Feeding street animals

Here are a few things I learnt from a friend who “knows”.

(1) It is not an offence if you feed street animals inside your house compound. But best to keep the area very clean and do not leave scraps around.

(2) It may or may not be an offence if you feed street animals on the street or on public land. You may be charged with littering. So if you do it, please clean up all scraps and clear everything away after the feeding is done. Make sure it is clean. Do not leave any evidence of any feeding so that no one can find any fault with you. But you may still be charged with littering.

(3) Now this may come as a surprise, but it pays to be safe than sorry. Feeding any animal “unapproved” food may be deemed a form of “abuse” or “cruelty” because the authorities can say that the food is not nutritionally balanced. So only feed “approved” foods and by approved, this mean commercially-approved foods. I know this is unfair as you may have the knowledge and skills to prepare your own nutritionally-balanced food, better than any store-bought food, but do you want to argue with the authorities? Only if you have a lot of time, energy and money to do so (to engage a lawyer, that is).

The above is erring on the side of caution. It is to play it very, very safe.

I do not have any way of ascertaining if any of the above is 100% legally accurate. Please find out more from authoritative sources if you wish to know. But I’ll play it safe and heed the advice above.

Laws aside, please, please get the animals neutered if you feed them. If you don’t get street animals neutered but you only feed, you may be doing more harm than good. We offer aid: https://myanimalcare.org/aid/.

Why is it doing more harm than good?

Please see this: https://tenlives.com.au/welfare/feeding-stray-cats-cruel-or-kind/