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Stark stat: Caoilin Doyle and 615 cardboard cats representing how many
cats are put down each week.
IT IS a good thing cats are reputed to have nine lives.
They need all the luck in the world to avoid becoming one of 615 cats or
kittens euthanased in Melbourne's animal shelters each week.
The sickening, decade-old statistic has finally prompted unprecedented
action to try to stop the cat cull.
For the first time, all of Victoria's animal welfare shelters have
united to form a Cat Crisis Coalition.
Members are unanimous that the State Government needs to immediately
make desexing compulsory for all cat and kittens sold in the state.
``With 48,000 cats passing through Victoria's animal welfare shelters
and a staggering 32,0000 of them destroyed every year, the need for
action is long overdue and urgent,'' said coalition spokesman, Peter
Brown.
``Having the state sanction the destruction of 32,000 cats annually is
not good policy.
``The Bracks Government has abrogated its responsibility to animal
shelters and the animals themselves to allow such stark numbers to die.
``The tragedy for the people who work in animal welfare and who love
animals is that they deal daily with the destruction of so many
preventable animal deaths.''
Mr Brown, general manager of Lort Smith Animal Hospital, said only one
in four cats in shelters finds a home.
``It is a small change to laws that would make an enormous difference to
the numbers being euthanased every hour, every day, every week,'' he
said.
Victorians can back the Cat Crisis Coalition by writing to Agriculture
Minister Bob Cameron or by signing petitions.
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