The Factors Behind Our Lack of Tolerance Towards Cats.

Cats often receive mixed reception. For every person who appreciates cats, there is likely someone with an aversion or fear for the creatures. When cats dig holes in someones flowerbed or vegetable patch, many gardeners reach for an air rifle, garden hose or resort to more extreme measures in order to deter it. While we generally turn a blind eye when dogs leave behind waste products like plastic poo bags lying around like litter on our streets; cat-owners, however, do not appreciate cats invading their space though cats at least have the decency to cover up such activity unlike dogs which do.

We equate them with allergies, fearing they’ll asphyxiate sleeping babies or spread disease and flea infestation. We regard them as vicious and bad-tempered creatures we need to declaw; classifying them as pests like rats; afraid of their aloof attitude or convinced they possess demonic intentions from their evil stare; hoarders keep hundreds in their home without fully realizing what suffering they cause.

As revenge or simply out of fun, some individuals often torture or poison cats as an act of revenge for perceived offenses or simply for fun. Others kill and mutilate them such as the notorious “Cat Ripper of Croydon”, who reportedly used chicken bait to lure more than 400 cats to their deaths before strangulating, decapitating, decapitating and dismembering their bodies – actions often leading to prosecution for cat cruelty offences.