Murray Bridge’s feral cat problem is solvable, volunteers say
A modest investment could end the stray cat issue that has plagued the city’s central business district for years, say representatives of Paws and Claws.
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In the evening, after getting her family’s dinner and bedtime routine sorted, Jess Iredale heads out into the night.
Her destination: one of the locations around Murray Bridge known to be frequented by feral cats, such as Sturt Reserve, the CBD, Lagoon Road or the Adelaide Road fast food precinct.
There she will lay her traps and wait.
“After dark is the easiest time to catch them, because that’s when they’re feeding,” she said.
“We can’t set traps and leave them, because unfortunately the wrong people come across a cat in a trap and it’s going to go in the river.
“So we sit there for hours, until midnight sometimes.”
Many of the cats she catches are suffering terribly from calici virus, ringworm, toxoplasmosis and other health conditions.
Kittens’ eyes are often glued shut, making it impossible for them to find food, shelter or their mums.
Those suitable for adoption will be desexed, microchipped, vaccinated and treated for fleas and worms before being offered to the public for a small fee.
Those who show no prospect of rehabilitation or recovery after three weeks of treatment will be humanely euthanised.
The organisation with which Ms Iredale volunteers, Paws and Claws Adoptions, has already adopted out more than 300 cats in the first half of this year, just in Murray Bridge.
Feral cat problem is getting worse, but there is a solution
More than 400 feral cats were currently on the loose within Murray Bridge’s boundaries, Paws and Claws coordinator Michaela Layton told the city’s councillors at a meeting on Monday night.
That number was likely to triple, or worse, over the spring breeding season: “Anywhere you drive, you’re going to see a cat.”
That was a problem, she said – and not just for the poor impression it gave of the community, or for animal welfare reasons.
It put humans’ health at risk, too.
“The Murray Bridge cat issue is becoming a welfare issue, not just for the cats but for the people that live in our community as well,” Ms Layton said.
The two Paws and Claws representatives asked the council to consider allocating some of its ratepayers’ funding to help solve the problem once and for all.
After all, euthanising a suffering cat cost about $300, and rehabilitating those better equipped to rebuild their lives cost money, too.
“We would love a long-term partnership with council to be able to tackle these issues,” Ms Layton said.
“We’re established in the community, we’ve got strong knowledge of the colonies and the problem areas, and we’ve got a passion to be part of the long-term solution.
“We can up-scale what we’re doing.”
That might mean granting funds to Paws and Claws directly, or helping it win grants from other levels of government.
Councillors did not immediately take a vote on the idea, but several expressed their support, including long-time animal welfare advocate Karen Eckermann.
“Kindness to cat management … obviously works, and can be achieved if we actually commit to it,” she said.
Cr Tom Haig encouraged the council’s CEO to consider making space in the council’s budget.
“We’re talking about relatively small beer in a big council budget,” he said.
“If that can help us achieve our aims and objectives on behalf of the community, to bring about more responsible approaches to cat management and control, great.”
Ms Layton told Murray Bridge News she had been inspired to approach the council after reading a story we published about the drawn-out efforts to address the cat problem – and after hearing that the council planned to spend $10,000 on another round of consultation.
“(With) $10,000, we could fix half this problem in a season,” she said.
“It’s such a cheap fix compared to the other things that we’re wasting money on.”
For an investment in the tens of thousands of dollars, Paws and Claws could establish a process for assessing, desexing, rehoming or euthanising stray cats as needed, buy all the necessary supplies, then sweep the city and pick most of them up.
Would that be enough to address the issue once and for all?
“A hundred per cent,” Ms Layton said.
“At the moment we’ve got to pick and choose: we’ve got to look at our carer spaces, our finances and what the vets can handle.
“Extra funding will mean we can just get in there and smash it: we can set up properly to be able to hold these cats, and work out who can be rehabilitated and who can’t.”
You can help, too
The good news is that, in the meantime, cat owners and other Murray Bridge residents can do their part to help with the problem.
Donating to Paws and Claws is one way of doing so.
Becoming a volunteer or foster carer is another.
Choosing to keep your cat indoors and/or get it microchipped can help, too.
Even educating others about the need to stop feeding feral cats – which kept them just healthy enough to keep breeding, sustaining a cycle of poor animal welfare – was important, Ms Iredale said.
“When they’re being overfed, they stay on season – they don’t come off heat,” she said.
“We’ve constantly, all year round, got kittens.”
Those kittens were born in litters of up to six or seven, then within months they would be breeding, too, and so it went on.
At some point, for their own sake, it had to stop.
- More information: Visit www.pawsandclawsadoptions.com.au or follow Paws and Claws on Facebook or Instagram.
- Read more: Cat restrictions on the table as Murray Bridge council takes matters into its own paws
