Feral cats, which are neither controlled nor provisioned by humans (Crowley et al. 2011, 2014 Loss and Marra 2017), and are also susceptible to a range of diseases (including zoonoses like toxoplasmosis and rabies) as such, they may also be a hazard to public and animal health (Gerhold and Jessup 2013 Taggart et al. Cats can pose a threat to biodiversity conservation (eg through predation or hybridization: Medina et al. To address this conservation challenge, we argue that generic policies will be less effective than multidimensional strategies offering owners practical husbandry approaches that are compatible with their diverse circumstances, capabilities, and senses of responsibility.Įnvironmental impacts of domestic cats ( Felis catus hereafter, “cats”) are the subject of international conservation concern and policy debate. Most participants valued outdoor access for cats and opposed confinement to prevent hunting cat confinement policies are therefore unlikely to find support among owners in the UK.
We identified five distinctive cat-owner perspectives: (1) Concerned Protectors focus on cat safety, (2) Freedom Defenders prioritize cat independence and oppose restrictions on behavior, (3) Tolerant Guardians believe outdoor access is important for cats but dislike their hunting, (4) Conscientious Caretakers feel some responsibility for managing their cats’ hunting, and (5) Laissez-faire Landlords were largely unaware of the issues surrounding roaming and hunting behavior. We conducted a Q-methodological study to investigate the views of domestic cat owners in the UK on the roaming and hunting behaviors of their pets. Such proposals rarely account for cat owners’ perspectives, however, and are frequently met with strong, principled opposition. Policy proposals to address predation of wildlife by domestic cats ( Felis catus) include reducing cat populations, regulating ownership, educating owners, and restricting cats’ outdoor access.
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