Emily Walker
Homeowners in south Dublin have been warned to be on the lookout for cat poachers who claim to come and collect stray cats in their area.
Reports have emerged that rogue operators are promising to capture stray cats and deliver them to animal pounds, where they would be cared for and neutered.
The DSPCA has been made aware of a number of situations in which unethical vendors have attempted to defraud well-intentioned homeowners out of money.
The cats, however, are then dropped off in remote regions where they are allowed to run free again.
It has urged members of the public with any additional knowledge on the apparent scam to come forward.
According to the DSPCA, there has been a significant rise in kitten litters as a result of many wild cats being uncut.
While they had received some good information, they were missing particular details, such as descriptions of the people allegedly involved or the vehicles they were driving in. “We’ve had a few reports but nothing concrete yet,” a spokeswoman said.
If individuals in your area have concerns about wild cats in their gardens, the DSPCA recommends that they contact animal welfare groups.
Ms. Bird advised residents to consider carefully before providing meals to wild cats that enter their yards.
The DSPCA is not in a position to capture or help wildlife, we would strongly advise that individuals do not feed wild animals and that if anyone has concerns about wild cats they can contact the local dog warden who will take action
Gillian Bird, Head of Media and Education with the charity,
I came to talk about cats. Cats are pets for some people. But if you feed the cat, the cat will come back more often.
This is not good because then there will be many cats in your garden that you don’t want. If you take care of a feral cat, it should also be neutered and looked after when it gets sick.
Many people who feed the cat for two or three days will not take responsibility for the cat forever. And then they don’t know how to deal with these cats if their numbers increase.
“If a cat is picked up and placed in a rescue center, we will be able to reunite it with its owner,” she added.
The way this scam works is that someone will call you claiming to be from a charity.
They’ll say they are collecting stray cats and need your help in picking up the strays.
You don’t have any time for them, or maybe not enough room in your car, so you politely decline their offer of help. However, it’s important to know about these scams because they’re getting more frequent!
If somebody calls asking for donations on behalf of a charity please contact the charity directly before giving out money over the phone, just like with every other type of fraudster online or offline.