Townsville, Australia: somebody has distributed a fake letter through the letterboxes of residents claiming that the city council is carrying out a feral cat baiting and trapping program on Bushland Beach.

The letter states that because there is no room in animal shelters, the feral cats will be trapped by baiting and then killed. It states that the program starts on September 22-23 and will carry on indefinitely. It’s basically a feral cat eradication program.

Fake Feral cat eradication program distributed to residents of Townsville, Australia.

Response

Understandably, it has caused consternation and upset among local residents. The council responded promptly. One response came from The Lost Pets Townsville Pet Coordinator, whose name is Heather, who notified residents on Facebook that the letter is a fake. Perhaps she distributed her response in other ways too; I don’t know. The fake letter is written on council headed paper. I’m reproducing her notification below which explains the situation.

IMAGE IS A COPY OF THE FAKE LETTER

A fake letter claiming Townsville City Council is conducting a baiting program in Bushland Beach has been distributed in letterboxes and online.

A Council spokesperson confirmed there were no feral animal baiting programs being conducted by Council in the Bushland Beach area.

‘This letter is a fake and it will be referred to Police, Queensland Health and Biosecurity Queensland, the spokesman said. Council is not conducting any baiting in the Bushland Beach area.’

The letter – on fake Townsville City Council letterhead – has been distributed in residents’ letterboxes and posted on social media.

Pet owners should remain vigilant over coming days in case baits have been laid by whoever is responsible for creating and distributing the fake letter. — Lost Pets Townsville Pet Coordinator ~ Heather

Backstory of a dislike of feral cats because they prey on native species

This is another attempt it seems by a cat hater to disturb people and get a message across that there are too many feral cats in Australia preying on native species. The problem is that people don’t know whether the person is going to put down poisoned baits and start killing cats.