On International Cat Day, the RSPCA in Great Britain have disclosed that they receive more telephone calls about cats than any other animal. This does not necessarily mean that domestic cats are abused more than other animals because some of the phonecalls relate to cats stuck in tight spots but many concern abandoned or neglected and abused cats. I’d like to see a full breakdown between cats in emergencies and cats abandoned and ill treated.
The RSPCA has disclosed some figures and they say that they received more than 100,000 calls regarding cats (I presume this relates to 2018 but we are not told).
Alice Potter, RSPCA’s cat welfare expert said:
“There are some real issues that we see time and again including cats and kittens being abandoned, cats having unplanned and unwanted pregnancies due to a lack of neutering and multi-cat households where breeding has sadly become out of control.”
The issues stated are universally experienced in most if not all the world’s countries.
However, she makes it clear that there are many cats in loving homes in Great Britain. The figures can be quite startling. For example there were 16,200 calls coming through the RSPCA’s cruelty line in the south-east of England (in a year as I understand it). In West Yorkshire there were 6,588 calls to its cruelty helpline. These are two examples and the numbers are large. Clearly there is a problem with domestic, stray and feral cat abuse in the country. This is disturbing for a country which has a reputation for being populated with animal lovers.
I have a feeling that these abuses are less often reported in online news meaia in the UK compared to the United States of America. I don’t know why that is or even if it is an accurate observation. But there appears to be a greater concern at least through the news media for animal welfare in America than in the UK. It may be because in America there appears to be an awakening towards animal welfare which makes it more newsworthy. For instance, the New York state ban on cat declawing. In addition, in the USA there are many stories about how humans should relate to feral cats in their communities. This is because feral cats are much more apparent in America than in the UK perhaps because of a more amenable climate in general.
In making a global search for cat news stories you are more likely to be referred to America than other countries.
