Melbourne man attacks 2 cats while walking his dog and it's the Australian government's fault

NEWS AND COMMENT-MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: A man attacked 2 cats while walking his dog in Melbourne last Wednesday. CCTV footage shows him kicking the two cats and encouraging his dog to chase one. One of the cats is 15-years-old and has suffered a serious leg injury which is ongoing. Victoria police have asked anyone with relevant information to contact Crime Stoppers. I'm going to blame the Australian government for this or for contributing to it.

This man attacked 2 cats wantonly without cause. It was a malicious and cruel attack. Photo: Victoria police.

For years, now, the Australian federal government and state governments have railed against feral cats and stray cats. They have basically indoctrinated the public into believing that any cat wandering around a public space, be it the countryside or suburbia, is a pest. They have consistently portrayed feral cats as pests and vermin.

Time and time again we've seen stories of state authorities devising schemes to kill feral cats. Intelligent scientists have used their best efforts to devise clever ways to poison cats. It's all an attempt to protect their native species which are being killed faster by humans than by feral cats by the way.

And the problem is this: when you constantly portray an animal species as vermin, you're going to get people like this uncouth man taking the opportunity to seriously injure a domestic cat whose been let outside to wander around suburbia.

RELATED: Attitude of Australian state governments towards feral cats indirectly promotes cat cruelty as evidenced in Perth.

We know how the public can be indoctrinated into believing whatever you want them to believe given enough time. I predicted this years ago (see link above). Clearly, you don't need to be indoctrinated by the government to hate cats. This man might simply hate them for all kinds of reasons. However, if you are ambivalent about the role of domestic cats and feral cats in the lives of Australians, then some gullible people will be susceptible to the indoctrination of their governments.

I think that it is about time the authorities started to think about how to deal with feral cats humanely. I've hammered on about this for years and they simply refuse to treat stray and feral cats humanely. They encourage people to shoot feral cats. But how do you know the difference between a feral cat and a domestic cat at 50 yards, for certain? What is certain is that some domestic cats are being killed by people who are eager to kill feral cats.

In this instance, and unidentified man was walking his dog on Belloza Way in Mernda, Melbourne at around 4:50 PM last Wednesday. The man kicked a black-and-white cat and encouraged his dog to chase him/her. The police also said that he picked up a piece of wood and attacked another cat. The elderly ginger cat was severely injured.

The man is described as Caucasian, about 185 cm tall of slim build and with dark hair. At the time he was wearing blue shoes, blue mid-length socks, black shorts, black T-shirt, black watch, black sunglasses and his mind is black to 😢! This is a cruel man with a problem and as a consequence society has a problem with him. If you have relevant information, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000.

Note: there is a video of the incident. I can't watch it but if you want to see please go to the Daily Mail website by clicking this link.

Serval on the kitchen counter smacks dog who's on the floor

This is an unusual household. The woman calls herself a 'serval whisperer' by which she means that she is a serval expert and can communicate with her cat companion. Servals are wild cats. They are lanky. In fact, they have the longest legs to overall size of all the wild cat species.

Serval on the kitchen counter smacks dog who's on the floor. Screenshot.

Some people might like to see the video below and some might think that this looks just fine. I don't. I think it is entirely wrong to have a serval as a pet confined to the home which they must be. You cannot let this cat go outside alone for obvious reasons. And when they are confined to a home like this they want to escape. Some do escape and often they are killed outside by the police who shoot them because a neighbour complained that there is a wild animal roaming around the neighbourhood. Or a car hit them. The outcome is normally bad.

Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

@servalwhisperer Whack my chicken ! #bigcat #animals #cataoftiktok #kitten #funny ♬ original sound - Loki - aka God of Mischief

The cat is obviously slightly twitchy about the presence of the dog. This is why she slaps him. This indicates a little bit of friction between the two. No surprise there. I wonder whether the serval whisperer could do something about that? The answer will be no. You can imagine what it is like to have that slightly antagonistic state of affairs.

It may result in the serval spraying urine to mark territory. Sometimes they spray urine inside the home because they might be stressed. That is not the sort of experience you want as a home owner. Sometimes serval owners declaw their servals because they want a serval i.e. an exotic pet, but they don't want to be slapped as you see in the video on their hand by their over-sized cat companion because it will hurt. It can draw blood.

