BANANA SHIRE CAT BOUNTY PROMPTS PETA BILLBOARD

For Immediate Release:
16 October 2017

Allowing Cats to Roam Puts Them in Grave Danger, Group Warns

Biloela – Following an announcement by the Banana Shire Council offering a $10 reward for a cat scalp, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is negotiating with an outdoor advertiser to put up a billboard near the council’s headquarters in Biloela urging everyone to keep cats indoors in order to protect them from falling victim to the cruel scheme.

In addition to being at risk of being tortured and killed by cruel people wanting to collect money for their scalps, cats who are allowed to roam outdoors risk being hit by cars, being poisoned, contracting fatal diseases, and becoming lost.

“It’s never safe to let animal companions outdoors unattended, even for ‘just a minute’,” says PETA Associate Director of Campaigns Ashley Fruno. “And feral cats who are shot or poisoned suffer in the same way and feel the same pain that our companion feline friends would.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” –

points out that feral cat colonies don’t spring up out of nowhere. They’re the direct result of the irresponsible actions of people who abandon their unaltered cats or allow them to roam outside. The only real solution to Australia’s feral cat problem is to embark on a widespread sterilisation campaign, whereby funds are directed towards immunocontraceptive solutions that will humanely and effectively decrease homeless-cat populations.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.au.