ANIMAL WELFARE CONCERNS RELATED TO PETS

Issues relating to the health, welfare and safety of animals include:

• neglected animals and abused animals

• unwanted animals

• unregistered animals

• baiting

• stock attack

• wildlife attack

In 1990, of 500 people surveyed in Victoria, 81.8% said cruelty to animals was a major concern.⁴ Animal welfare agencies are also painfully aware of abuse to animals. Sometimes the abused animals are strays; but often the animals have owners who have a relationship with the pet, distorted though that relationship may be.

Not infrequently veterinarians deal with the confusing situation of a distraught owner bringing a neglected animal for treatment. An owner may retain a dog or cat for years and subject it to abuse or total indifference; at the prospect of the animal dying, the owner collapses. A bizarre variation on the same theme is the Tricky Woo syndrome. The owner overindulges a pet dog to death with unsuitable food and lack of exercise.

Another source of concern for animal welfare bodies is the change in owner attitude during different stages of the life of the pet. Many pet owners acquire pets when they are young and cuddly, only to neglect them later.

Over one third of Australian households report problems with stray cats and dogs.⁷

Many people believe the root of the stray problem lies with overbreeding. Despite differential registration fees for neutered and non-neutered animals in most municipalities, some owners choose to keep entire animals. (See: Dogs and Cats in the Urban Environment p43 for statistics on why owners do not have their pets neutered.) In 1994, three quarters of Australiaís owned cats were neutered, and just over half the dogs were neutered.⁷

Although some animals are surrendered to pounds or abandoned because they are simply unwanted, others are surrendered or abandoned because of behavioural problems. It is often said that the main cause of death of puppies under one year is behavioural problems.²¹

Each year, Australian pounds and refuges dispose of about half a million unwanted dogs and a similar number of unwanted cats. One of the major organisations involved is the RSPCA. RSPCA records for 1993ñ94 show 43 762 dogs and 42 126 cats received in Australian RSPCA shelters. In this sample, 19% of dogs and 3% of cats were reclaimed.²²

Figures are also available from New Zealand where one of the main animal control contractors is Animal Control Services. Each year, Animal Control Services impounds about 5000 dogs and euthanases 3000.²³

These are tragic figures for people concerned about animal welfare. They also cause deep concern in local government circles. These dogs must be rounded up, cared for and disposed of at the ratepayersí expense.

Not all animals are abandoned at the pound because they are unwanted. Some are simply lost and unregistered, and pound authorities have no way of contacting their owners. They become euthanasia casualties.

Registration is the best way of linking dogs to owners when they are lost. Registration rates vary state to state; place to place. For example, in 1994, only 14% of the dogs resident in the Jervis Bay Territory were registered.²⁴ At the same time, about 55% of ACT dogs were registered.²⁵

Registration figures can change dramatically following a simple community education program. This is because failure to register is often a result of an ownerís laxness rather than their opposition to registration. In Stirling City WA, a survey of residents found 77.6% of residents (91.8% of owners) were aware dogs should be registered; 79.7% of owners thought their dog was registered; but only 40% of dogs were registered. This registration figure rose to almost 80% following a door-knock campaign.³

Until recently, few jurisdictions have required owners to register cats. This situation is now changing. Victoria led the way with legislation the required owned cats to be registered.

Baiting of straying dogs and cats continues to be a problem in many urban areas. This self-help approach to dealing with local animal control problems is not only inhumane to the animals; it also puts the lives of children at risk.

When a dog or cat attacks an animal, the shock or injury is often fatal. Such attacks cause intense community stress.

In town, it is usually a family pet that is maimed or dies. Out on the rural fringes, primary producers who lose stock through an attack suffer twice. They contend with the distress over the suffering of their animals and they also contend with the loss of livelihood. Many recognise the killers as the owned, but roaming pets of careless urban neighbours.

