Degrees of anger ‘as cats dumped on uni’

ERIN PEARSON
DEAKIN University’s Waurn Ponds campus has become a dumping ground for pet cats, according to authorities.
City of Greater Geelong animal officer Stacey Timms said the campus’s open spaces were a magnet for people who wanted to dump cats, which then produced feral kittens.
“I’ve personally been there on four occasions over the past year and have sent others out also,” Ms Timms said.
“We’ve also had issues out there that have required more than one officer to attend every other day to trap them.
“It’s not the nicest thing we can do but it is the only thing we can do. It’s a really difficult one.”
Michelle Karacsonyi, who works at a hairdressing salon on the campus and facing the university’s cafeteria, said staff had seen cats and kittens roaming the grounds over the past few months.
“I saw about eight kittens last week near the cafeteria and another lot in the same area that were larger,” she said.
“Maintenance caught two cats recently and have taken another lot before that but the problem is that most aren’t feral. I definitely reckon many are someone’s pet cats they’ve dumped.”
Geelong Animal Welfare Society manager Robyn Stewart said Deakin had been a problem area for dumped cats over “quite some time”.
“I know that a lot of staff have taken the friendly ones home because often they’re pets that have been left out there,” Ms Stewart said.
“Deakin now has suburbia right to its door, which has added to the problem but it’s also the middle of cat season, so there are a lot of cats and kittens around.”
A Deakin spokesperson said the university always had an “issue” with feral cats.
“Although we don’t keep formal statistics on the number of feral cats, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest a recent increase,” the spokesperson said.
“We continue to work with the animal welfare society and the City of Greater Geelong to manage the issue.”
Ms Timms urged owners to find new homes for unwanted pets with friends or family before taking their animals to the pound.
She pleaded for owners to stop dumping their pets at Deakin and elsewhere in the region.
“People need to remember pets are for life, they’re not dispensable items.”