Alley Cat Allies is condemning the planned slaughter of cats on two island locations on opposite ends of the globe – the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean Sea and Île Amsterdam in the Indian Ocean. In both cases, governments are planning the mass killing of cats on individual islands under the false label of conservation.
“Slaughtering animals is not conservation, and there is no such thing as humanely attempting to wipe out an entire population of animals in an ecosystem,” said Coryn Julien, communications director for Alley Cat Allies. “These policies call for the massacre of cats, plain and simple. Killing one species in an effort to protect another is immoral, unethical and research shows it can have dire consequences for entire ecosystems.”
Julien explained that removal of outdoor cats is not the easy fix some may expect. While it may temporarily reduce the number of cats in a given area, it is ultimately counterproductive, because the population of cats will rebound quickly. This is known as the Vacuum Effect, and it has been documented worldwide in many species. Cats who were not trapped, and new cats from nearby areas, will simply move into the territory to take advantage of the resources that sustained the first group of cats, and breed back to the capacity of the area.
“Leading biologists, climate scientists and environmental watchdogs agree that climate change, and development, which leads to habitat destruction, are the leading causes of species loss,” Julien added. “Conservationists should be focusing on addressing these real threats, not looking to cats as a scapegoat and wasting money on cruel and ultimately futile schemes to eradicate cat populations.”
More information about the relationship between cats and wildlife, and humane, effective, evidence-based approaches to managing community cat populations, is available online at alleycat.org.
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About Alley Cat Allies
Alley Cat Allies is the leader of the global movement to protect and improve the lives of cats and kittens. Now in our 33rd anniversary year, we are joined by over 1 million supporters worldwide.
Alley Cat Allies believes every cat deserves to live out his or her life to the fullest. We exposed an entrenched system in which animal control agencies and shelters have been killing millions of cats for over a century. Today, the programs we introduced in the United States are mainstream.
To achieve our goals, we collaborate with grassroots advocates, animal shelters, municipal managers, and lawmakers to replace deadly laws and policies with ones that protect cats. We defend all cats by offering cutting edge education online, in person, and through one-on-one dialogue. We advance lifesaving innovations such as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and Shelter-Neuter-Return (SNR), high-quality, high-volume spay and neuter, microchipping, anti-declawing legislation, and any program that best serves the interests of cats.
Our website is www.alleycat.org, and we are active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.