Just two of the thousands of kittens and cats at the Keysborough Animal Shelter this week.
By Shaun Inguanzo
MORE than 2000 kittens and cats abandoned in Greater Dandenong will be euthanised this year because people are failing to desex their animals, upset Keysborough Animal Shelter (KAS) personnel say.
KAS president Christine Giles said the shelter was in the middle of its worst kitten season on record with the number of cats entering the shelter set to surpass the yearly average of 3500.
Ms Giles said the warmer and drier climate in recent years had extended the end of kitten season from March until May.
But she said pet shops and irresponsible pet owners were failing to desex their animals, allowing them to breed and give birth to litters of four or five kittens.
The shelter must euthanise more than two thirds of its cats because it simply can not fit them in the facility.
“We are urging people to get their female and male cats desexed,” Ms Giles said.
“It eliminates a lot of social problems, such as cats wailing, wrecking gardens, and tom cats spraying (urine).
“If people were getting their cats desexed, then all this putting down of animals could have been avoided.
“Maybe it’s ignorance on some people’s part, but some of them have cats that have had three, four or even five litters, so surely they realise it’s causing a big problem.”
Ms Giles said KAS, run by the Australian Animal Protection Society, was part of the Cat Crisis Coalition that was pressuring the State Government and local councils to adopt stricter laws on cat ownership, and in particular desexing.
The City of Greater Dandenong last month adopted a draft Domestic Animal Management Plan that aimed to introduce compulsory desexing of all pets into the city by 2010.
Ms Giles said the shelter supported the plan, but the council needed to go a step further to ensure pet shops supported desexing animals before sale, and that ‘free to good home’ advertisements were banned.
