Angus cat campaigner’s return to parliament

An Angus campaigner fighting for compulsory neutering to tackle the soaring cat population will return to the Scottish Parliament in March.

Dr Ellie Stirling, who volunteers with Scottish Wildcat Action, brought her call for compulsory neutering of pets to Holyrood’s public petitions committee in December.

Dr Stirling, who lives in Forfar, will return to the Scottish Parliament in March to present the facts and figures to the Cross Party Working Group on Animal Welfare.

“I hope we will see progress before then in the form of the Scottish Government taking forward my proposal to MSPs and to turn it into practice,” she said.

“It’s hard to think of any group in society who would not benefit from neutering every pet cat except those kept specifically under licence for high welfare breeding.

“And there’s no doubt that Scotland’s natural world would flourish as a result.”

Dr Stirling said the alternative is to introduce mandatory neutering and identity chipping, a cause which has been backed by more than 1,300 signatures.

“It was a privilege to be listened to and taken seriously by our parliament’s petitions committee,” she said.

“The Government has also maintained to date that conservation measures regards the Scottish wildcat need only be considered within designated areas in the north of Scotland.

“Yet we have evidence that this is ineffective.”

She said: “We could, of course, decide to change nothing, and kick the can down the road, but by that time the domestic cat population will be out of control and irretrievably so.

“Or we could take this positive simple step right now.”

Dr Stirling with a feline friend.