JAKARTA - Germany's Walldorf City Authority has ordered its citizens to keep their pet cats indoors until the end of August, to protect rare birds during the breeding season.
This decree was designed to help rescue crested birds, which make their nests on the ground, making them easy prey for cats that hunt them.
Bird populations in Western Europe have declined sharply in recent decades. Although, the bird is listed as the least noticed species in Europe by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"Among other things, the survival of the species depends on each chick," the authorities in Walldorf said, citing Euronews May 20.
This rule applies to all cats in the southern part of the city and will be repeated over the next three years from April to August.
Owners risk a fine of 500 euros or around Rp. 7,744,009 if their cat is found wandering outside. Bigger fines await, up to 50 thousand euros or around Rp.774,400,906 if their pets injure or kill the crested birds.
Should I keep my cat indoors? If you live in Walldorf, this question is no longer in your hands, but for those in other areas, the answer may not be so obvious.
"Suddenly preventing cats that are used to going outside means enormous restrictions and stress for the animals," Deutscher Tierschutzbund, Germany's largest animal welfare organization, said in a statement to Euronews Green.
"The negative effect of cats on songbird populations is however controversial and, to our knowledge, has not been proven for Walldorf crested birds."
The organization supports measures to protect crested birds, but believes no animal should be treated as second class.
"Defining domestic cats as 'perpetrators' for the threat of certain bird species also means leaving them to blame for the fact that humans have destroyed habitat and food supplies for wild species over a long period of time, thereby threatening their very existence," the statement concluded.
This sentiment is shared by Daniela Schneider, campaigner for Four Paws Germany.
"The effect of intensive agriculture, monoculture, insect mortality and increased land development may be greater than for some cats hunting birds," he said.
"This cause is caused by humans. It would be better to fight the real cause than blame the cat for this," he said.
In Walldorf, regional newspaper Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung reported on Wednesday, the head of the local animal protection association plans to take legal steps to challenge the "disproportionate" order.
Cat owners hit by the new decree can exercise their right of objection until mid-June.
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