David Dyke at Malgamongup (Bardon Park). Photo by Darrell Brown.
I READ your front page story “Kings Park push for cat laws” (Voice, January 28, 2023) with great interest.
I record frogs on the FrogID App for Australian Museum so see first hand the carnage.
Cats are killing small birds, frogs, all sorts of lizards and wildlife.
Every day throughout Australia there is 7 million animals killed by predators, ie cats and foxes.
There are three state ministers who could do something about this:
1. Local government minister John Carey. The Joint Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation keep rejecting
local government cat laws for containment because the State Cat Law 2011 needs urgent review – it is limited. He has replied to my letter saying maybe in 2024 there will be a review of the sct. That means every day from now until his maybe-review, 7 million animals will be killed … it’s my assessment no accountability at all! A double disgrace.
2. Environment minister Reece Whitby. Stands by blindly ignoring the carnage happening by predators (cats & foxes) in his portfolio, hoping others will take the lead and accountability rather than him. A disgrace.
3 Aboriginal affairs minister Tony Buti. I received a reply from him saying not my area and promptly passed the
buck to John Carey. Minister Buti, on your watch you are blindly standing back allowing Aboriginal sacred totems to be massacred and probably will end up being threatened species. Another Disgrace.
Come on John Carey, Reece Whitby & Tony Buti … HURRY UP.
The responsibility and accountability rests in all of your portfolios. Stop passing the buck and do something NOW!
David Dyke
Maylands
Perth Voice Interactive 
It’s really not that hard to recognise that cats are devastatingly good at hunting and as caring as cat owners can be, these animals not being native to this land are going to damage the ecology. Wild and feral cats need to be caught and contained.
Thank you for pushing this issue forward.
Thank you David Dyke for bringing attention to this issue, having seen the damage caused by cats (and foxes) this is an urgent issue for the environment.
We need more people like Mr Dyke willing to stand up on issues like this.
Well said David, cats, particularly, are a scourge on Australia’s native wildlife and should be eradicated without question … but that won’t happen because of the millions of irresponsible cat lovers we have here.