We need to talk about cats

Calls for national cat legislation are growing to protect native wildlife and our furry friends.

Aug 31, 2022

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A few months ago, I was on the verge of adopting a cat from the SPCA. I had purchased kitty litter and a giant bag of cat biscuits, and was ready to welcome my new furry friend. But a worry niggled at the back of my mind. I have teeny grey warblers/riroriro, tree wētā, and forest geckos in my backyard. What if the cat brought home the local tūī? When the adoption fell through, and I spotted a threatened skink species sunbathing on my driveway, the worry solidified into resolve. A cat was not for me. (I got a dog instead.)

Shifting cattitudes

I’m not alone in my worries about cats. As native wildlife returns to our urban spaces, New Zealanders are increasingly supportive of a new approach. A recent survey undertaken by the Predator Free New Zealand Trust found that 82% of cat owners believe that all cats should be desexed (except for registered breeders). Two-thirds of all respondents (whether cat owners or not) supported microchipping, and 61% supported a limit on the number of cats a person could own. Support for cat containment was much lower at 43% – but this was higher than expected, according to Trust chief executive Jessi Morgan. “We're seeing biodiversity come back into our cities and where we’re living, and it's pretty confronting if your cat catches a kererū or tīeke [saddleback] – both of which I've heard have actually happened,” she says.

“A cat-shaped hole in our predator-free strategy”

It’s not just native birds either. One domestic cat took out six long-tailed bats/pekapeka-tou-roa in Waikato. A single cat took out more than 100 short-tailed bats on Mount Ruapehu. Lone cats killed tens of native skinks in reptilian feasts in Otago and Canterbury. Of course it’s not the cats’ fault – they are doing something that comes naturally to them. But cats don’t belong in our native ecosystems, where species lack defences against feline predation.

Feral cats are particularly threatening to our wildlife, and they’re roaming higher into our mountains. But they’re also absent from our Predator Free 2050 goal. Morgan says adding them is a “no-brainer”. So what should we do about pets? (If you think your moggy only catches rats, think again: research reveals that cats only bring home about 25% of what they kill.)

Time for a national cat act

The Predator Free New Zealand Trust presented evidence to the Environment Select Committee recently, alongside Forest & Bird and the SPCA, in support of a petition for mandatory desexing and microchipping of all cats. At the moment, there are no centralised rules for cats. Individual local and regional councils have to make their own bylaws, resulting in a piecemeal approach to management that’s bad for people, wildlife, and cats.

“The ultimate goal is having a national cat act, similar to dogs, so that we've got tools to manage the different populations of cats – feral, stray and companion,” says Morgan. For example, compulsory microchipping would allow easy identification of pet cats. “Near urban areas, it can be hard to determine what’s a feral cat and what’s an owned cat stressed in a cage,” says Morgan. “Compulsory microchipping enables people working on the frontline trapping to know with certainty that it's a feral cat.”

SPCA urges national leadership

The SPCA is on board, calling for the government to take a leadership role in creating national cat legislation. In their submission, the SPCA decries “a failure of government” to protect “cat welfare, native wildlife, reducing transmission of toxoplasmosis… and controlling nuisance.” Strong stuff.

It definitely feels like there is a shift underway. With a few changes to our “cats must wander” mentality, we can make a huge difference for our native wildlife, and for our purrfect companions. And that has me feeling hopeful.

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Sorry pooch pals, it’s not just cats

Dogs can deal a lot of damage too – off-leash dogs at the beach can kill kororā, disturb nesting shorebirds, or aggravate resting seals. This is why the Department of Conservation is launching a new campaign encouraging dog owners to “lead the way” by keeping pups on leash (and wildlife safe) at the beach this summer. Even pet parrots can have adverse effects for our native species, as I found out for this New Zealand Geographic story. But this isn’t to say we need to give up our furry or feathered friends – I think they do a great deal to foster empathy for the non-human world. Instead it’s a reminder to be responsible pet owners and to extend that same care we give our animal companions to our native wildlife too.

Urban waterways get a makeover

In Ōtautahi, red zone land completes its transformation from suburb to wetland, as stopbanks are removed from the Ōtakaro Avon River and low-lying land is planted up with natives. The area will be allowed to flood naturally – a nice example of leaving “room for rivers” on a small scale. Meanwhile, mana whenua in Tāmaki Makaurau are leading the revitalisation of the Puhinui Stream, which flows from Manukau City into Manukau Harbour. A project to restore the mauri of the degraded river, Te Whakaoranga o te Puhinui, has been bolstered by $1.2 million in funding.

California to phase out new petrol-powered cars by 2035

Come 2035, the only new cars for sale in California will be electric, as the state’s regulators voted to phase out new gasoline cars. This move is likely to have a ripple effect and accelerate a wider shift to electric, as a bunch of other states have historically followed California’s lead on automobile policies. Washington State has already indicated they will follow suit.

In homegrown transport news, Newsroom’s Emma Hatton outlines how New Zealand is taking a stand on human rights concerns associated with cobalt mining – a mineral essential for EV batteries. And Liz Kivi asks on The Spinoff whether “green” hydrogen is really all that green.

Green until the very end

Could human composting make death more eco-friendly? Death coach T.J. Ford certainly thinks so, as she writes in this opinion piece for Undark. It turns out that traditional methods of body “disposition” come with a raft of environmental issues – from the carcinogenic chemicals used in embalming to cremation’s carbon emissions equivalent to driving from Bluff to Picton. Human composting or natural organic reduction is a greener alternative. It’s legal in a handful of states in the US, but is not allowed here in New Zealand.

Australian govt introduces biodiversity market

Across the ditch, the Australian prime minister has announced a new scheme that awards “biodiversity certificates” to private landowners who restore and manage habitat. These certificates could then be sold – but it’s currently unclear whether they could be used to “offset” habitat destruction associated with developments. The announcement has been met with mixed reactions from environmental organisations, while a NSW biodiversity offsets scheme has been criticised in a new report for failing to protect threatened species. Could we see something like this here in Aotearoa? We do already have a somewhat similar initiative, mentioned in the first edition of this newsletter, with a biodiversity market launched by environmental financing business Ekos.

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