Kitty-lockdown: Cats forced to be kept indoors for this unusual reason

Nature conservation measures are important to protect the disappearing species, but this town’s authorities may have gone too far by imposing a full lockdown on all cats. Freedom-loving petswere restricted from moving around as they pleased, and their owners were threatened with fines for any breach. The lockdown has now been lifted.

Full lockdown for cats

The cat lockdown

All cat owners in Walldorf, a town in southwest Germany, were ordered to keep their cats indoors in May this year. Authorities explained their decision by the measures necessary to protect the endangered crested lark reports BBC News.

Waldorfian freedom-loving pets were only allowed to venture outside if they were kept on a leash no more than two metres (6ft) in length. Any breach would result in a fine. If a cat escaped while the lockdown was in force, owners were told to call a special hotline, and then find and detain the offending feline.

An owner whose animal injured or killed one of the protected birds had to pay up to €50,000 (£42,000 / $51,000).

Thankfully, the special lockdown has now been lifted, and the cat owners sigh in relief as their cats can go out for the first time in three months.

Why do crested larks need to be protected?

Authorities have been working on protecting the local population of the crested lark, stressing the species was endangered in the state of Baden-Württemberg and wider Germany. They said there were just three breeding pairs left in Walldorf itself.

The population was also assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) some years earlier and included in their List of Threatened Species.

The crested lark has recently adapted to steppe and human-altered landscapes, such as open agricultural fields. As a result, the birds build messy nests of grass on the ground, being a target for bored felines on their walks, Nature World News writes.

Was the lockdown necessary?

Animal activists weren’t persuaded the full feline lockdown was necessary. They stressed they supported the government's vital conservation work, but criticised the Draconian restrictions as harming the cats’ welfare. There is no evidence that attacks from cats in gardens are causing lark populations to decline, according to Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

It is not yet clear whether the Walldorf lockdown made a positive impact on the lark population. Birds who hatched in the spring are now considered to be sufficiently developed and less vulnerable to attack, BBC News writes.

The mayor of Walldorf welcomed the end of the feline lockdown. But he and all the local cat owners may have to brace for more restrictions in the future. They are expected to be reintroduced next spring, and in subsequent years during the birds' breeding season.

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