MORE than a quarter of a million healthy cats and dogs are destroyed in Australia every year because there are not enough homes for them.
With all the puppies and kittens sitting in pet store windows, breeders advertising animals in local papers and on websites and backyard breeders producing litter after litter, many people don't even realise that a staggering 400,000 animals in need of homes end up in shelters and council pounds every year.
Animal abandonment facts
Roughly, 70 million cats are homeless in the United States. Only 10% of dogs born will find a permanent home. Around 3.9 million dogs are abandoned or given up to shelters each year.
Every year, thousands of dogs from all over the world are put into shelters or left without a home. In Australia alone, there are an estimated 80,000 homeless dogs and puppies that need a loving family to take them in. It is a heartbreaking reality that many of these animals will never find a place to call home.
Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.4 million are cats. Each year, approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized (1.4 million cats).
'Save a life instead': Outcry to adopt as 264 dogs and cats are killed in Australia every day.
The only published research study on lost pet rates found that between 11-16% of dogs and 12 - 18% of cats are likely to go missing at least once in five years.
Even small numbers of feral cats in some areas can cause severe declines in native species. Science commissioned by the Threatened Species Strategy shows that there could be between 2.1 and 6.3 million feral cats in Australia.
122,494 people were estimated to be experiencing homelessness on Census night in 2021. Males made up 55.9% of people experiencing homelessness; females made up 44.1%. 23.0% of all people experiencing homelessness were aged from 12 to 24 years.
In Australia, around 55,000–60,000 reports of animal mistreatment are made each year to the RSPCA [2], approximately 11,000 of which are made in the state of Victoria [3].
Abandoning a cat is against the law, not to mention cruel. If you can no longer keep your cat, try to find it a new home or get in touch with your local SPCA or Humane Society.
Feral and wild roaming cats are an increasing epidemic in the U.S. For domesticated cats, shelters and rescues are often inundated due to a lack of education regarding spaying and neutering Each of these scenarios causes resources to be stretched thin with the cats becoming victims of an ever-increasing supply of ...
How abandonment impacts individual pets Humans often do not realize that animals, especially domesticated dogs, cats and other small animals, can feel a host of emotions similar to those experienced by people. Fear, pain, abandonment and longing are all things which pets are capable of experiencing.
The full list of native animals cats have played a major role in sending extinct since Australia's colonisation numbers 27 species. It includes native mice, rats, potoroos, bandicoots, a bilby, wallabies, bettongs and a couple of birds.
Australia has the worst mammal extinction rate of any country in the world, and the catastrophic bushfires of 2019-20 impacted nearly 3 billion animals and have pushed many more of our precious wildlife on the fast-track towards extinction. Now more than ever, our wildlife needs our protection.
#1 Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)
Koala is an iconic Australian animal native to the country and is the closest living member of wombats. In Australia, koalas are not limited to small regions; they can be seen in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Southern Australia.
What is the leading cause of homelessness in Australia? In Australia, domestic and family violence (DFV) is one of the main drivers of homelessness in Australia. Sadly, many children, women and men have experienced or have witnessed abusive and violent behaviour towards a partner, former partner or family member.
Is being homeless a crime? First, being homeless is not a criminal offence anywhere in Australia. If such a law were passed it would breach multiple long-standing legal principles. It would also breach various domestic and international charters and covenants on citizenship as well as human and civil rights.
A majority of people experiencing homelessness long-term in Australia are found in the large cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. It is estimated that on any given night approximately 116,000 people will be homeless and many more are living in insecure housing, "one step away from being homeless".
Feral cats are a major invasive species and have been linked to the decline and extinction of various native animals in Australia. They have been shown to cause a significant impact on ground-nesting birds and small native mammals. A study in the 2010s estimated that each feral cat kills 740 wild animals per year.
If you live on property and treat your cat like a working cat you are required to effectively constrain it before 1 July 2023. Helpful resources are available via Animal Welfare Victoria here. All cats must be registered, microchipped, desexed and kept safe, in line with the 24-hour cat curfew.
There are currently an estimated 28.7 million pets in Australia and we have one of the highest pet ownership rates in the world [1]. Approximately 69% of households in Australia own pets, with dogs being the most common (48%), followed by cats (33%) [1].
It isn't uncommon for cats to go missing for 24 hours, especially if they like spending a lot of time outdoors. In some cases, cats can even stay away from home for up to 10 days at a time.
Hunting & primal behaviour. Hunting is a natural behavior for cats. The fact felines are born with a predatory instinct means that as soon as they sense a bird, a mouse or any other wild prey, the hunt is well and truly on. And it's this thrill of the chase that can lead to them vanishing for hours at a time.
Most cats either come home on their own (very rare for a scaredy cat or tame foster cat) or are found from doing an active search of your own, and neighbours', properties. They're probably nearby Being territorial, cats usually stay very close to where they got out, especially if they're scaredy cats.