have a short and painful lifespan of 2-5 years on average, compared to 10-15 years for a healthy indoor cat.

And, cats are absolutely devastating to local ecosystems, driving several species to extinction already.

Want to know the animal that was specifically bred for catching rats, due to its agility, bite speed, strength, eyesight, and durability?

Rat terriers, Jack Russell terriers, and Lakeland terriers. Those are dogs, not cats.

In addition, natural predators do just fine at handling the mouse and squirrel populations in and around cities, as well as in the wild.

Domestic Cat Prefation on Wildlife

Fearing the Feline

Predation of Wildlife by Domestic Cats

Reconciling Actual and Perceived Rates of Predation

Spatio-Temporal Variation in Predation

Urban Bird Declines

Domestic Cats are also a primary risk to European Wild Cat conservation due to hybridization, disease transmission, and food competition.

We also know that the primary cause of death for owned cats in the UK is trauma, in particular cats under 5 years of age. Cats under 5 years of age are also suspectible to viral infections and respiratory disorders.

In regards to cats 5 years of age or less where trauma was the number one cause of death, greater than 90% of cats in the UK have daily outdoor access compared to 80% in Australia and 50-60% in the USA.

A small study in Bristol found that ~4% of the surveyed cats had been involved in a ‘road traffic accident,’ and of those involved ~71% of the injuries were fatal. Cats in rural areas were at greater risk than those in urban or suburban areas.

Pictured above is one of the ravens of Masada, in Israel.

Today is Tisha B’Av, the ultimate day of mourning in the Jewish calendar. It’s a cursed day, set in the blazing maw of summer. On this day, over the millennia, the following has happened to the People of Israel:

1. The destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, built by King Solomon, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 587 BCE. Thus began the initial exile of the Jews from their homeland.

2. The second Temple in Jerusalem, rebuilt by Nehemia and Ezra, was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Jerusalem was razed, and the Jewish people were scattered, exiled once more. This was the beginning of the Diaspora.

3. The Jewish revolt of Bar Kokhbah in 132 CE against the Romans was crushed. Roman commander, Turnus Rufus, plowed the site of the destroyed second Temple and the immediate area around it.

4. The fall of the desert fortress of Masada - the last Jewish stronghold left after the Roman invasion of Israel. The Jews of Masada committed mass suicide, preferring honourable death to being captured and enslaved.

5. The first Crusade began on Tish B’Av in 1096. 10,000 Jews were killed in the first month, obliterating Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland. The total number of Jewish lives taken by the end of the first crusade was 1.2 million.

6. The Jews of England were expelled on Tish B’Av in 1290.

7. The Jews of France were expelled on Tish B’Av in 1306.

8. The Jews of Spain were expelled on Tish B’Av in 1492.

9. On Tish B’Av in 1941, SS Commander Heinrich Himmler received the formal approval from the Nazi Party to commence the ‘Final Solution’, resulting in the capture and slaughter of nearly 50% of the world’s Jews.