The story of cats, dogs and wildlife

Cats and dogs are beautiful creatures. For many of us, they’re loved family members. But on the loose in the wrong place, they can cause a lot of harm.

The good news is that there are easy solutions to keep both our pets and wildlife happy and well, and easy ways of messaging these solutions.

We recently developed two messaging guides for Predator Free NZ and Capital Kiwi to help spread the word about responsible cat and dog ownership. Following are five key tips that apply to this topic – and to many other issues as well.

1. Be inclusive

Primarily, people’s actions are motivated by values, emotions and identity, not facts. This means it’s important to acknowledge owners’ love for their animals and to position ourselves in a similar vein. For example, “We love all animals, and many of us have a cat or dog in our family.”

Even better, encourage cat and dog owners to be the messengers, along with people they trust such as vets and trainers.

We can also be inclusive in the tone of our messages, by using words like “welcome” and “thank you”, and avoiding the ‘us and them’ language often used by the media (“cat/dog owners versus conservationists”).

2. Engage people’s care values

In several parts of Aotearoa/NZ, advocates are already shifting owners’ behaviour by focusing on care more than compliance. They are connecting with owners’ care for their pets as well as other animals. In particular for dogs and kiwi, the concept of ‘home’ for kiwi and other wildlife is a powerful one. Every creature needs a home and deserves to be safe and well at home. Thankfully, both kiwi and dogs can co-exist when owners do the right thing.

3. Show what you want (not what you don’t)

As a general rule, choose words and images that convey the actions we would like people to take. This means showing cats happy and entertained at home and dogs being walked on a loose lead, not pets roaming or hunting.

Images really help to normalise actions: every time owners see cats at home and dogs on lead, it reinforces the behaviour expected of them as well as the action already being taken by fellow pet owners.

4. Use a vision-barrier-action story structure

This follows from the previous three tips: begin with a positive, values-based vision that most people can agree with (e.g. happy pets and thriving wildlife). Go light on the barrier (wandering cats and dogs harm and kill wildlife). Focus on the action pet owners can take to overcome the barrier and achieve the positive vision (cats entertained at home and dogs on lead).

5. Go beyond messaging

Common Cause has always been much more than an approach to messaging. For this issue, that means making it easier for owners to take action. We can point cat owners to catio providers or DIY tips, to go with the idea that cats can (and should) be provided with enough stimulation to keep them entertained at home.

Image credit: The Cat Carpenter

Making action easier for dog owners includes things like providing more fenced off-lead areas and recommending on-lead training. (If you have a dog in your life, you’ll know it’s much more enjoyable for both parties when the dog can walk happily on a loose lead!)

For more tips and plenty of applied examples, see the full message guides and summary tip sheets on our Resources page. If you have any questions about this topic, please feel free to get in touch with Eleanor.