A few weeks ago, we were surprised by some news from Belgium. The Belgian authorities announced in mid-April that, from then on, owners of domestic cats would be required to have them sterilized... or face a substantial fine.
This country is the first in the world to impose this measure on PET OWNERS and, truth be told, it has caused quite a controversy. For some, it is surprising that something like this should happen in 2018 in a country that is theoretically ahead of many others when it comes to animal welfare. For others, it is a government scheme to extract more money from citizens. And for still others, it is the lesser evil, although nowhere near the ideal solution for tackling the problem of animal abandonment.
Regardless of what each of us may think, we believe it is a noteworthy enough measure to share here. The Belgian government says this is a way to protect cats from abandonment and abuse, as they are currently facing an unprecedented cat overpopulation problem. Thus, the head of Animal Welfare in the Flanders region announced that “anyone who wants to keep a cat must have it sterilized. Otherwise, they will have to take responsibility for the dozens of offspring that end up on the streets, in shelters, or being euthanized.”
In this way, every cat over six months old in Belgian territory will have to be sterilized or neutered, with the aim of preventing cats from continuing to reproduce uncontrollably and consequently ending up like so many of them do: in animal shelters where, due to a lack of financial resources and space, many lives have a very tragic ending. In fact, according to the data, authorities in the Wallonia region collect around 30,000 cats each year, of which 10,000 do not survive. In Flanders, a region with just over six million inhabitants, the government estimates that there are more than one million cats.
According to other data, it is estimated that each pair of cats can have eight kittens a year. Kittens are fertile by the age of six months, meaning that in just one year, 40 new animals can be born from that original pair. The Belgian authorities refer to this as “exponential growth” and claim that 5,000 cats can be born from a single pair in just five years.
With this feline population, shelters cannot cope and are unable to find PET OWNERS for so many rescued cats. They therefore say that this measure is necessary to solve the problem and prevent cats from continuing to struggle on the streets and perish in shelters. The goal, therefore, is to find a balance between adoptions and abandonments.
For their part, owners see many drawbacks to having cats sterilized. On the one hand, there is health, since many of them gain weight after being sterilized and do not receive suitable food and care. On the other hand, there is the price. This veterinary procedure costs between 150 euros for females and 75 euros for males.
Aware of this obstacle, the Animal Welfare Department points out that, contrary to what people tend to believe, the operation increases cats’ life expectancy and reduces the risk of disease, as well as their aggression and the sounds females make when in heat. But since they know that reasons alone are not enough, they also plan to cover part of the cost, as they did last year. At that time, they allocated just over 92,000 euros to cover part of the cost of sterilizing Belgian domestic cats.
Of course, this new rule also applies to foreigners who settle in Belgium. And failure to comply will result in a fine, without exception, in 2020. From then on, all cats bought, given as gifts, donated, or adopted in Belgium will have to be sterile. Otherwise, their owners risk being fined 50 euros, an amount that can reach 10,000 euros in Wallonia if the fines continue to accumulate over several years and up to 100,000 euros in Brussels.
These are the amounts stipulated in animal welfare protection regulations for offenders. Nevertheless, these fines are said to be theoretical. In other words, the penalties are intended to have a deterrent effect. But it is obvious that no judge is going to make someone pay 100,000 euros for not sterilizing their cat. And, of course, the Belgian police have more important things to do than search homes to check the condition of cats’ reproductive organs.
So, in reality, perhaps this is a wake-up call to Belgian society in particular and PET OWNERS in general. We will continue to monitor how the measure develops.