Too many cats, some homeless and sick: Several municipalities in Bavaria are now taking action against this. The city of Laufen has had a cat protection ordinance since February 1st, Aschaffenburg will follow suit on April 1st. This means that cat owners have to have their animals neutered if they have uncontrolled outlets and are older than five months. They are also required to be identified with a microchip or an ear tattoo. Municipal officers can also tag and neuter free-roaming cats if the owner is unknown. Animal shelters, which are bursting at the seams in many places, should also be relieved.
According to estimates, around 300,000 free-ranging cats live in the Free State. Mother cats have two to six kittens up to three times a year – the animals reproduce rapidly, reports Silvia Rottmair, chairwoman of the “Katzenhilfe Salzachtal” association, which is significantly involved in implementing the regulation in Laufen. Many of the wild animals are in poor health and starving. And they pass diseases on: from the cat to the female, from the female to the young. They suffer from parasites, viral diseases and bacterial infections.
In Dachau and Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, cat protection regulations have existed for a long time. But the implementation is not progressing well. In Dachau, for example, it is said that no area has been defined for which the regulation should apply. “The regulation is therefore not valid,” says the spokeswoman for the district office, Sina Török. In Aschaffenburg, the chances of implementing the new regulation even before it comes into force are reserved. Regarding the question of who should monitor and implement the regulation, the administration pointed out at a city council meeting in November that there was no personnel capacity for this. “Even if additional staff were made available, controls are likely to fail due to the general conditions. From the point of view of the administration, effective animal protection cannot be achieved through a cat protection ordinance due to the lack of control and sanction options,” says the regulatory office.
Bayern is late. In other parts of Germany, cat protection regulations have existed for years. Nationwide there are more than 1100 municipalities with corresponding regulations, says Silvia Rottmair. In Bavaria, according to the Ministry of the Environment, the municipalities received the go-ahead in 2015 to issue the regulations. But so far, hardly anyone has done so, although financial resources have been available in the state budget since 2019 – this year probably two million euros.
But the hurdles for such regulations are high. For example, the municipalities have to prove a high number of stray cats, they have to suffer and the suffering must be due to the many cats. Proving all this is difficult.