Hunting of Stray Cats

(Geneva, Switzerland) A proposed law to ban the hunting of stray cats has failed in the Swiss Parliament.

Scientists from the federal environment office say the hunt is useful, noting that domestic cats have no place in natural forests and mountain regions.

The office says there around 1.5 million stray cats in Switzerland. A British study estimates that an average cat kills 15 birds a year.

Applied to Switzerland, that would mean that around 15 million birds are killed annually by cats, Martin Baumann, a government biologist told Le Matin last year.

Other officials note that some species of lizards have completely disappeared from parts of Switzerland because they have been preyed on by cats.

Heh.