Do domestic cats kill enough wildlife to justify UK legislation requiring them to be kept indoors?
Recent UK studies estimate that 7-11 million outdoor domestic cats return between 37 and 140 million prey items annually, mostly small mammals with around a quarter being birds. A 2025 Scottish Animal Welfare Commission report discussed targeted containment in new housing near sensitive ecosystems, while a parliamentary petition for seasonal indoor requirements and belled collars closed in June 2026 without triggering a debate. No national legislation currently mandates keeping pet cats indoors.
26 Opinions
Humans are the biggest negative impact on wildlife. Taking down their habitats for net zero plans hasn't helped nor has expanding out instead of up.
In reality this couldn't be policed. There are many stray and feral cats. They would have to be murdered. We animal lovers would not stand for such cruelty. There are house cats but many of those have reasons such as health issues. However a normal healthy cat needs their freedom to stay healthy. To have to contain an outdoor cat would be too cruel. Cats have been around a long time they won't cause extinction of any wildlife. The ones they hunt are many.
If you're going to do this you might as well just be honest and ban cat ownership.
Cats are both indoor and outdoor animals i see no reason to change this, perhaps outdoor ones should have collars with bells for the safety of wildlife though.
We have far too many cats, but population control would be a better solution.
If something is to be done then require the to wear bells.
This is an unmanageable situation. Attempting to legislate on such an issue with no way to manage it would be a recipe for disaster. Are we suggesting that local authorities will have cat curfew officers patrolling neighbourhoods at night? I don't think so
It's cruel to restrict cats, previously free to roam outdoors. Reducing expression of natural cat behaviour to suit human mores is just wrong. The issue of cat population density has arisen from human population growth, not a natural imbalance in the success of cats. Humans fiddling with natural balance doesn't normally end well. Either other predators' numbers would grow to fill the void or the prey would grow and become something else 'to fix'.
Predation is part of nature. There might be a case in small areas near particular endangered populations but not for a blanket rule.
No. It’s a ridiculous and disproportionate idea.