Perhaps folk keeping an entire male or unspayed female cat should be required to take out a Breeder's Licence, with regulatory inspections etc ... just a thought ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The problem with anything like mandatory licencing or chipping is that vets would have to openly opt out of checking these things otherwise you'd end up with a spate of people refusing to take their pets for medical help in case they got in trouble. Vets would be the only place that could realistically monitor compliance though. The issues around puppy farms and importing dogs has shown how little animal welfare laws are enforced. I'd love to see a breeders licence for all kinds of pets and especially dogs, with mandatory vet checks on the parent animals before issuing them. Some of the dog breeds now should be banned with all the health problems they're creating.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
The problem with anything like mandatory licencing or chipping is that vets would have to openly opt out of checking these things otherwise you'd end up with a spate of people refusing to take their pets for medical help in case they got in trouble. Vets would be the only place that could realistically monitor compliance though. The issues around puppy farms and importing dogs has shown how little animal welfare laws are enforced. I'd love to see a breeders licence for all kinds of pets and especially dogs, with mandatory vet checks on the parent animals before issuing them. Some of the dog breeds now should be banned with all the health problems they're creating.
The truth is that very few of our laws are enforced properly for complex reasons. In a country where we value our freedoms but not our responsibilities the police would become the enemy. We need a cultural change more than a legal one.
As a cat owner (always indoor cats) I have no problem with the law treating them the same as dogs. I have recently noticed a marked increase in dogs wandering around on their own though. I expect in the hot weather some people put their dogs out in their gardens unsupervised and they sometimes escape.
I think if you want to keep a cat indoors or walk it on a lead, you have more success starting when it's a kitten. The instinct to kill things is still there (like any non-scavenger carnivore, including domestic dogs), but it'll be confined to insects, spiders and any mice daft enough to come into the house where the cat can get it (we've had one mouse killed in the house in 30-odd years).
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.