You don't want to play with a serval like you would play with your domestic cat companion because they may hurt you. But, that said, they desperately need to be stimulated. There is no greater need to stimulate a cat than a serval. They are smart and active and have heightened wild cat senses. So how do you do it? I just see so many potential and actual problems with having a serval as a pet.

I have a page on keeping servals as pets which may interest anybody who wants to read more about this topic. And lastly, depending upon where you live, you may need a licence to look after a serval in your home. There will be differences between the states in America. In the UK you need a licence. In some US states you won't need the permission of the local authority to keep a serval which may be the case with this woman in the video.

Public are outraged by Kurt Zouma's cat abuse. I'm pleased.

The public are outraged by Kurt Zouma's Bengal cat abuse. I'm very pleased. I am also surprised by the strength of the sentiment. And it isn't just the public; the news media have come down hard on him too. It is great. Anything which supports cat welfare is progress as far as I am concerned.

There has been an outpouring of anger against Kurt Zouma because of his obnoxious behaviour in drop-kicking one of his Bengal cats and also slapping the cat while the cat was being held by a child. And he slapped the cat hard. Arguably that is also child abuse. He is at least potentially psychologically damaging this child and he is certainly teaching his child that it is all right to behave like that was an animal. Shame on him.

RELATED: Premier League footballer videoed kicking and slapping a Bengal cat.

Kurt Zouma. Photo in public domain.

And to compound the bad behaviour, his brother videoed the whole thing and uploaded it to social media. And to make matters even worse his brother laughed while he videoed the abuse. It was terrible but what is delightful is the fact that the public have got behind cat welfare. They want to see Zouma punished. They don't want him to play in the forthcoming football matches. He has been fined two weeks wages which has told the world how much he earns because the fine is £250,000.

Ironically, his playing colleagues are complaining that they are underpaid because they have, for the first time, discovered what he earns. David Moyes the West Ham manager insists that he will play in the next match this weekend against Leicester. He was criticised by the public and others including Garry Lineker for playing him in the match against Watford which occurred 24 hours after the cat abuse incident. Garry Lineker accused West Ham of being tone deaf to the gravity of the event.

And this is what I really, really like about the story. People are concerned about cat welfare. I do not think that this would have happened like this 10 years ago. There is much more awareness about animal welfare nowadays than in the past. I believe that this may be a result of a concern for the planet in general because of global warming. People are concerned about the environment and what they do that might damage the environment.

It is quite a short step from this way of thinking to be concerned about animals. In part this is because the way we treat animals has an impact on the environment. I'm referring to livestock and meat eating.

Some people have been surprised. One person wondered if cat abuse is as bad as racism. I don't think that you can compare the two. But if a premiership footballer was prosecuted for racism or homophobia or was punished by the club for a racist remark, this person argued that he would be punished less than Kurt Zouma will be for abusing his cat. I get the point but this person is guessing how Zouma will be punished. We don't know. The RSPCA is investigating on behalf of the police and we expect them to make a statement about their intentions soon. They've seized his two cats. They may or may not return them depending on the outcome of their deliberations.

Here are the screenshots from the video of Zouma kicking and slapping his Bengal cat. Please click on the links.

• Kurt Zouma forcefully slaps his Bengal cat. Photo 1.
• Kurt Zouma drop-kicks his Bengal cat. Photo 2.
• Kurt Zouma drop-kicks his Bengal cat. Photo 3.

Zouma's brother - the guy who filmed the abuse - has been dropped by his football club which is in one of the lower divisions (Dagenham and Redbridge). A different approach. Moyes wants to play Zouma because he is a good footballer (left back) and Moyes is desperate to finish in the top four in the Premiership to enable West Ham to play in the European Championships next season. It is money over morals.

They should prosecute him under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 for animal abuse and cruelty. I expect that to happen. And if he's convicted, he will be punished but the punishment will not be severe. Although he could, technically receive a five-year prison sentence as a maximum, this is not going to happen. The abuse was not as bad as that. It was bad and callous and stupid and it betrayed an ignorant person but he will be fined if he is prosecuted and convicted.

There are much wider issues too, which come out of the story. A lady on LBC radio made the point that the UK is not a nation of animal lovers. This is the opposite to what people in other countries believe. Great Britain is portrayed as a place where animal welfare is prioritised. It isn't true. Of course, it is better than all the countries of Asia and South America and the Middle East but there is still lots of animal abuse in the UK. There are lots of idiots in the UK would like to harm animals. We could do a lot better.