By Tim Binnall
A strange controversy has erupted in a German town after authorities ordered that all cats must be put on lockdown for the summer in order to protect an endangered bird species living in the area. According to a local media report, the bizarre ban on outdoor feline frolicking was enacted earlier this week in the community of Waldorf. The peculiar pet prohibition is due to the town being home to a small population of crested lark, which is a highly threatened species of bird that has a breeding season over the next few months. Hoping for some precious newborns to be produced this summer, conservation officials have taken aim at what they see as their most perilous threat: cats roaming the community.
Specifically, authorities say that newly hatched crested larks are unable to fly and largely linger on the ground for the first few weeks of their lives, which makes them easy prey for hungry felines. In order to prevent such a scenario from happening, the cat containment order was issued and those who violate it will be met with more than a simple slap on the wrist. Owners caught letting their furry friends outside could face a rather sizeable $500 fine, which is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the whopping $500,000 bill they will receive if their animal gets its claws into one of the precious crested larks of which, amazingly, there are only six in the whole community.
As one might imagine, the draconian measures have been been met with considerable resistance from cat owners throughout the town as well as local officials who insist that the ban is not their doing, but the work of the country's conservation officials. "Our hands are tied," declared Walldorf's mayor Matthias Renschler, who expressed sympathy for his constituents forced to keep their feline friends behind closed doors. Meanwhile, authorities tasked with enforcing the order are left wondering how they are supposed to connect a cat with its owner when the animal is spotted out and about by itself in the town and, in a parallel to the pandemic woes of the past few years, there is already talk of a lawsuit aimed at putting an end to the lockdown.