In 1990, nearly one third of people questioned in a Newspoll survey of Victorians were concerned about dog attacks on farm animals.⁴

Recently research has been conducted into domestic dog attacks on livestock in the outer metropolitan areas of Perth. Over a three-year period, 1700 attacks on livestock (excluding poultry) on 1400 individual properties were documented in seven local authority areas. More than 5000 sheep and goats were killed as a result of these attacks. These attacks were only a proportion of the total attacks during the period. Many others were not reported, or farmers only reported one incident in a series of attacks.²⁶

In many local government areas today, there are graziers reluctantly picking up their rifles to hunt other peopleís dogs. The graziers donít like acting as canine executioners but what option do they have?

Meek, speaking at the 1994 UAM conference in Canberra,²⁴ made the distinction between two perspectives of pet attacks on wildlife. He said we must distinguish between the perception of the impact and the ecological impact. So to a keen naturalist, the loss of one animal can be important. This perception will differ from individual to individual. In ecological terms, however, the loss of one animal to a pet may not be important at all, if it presents no threat to the survival of the species.

Both perspectives are important. For many people enjoying a wilderness experience, just the sight of a cat or dog is distressing.

Meek reports an incident where the throat of a terrorised kangaroo was torn by a pack of dogs in the middle of a camping area. The campers were understandably distressed, partly because their wilderness experience was disrupted but also because they were concerned for the animalís welfare. But from an ecological viewpoint, the incident was not so significant since this species of kangaroo is not a threatened species in this area.

There is a growing body of evidence that dogs and cats can have significant ecological effects on native populations.

Three studies from a decade ago demonstrate the effects of roaming dogs on vulnerable wildlife species:

• Scientists studying brown kiwis in the Waitangi State Forest in New Zealand, recorded how one domestic dog wiped out half the local population of kiwis. The dog would have killed more birds had it not been located and shot.²⁷

• In the 1982ñ83 sea turtle nesting season on Curtis Island of Queensland, feral dogs destroyed over three quarters of the eggs laid. Not far away across the water is the Mon Repos turtle rookery near Bundaberg. Researchers saw domestic dogs travel three kilometres from their homes to plunder the Mon Repos rookery at night. (CJ Limpus, pers comm)

• Officers at the Phillip Island Penguin Reserve in Victoria investigated mortality among fairy penguins on the Summerland Peninsula. They reported almost 100 fairy penguins killed by dogs in the year 1984ñ85. Because there were no feral or wild dogs on the island, they attributed all dog kills of fairy penguins to pet dogs. (P Dann, pers comm)

Because population studies on native fauna are few, the national impact of dogs on native populations has not been quantified. But there is no doubt that dogs do have some environmental impact in sensitive areas where they are allowed to roam freely.

Similarly, the jury is still out on the ecological impact of cats, owned and feral. Researchers suggest that Australiaís 3 million pet cats kill more than 2 million native animals each year. No-one is sure how many feral cats there are in Australia, with estimates ranging from 2 to 10 million. One estimate would have them killing just as many native animals as the domestic cat population does. Dr Chris Dickman of Sydney Universityís Institute of Wildlife Research says cats have been responsible for the extinction of more than eight small native mammals, mostly desert-dwelling species such as hopping mice.²⁸

Cats are also reservoirs of Toxoplasma spp. that are fatal to wildlife.^{29 30}

The issue of how much ecological damage cats cause has been thrown open by the release of the rabbit calicivirus. Rabbits are a major prey species for feral cats and foxes. If the rabbits die, will feral cats prey-switch to native animals, driving many to extinction? Or will there be widespread recovery of native flora which will bring many native animals back from the brink of extinction? No-one knows.

Nattrass has been arguing for some years at UAM conferences that natural biodiversity is the key to sustainable, healthy urban environments. He says dogs and cats prey on a wide range of species. For example, the most common bird caught by cats is not a native. It is the introduced turtledove, Streptopelia chinesis. From a conservation point of view, dogs and cats are probably not as important in urban and semi-rural areas as other more devastating threats to biodiversity such as land clearing, cars and disease.³¹

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