Some governments have introduced, or are considering, harsh laws to control cats. These include:

• Registration and limiting cats per household
• Compulsory identification
• Compulsory desexing
• Compulsory confinement and night curfew
• Cat-free zones

Underlying this approach is the belief that if restrictions are applied to owned cats, all other cats can be caught and killed, and any cat-related problems will magically disappear.

It is assumed that:

• all cat owners will comply with the legislation
• compliance can be checked
• all unowned cats can be caught and killed.

All these assumptions are wrong.