Tokyo's Arakawa Ward to ban feeding of stray cats, other animals

Saturday 13th December, 06:31 AM JST

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GW at 08:00 AM JST - 13th December

shud fix the little govts all around this place too while their at it!
timorborder at 09:51 AM JST - 13th December

Rather than banning things, they should get over the aversion to eradicating such animals.
ragingbull at 10:34 AM JST - 13th December

here in hawaii there are many 'official' private feeding stations for feral cats; and the people who bring the food also set up traps to catch them for spaying and neutering, and then return them to the area. it keeps the population under control....and it also makes for some very interesting 'tourist' attractions for the local businesses.
BlackFlag at 10:38 AM JST - 13th December

sounds like Hawaii does it right
timorborder at 11:44 AM JST - 13th December

Can't the ward office think of someway of profiting from these animals? What about "catyaki" as a local cuisine. This could do for Arakawa what "Takoyaki" does for Osaka. You could also keep down the pigeon population with exchanging "chicken" for "pigeon" in "yakitori." Moreover, it would be safe (because it would be domestic). None of this food imported from China, thank you very much. Moreover, given the Japanese perchant for using foreign words irrespective of their original meaning, perhaps Arakawa Ward could market these new products under a foreign name, to give them more cache. What about "Vermin?" It almost sounds French.
30061015 at 11:57 AM JST - 13th December

Wow...Who woulda thought? Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward got balls! The next step is a ￥5,000 bounty on all stray cats to stimulate the economy and say, "good bye Kitty!". Way to go!

Timor: What about "catyaki"? ...nyah nyah yaki.
Betzee at 12:57 PM JST - 13th December

I used to be involved in trapping and neutering feral cats in Los Angeles. (Many local governments have vouchers available for this purpose if you know where to look.) They were released in the communities from which they came, much to the displeasure of some residents. Grabbing the kittens when they were young enough to be socialized to the human touch meant they had a chance of getting a home. But it's overwhelming sometimes, you place one and five more are found.
Vagante at 03:24 PM JST - 13th December

Simple compassion dictates that some people will feed stray animals, (or should we call them "domestic animals that do not have a home with humans" ... okay, "stray" is easier). However, compassion is a rare quality in Japan, compared to many other civilized countries.

We have some "stray" cats in my locale. They are fed, and of course they reproduce, but I don't hear or see anyone complaining about them and if the local government were to pass a silly law such as this, I'm sure it would be broken by many.
likeitis at 04:18 PM JST - 13th December

Attacking the symptoms and not the root of the problem, and imposing a profit generating fine too boot. How utterly typical of Japanese officials.
ptolemy at 05:12 PM JST - 13th December

Now if we could just ban the feeding of politicians and lawyers, that would fix 90% of problems.
gaijintraveller at 07:16 PM JST - 13th December

What constitutes agreement? It seems fair to assume that the person feeding the cats does not agree with his neighbours. In such a case as there would be no agreement on whether a nuisance is being caused, it seems that the law would not be contravened.

My assumption is that it is just another ineffectual law.
kitakirisuzume at 08:55 PM JST - 13th December

so you're going to have lots of starving cats and thousands of obasans with nothing to do all day. and then the endless arguments arising from this community balon ey. real humanitarian law here.
presto345 at 09:52 PM JST - 13th December

The cities were built for people not for crows, pigeons and stray cats and dogs. In these cities some people work in the daytime, others at night. Both groups are entitled to peace and quiet in their neighborhoods. Feeding the mentioned critters causes them to breed. They leave their droppings (no one teaches them to clean up) and especially the crows are bloody noisy and intimidating to some. In Hiroshima people used to feed the pigeons. You should have seen the populations of these birds, their nesting habits, the fouling of the buildings. Feeding is illegal now and the buildings stay clean. Don't feed pests.
rofea at 03:33 AM JST - 14th December

I found a starving ferral kitten earlier this year, took it home on the train and kept it. My cat is now a big cuddly ball of fluff and greets me everyday I come home. If you can afford to please consider adopting a feral cat.
ca1ic0cat at 10:50 PM JST - 15th December

I've noticed that in China and Korea there are very few strays - dare I say none?

We've got two formerly feral cats and they are getting fixed on 12/29. Can't adopt them all though, so not feeding them is a good idea.