Photograph: Brandon Hartley

Animal rights group Dier & Recht has launched a marketing campaign to cease the taking pictures of untamed cats in Friesland, the final of the 12 Dutch provinces to permit the follow.

Greater than 250 feral cats had been shot within the northern province in 2021, 447 in 2020. 2022 figures are but to be finalized. The state’s major motive for taking pictures cats is the hazard they pose to wild birds.

However Dier&Recht discusses feral cats have little to do with the decline within the wild fowl inhabitants. “It is due to intensive farming that harms biodiversity,” mentioned Kelly Kessen, a Dier & Recht veteran. told AD. “Mowing farmland alone destroys numerous nests and birds.”

“Sure, cats catch birds, however they like to catch rats and mice,” he mentioned. “So when you castrate a cat, you have largely solved the issue.”

Dier&Recht has already taken the province to court docket over wild cat looking however misplaced. An enchantment towards this resolution is now pending. As further strain, the group started a petition.

battle

However specialists disagree on the function of feral cats in killing wild birds. Albert de Jong, of the fowl analysis group Sovon, instructed AD that cats are often seen within the fields. “It is not laborious to guess what they’re going to do if they arrive throughout chicks,” he mentioned.

Chicken conservation group Vogelbescherming acknowledges that intensive farming is the primary motive for the decline in wild fowl populations, however says cats are additionally an necessary issue.

“There are three million home cats and numerous wild cats within the Netherlands,” spokesman Ruud van Beusekom mentioned. told AD. “In accordance with figures from the College of Wagingen, they eat about 18 million birds a yr.”

authorized efforts

Research have additionally been carried out to stop the issues attributable to home cats. A Dutch basis in 2021 failed in his efforts Power the federal government to take motion towards individuals who let their cats roam freely exterior. Particular person ministers additionally refused to take motion.

Ecologists additionally curfew for cats. And in 2019, Tilburg College environmental legislation professors Arie Trouwborst and Han Somsen printed an article within the Journal of Environmental Regulation that the home cat (Felix Catus) serious threat About 370 species within the Netherlands.

Underneath the European Birds and Habitats Directives, nations have a authorized obligation to guard wildlife, so permitting cats to roam and kill is illegitimate, the researchers mentioned.