New regulation: cats are threatened with castration and chipping
Created: 2022-03-25Updated: 2022-03-25 12:34 PM
Hamburg's cat owners could soon be obliged to spay and chip their cats.
Animal rights activists welcome the proposal from the SPD and the Greens.
Hamburg – Sick street cats are a problem throughout Germany.
Hamburg* is no exception.
According to the Hamburg Animal Welfare Association (HTV), there are 10,000 strays in the Hanseatic city alone who live on the streets, malnourished, suffering and mostly ill.
The SPD and the Greens want to do something about this.
A cat protection regulation is planned, which, however, would also have an impact on the owners of domestic cats.
After the tax for dogs, cats could now be subject to castration, reports 24hamburg.de.
city in Germany | Hamburg |
resident | 1,904,444 (as of May 2021, social welfare office) |
surface | 755.2 km² |
Founded | 500 AD |
Mayor | Peter Tschentscher |
Cats in Hamburg: This happens to animals found – including domestic cats
If wild cats are found in Hamburg, they are currently neutered and marked by the animal protection association, which also runs the animal shelter on Süderstraße.
If it is a house cat that has escaped, there is often no way to identify the owner without chips or tattoos.
The animals are cared for by the animal shelter and brought back to where they were found.
In cases where this is not an option for the cats for health reasons, attempts are made to place the animals with other families.
The care, treatment, castration and placement of street cats costs money.
From 2015 to 2020, the city of Hamburg incurred costs of almost 190,000 euros.
This is demanded: the SPD and the Greens want neutering and a chip requirement for Hamburg's cats
The application of the citizenship of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg states: "Free-living cats are house cats that have been abandoned or have escaped, and their offspring." Therefore, there is a demand for better protection of the street cats in Hamburg, which also means the owners of house cats would affect.
10,000 street cats live sick and hungry in the streets of Hamburg.
The new cat protection regulation aims to change that.
(symbol photo) © Christoph Hardt/Imago
Also read: The corona pandemic is so dramatic for pets.
The Senate should examine whether cat owners whose animals also move outside unsupervised should have them spayed and microchipped from the age of six months.
In addition, street cats without an owner should also be neutered and microchipped in the future.
The application proposes castration campaigns supported by the state government as partial financing, which also exist in Schleswig-Holstein, for example.
Cat breeders should also be scrutinized more closely.
There could possibly be exceptions to the castration obligation for their cats for breeding reasons.
Various options are proposed for registering the animals.
You can use the free pet register from TASSO eV or the German Animal Welfare Association (FINDEFIX), or set up your own register for Hamburg.
Only 25 percent of house cats chipped: That should change - the effects of the regulation on Hamburg's cat owners
The aim of the Cat Protection Ordinance is to curb the population of street cats in Hamburg so that the animals can lead a healthier life.
The measures clearly include cats with owners.
"An effective political measure against this, in addition to the castration of strays, is above all a castration, identification and registration obligation for all cats from private households that have unsupervised freedom and mate with free-ranging cats," says the application.
Also read: Frightening numbers: So many animals are exposed in Hamburg during the holiday season.
The HTV can hardly cope with the number of neglected cats in the Hanseatic city, which is why the association fully supports the demand for the cat protection ordinance.
Monika Freytag from HTV told Mopo: "We just can't keep up with the cat rescue.
There are so many bad cat fates.” HTV board member Stefanie Bauche also says: “We can only get the population of street cats under control in the long term if we have to castrate them.”
The registration should also help to bring back found cats that actually have an owner.
"I often have the feeling that many owners don't even bother to look and simply think, 'Well, then my cat must be gone,'" says Bauche.
So far, according to the animal rights activist, only about 25 percent of the house cats found have been chipped.
The Hamburg Senate is scheduled to discuss the application for the Cat Protection Ordinance by March 31st.
* 24hamburg.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
