My eco solution to rat problems

[Beantree]

Saw a news report here this morning that I think said all domestic cats in Germany are to be kept indoors. This is to protect the wild bird population. I know from my experience it will certainly stop them digging in the veg plot and leaving 'presents'. Anyone else heard of this? The reason I'm interested is it may be rolled out across all European Countries over time? Omlet may do rather well out of this, if I have understood it correctly? How will the feral cat population will be affected?

[Cat tails]

On 4/1/2023 at 12:16 PM, Beantree said:

Saw a news report here this morning that I think said all domestic cats in Germany are to be kept indoors. This is to protect the wild bird population. I know from my experience it will certainly stop them digging in the veg plot and leaving 'presents'. Anyone else heard of this? The reason I'm interested is it may be rolled out across all European Countries over time? Omlet may do rather well out of this, if I have understood it correctly? How will the feral cat population will be affected?

I think it was one village/area so far as they have an important population of ground nesting birds.
A famous tv host just made a programme on cats in the Netherlands. You can watch it here, and YouTube does English subtitles.

[Daphne]

I would imagine there'd be uproar, although I may have said that here in Portugal many cat rescue charities won't let you have a cat if you are going to let it roam.  I know what you mean about cats and veg beds, just this morning I had to get rid of cat poo (our cats) and twice I have had to rescue vulnerable tomato seedlings as the cats think the fresh dug bed is their personal rolling about space. 

[Beantree]

I enjoyed that YouTube @Cat tails; he's very funny indeed. Surprisingly I understood some of the dialog until I discovered the subtitle language change. But the crux of the matter is domestic cats are wildlife killers and should be kept under firm control. No, a silly coloured collar doesn't count!

[Cat tails]

Although I’m on the other side of the dialog too. If I was to keep Red in permanently, he would go crazy. That cat grew up on the street and I can’t keep him indoors. I haven’t ‘raised’ him, but really think it’s to late to convert him anymore. Flo on the other hand only has access to the garden, nothing beyond that.

And I would think we would get into serious mice issues without any cats around.

[Beantree]

I used to live in the Derbyshire countryside and didn't have a problem with mice at all, until cats were brought into the place. They used to catch the mice but didn't kill them. Instead they bought them alive through the cat flap and they then escaped into the house. The cats slept in the utility room and the mice lived in the tumble dryer! Took a while to work out where that horrible smell was coming from.

[paddy801]

In the uk all song birds are protected by law resulting in big fines or jail for killing or disturbing eggs and nest intentionally. Those laws should also apply to cats and cat owners. I hope they do it here

[Badkitteh]

So jail or fine the cats? There is no criminal intent on their part!

Really though, even if you had CCTV of a cat disturbing birds you can't prove which cat really. I have 3 black ones and I cannot tell the 2 smaller ones with long tails apart apart from their "miaow" is different. I do think that every cats best life is to live indoors with cat & other companions, with access to outside but safe from the dangers of dogs , cars and horrible people.