I continue to receive phone calls and mail from people who also consider the time for regulation and control of cats is long overdue. In Australia they are requiring registration, micro chipping, neutering and a night time curfew on domestic cats in most states.
In New Zealand there appear to be no regulations or control on cat numbers despite their predations on wild life and the health hazard they represent. All mammals carry the parasite Toxoplasmosis but cats are the only ones that excrete it in their faeces, the parasite then stays active in the soil for up to a year. It is so small that it can be carried on the feet of flies and cats.
Think of it ladies next time your precious pet is strolling around the work surfaces of your kitchen. While you do, give some thought to people who enjoy gardening and growing their own vegetables, whose properties are continually fouled by other people's pets.
Toxoplasmosis if contracted by pregnant women can be transferred to the foetus and in ten percent of cases can cause abortion, blindness and brain damage to the child.
The government and local Councils shy away from the subject of control because of the screams or outrage from cat owners, mainly women, who are indignant at the thought they might have to exercise some responsibility for their pets. In their present numbers if cats become the vector of a lethal flu virus it would decimate the human population of New Zealand.
MJ Worlledge, Cambridge Heights.