Alley Cat Allies stands strongly against leash laws for cats, also known as “at large” laws. These misguided measures lead to more cats being impounded in animal shelters, where lethal outcomes for cats are far too common. Community cats, who are unowned and live outdoors, are at the most significant risk of impoundment by animal control. However, an indoor cat who wanders outdoors could also be impounded and killed.
Fatal Consequences for Cats
- What they do: Leash laws are ordinances that ban cats from being “at large,” meaning outside without a leash. These laws are ineffective and incompatible with Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), the only humane and effective approach to community cats. They simply result in more cats being impounded and then killed, if they are enforced at all. Some jurisdictions have repealed their leash laws because they found they were unenforceable.
- When leash laws are passed, animal control will impound more community cats because they do not have an “owner” to leash them. The natural habitat for community cats is the outdoors, and leashing them in this environment would be cruel even if it were possible.
- The history of leash laws and why they need to end: Most animal control laws were initially created to protect people and their property, especially livestock, from being harmed by stray animals. After World War II, many of these original laws were changed to increase restrictions on pet owners to protect public health and safety and ensure that owners took responsibility for their pets. Leash laws were passed to prohibit owners from allowing dogs to wander without restraint, thereby reducing the risk of property damage and injuries. Leash laws are inappropriate for cats because the amount of damage they could potentially cause to people and their property is minimal, and the penalty – being impounded and likely killed – is severe. Leash laws for cats are unnecessary and should be repealed. At the very least, they should exclude community cats so people can freely carry out TNR.
Debunking Cat Leash Law Myths
Even though cat leash laws result in more cats killed, some supporters claim these laws are beneficial. Discover why those claims are myths.
Myth: Cats should have to wear leashes because dogs do.
Truth: Cats are a different species from dogs and should be treated accordingly.
Most animal damage control laws originated to protect humans and human property against certain damages dogs caused. Recently, some jurisdictions have tried to impose the same laws on cats, despite the obvious differences between the species.
Most importantly, cats differ from dogs in the kind and seriousness of harm they may cause. Animal damage control laws were enacted in the U.S. primarily to compensate for dogs killing livestock and to protect against rabies, which at the time had no preventive vaccine or post-exposure treatment. Cats, at most, can cause only trivial damage to humans and their property. Rabies, meanwhile, is uncommon in cats and its possibility of being transmitted from cats to humans is near-nonexistent. Since leash laws are often intended to protect against significant harm, there is no justification for leashing cats.
Myth: Cats shouldn’t be allowed outdoors off a leash because they kill birds and wildlife.
Truth: Humans, not cats, are responsible for bird and wildlife species loss.
Overwhelming evidence shows that human activities which threaten these species covers a vast range, including logging, crop farming, livestock grazing, mining, industrial and residential development, urban sprawl, road building, dam building, and pesticide use. Across the United States, little land is left untouched by human development, modification, fragmentation, and pollution. Those who claim cats are a major threat to wildlife use misleading language to evade human accountability; by lumping thousands of human activities and damages into the single category of “habitat loss,” they make other, inconsequential issues appear more important.
Humans continue to create and maintain a habitat that is beneficial to cats but inhospitable to many bird and wildlife species. Focusing on cats killing birds and wildlife trivializes the critical issues facing these species today, all of which are human-caused. Read more here.
Myth: Cats really belong indoors.
Truth: Cats have been living outdoors, without leashes and in close proximity to humans, for over 10,000 years.
Proponents of cat leash laws claim that cats should only live indoors in human homes, and that if they are allowed outdoors it should only be at the end of a leash. In fact, the most up-to-date research indicates that cats have been living outdoors in close proximity to humans for over 10,000 years. For centuries they have traveled the globe with humans and thrived. Claiming that cats belong only indoors or on a leash is contrary to the habitat and natural history of the species.