Blog

27th April 2024

We are very pleased to officially announce that we are a recipient of the Feral Cat Management grant. This small, one-year grant "Perils of Ferals - Feral Cat Control Education" is supported by funding from the Western Australian Government, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, the State Natural Resource Management Program WA and the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Thanks to the funding we will be able to visit schools, Landcare organisations and local governments, and other interested groups in the Great Southern and provide educational talks about feral cat control. We will also be partnering with other local groups as part of the project. We will involve local arts and crafts groups to create a sign that will inform people of the “Perils of Ferals”. These signs will be erected in a number of places in our region providing the community with information about feral cats and how to reduce their numbers.

Our thanks go to the Oyster Harbour Catchment Group Inc. for acting as our sponsors for this grant.

We also thank the City of Albany, the Friends of the Porongurups, the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot,  Gillamii, the Southern Aboriginal Corporation, South Coast Natural Resource Management and the WA Feral Cat Working Group.

22nd January 2024

Welcome to the new page for CLAWS Working Group (Cat Laws and Wildlife Survival) You may know us as the Albany and Surrounds Feral Cat Working Group (ASFCWG), and while this served its purpose it was time for a fresh start and a fresh, new name. With many an idea we finally decided upon the catchy and much more appropriate CLAWS. 

We are very excited about the new name and webpage; we hope that you like it, too. We are also excited to take steps forward from where we started in 2019 when a gap was noticed in the roaming cat realm. Working with, residents, numerous organisations, and government bodies, much of these being volunteers, we have pursued our vision of keeping both wildlife and cats safe by encouraging cat containment. Encouraging owners to meet the needs of the cats themselves by offering suitable stimulation, hiding places, and access to water, food, and toileting areas to suit the individual cats' needs.

 If wildlife could talk, I am sure they would be thanking all those responsible cat owners who are keeping their pets contained and sterilising their fluffy family members. We know there is a long way to go, local laws review and reduction of other roaming cats for a start, but we look forward to helping other owners transition their cats into appropriate enclosed housing and reducing those unowned cats from roaming. While we currently have no role in actively reducing roaming feral cats, we do encourage control through the correct legal avenues and most of it is imperative that control is humane.

CLAWS tries to encourage learning in a fun and positive way, and we have numerous educational programs that we get very excited about showing off on a regular basis. Some of these include,

·        Primary school incursions enthusing kids on local wildlife and cat containment

·        Workshops for residents on keeping cats healthy and happy contained to a property

·        Presentations to groups on the damage roaming cats pose to wildlife

·        Stall displays at numerous events and shows

·        Lobbying to improve cat containment and better feral control and more

We are continuing to interact with other organisations that have any involvement in roaming cats, including, The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Local Government, Landcare groups, residents, and veterinary and animal care establishments to name a few.

Follow the blog to see what is happening in the group and please have a little look around the website, there is useful information and links to be found.

 We would love to hear your suggestions so feel free to contact us.

 We look forward to sharing tips and interesting stories with you.

 Jenni Loveland - Founder and Project Officer

 © 2024  C L A W S Working Group (formerly Albany and Surrounds Feral Cat Working Group)