Refuges swamped by abandoned cats

ANIMAL refuges around France have launched a campaign urging cat owners to have their pets sterilised, as they are struggling to cope with an ever-growing number of abandoned felines.

The poster campaign, which has sprung up at rescue associations nationwide, is the initiative of a collective called Chats 100% Sterilisation Obligatoire.

It has written to agriculture and environment ministers Stéphane Le Foll and Ségolène Royal calling for a law to be passed making cat sterilisation a legal requirement in France.

The group says a law is the only way to stop the soaring numbers of abandoned and mistreated cats that refuges are having to deal with on a daily basis - putting a strain on their finances and on volunteers' time.