Popular press portrayal of issues surrounding free-roaming domestic cats Felis catus

1. Domestic cats Felis catus have a complex and contentious history. They fill multi-
ple societal roles (e.g. as pest controllers and companion animals), which has led
to a variety of animal welfare, conservation, and human health concerns. Popular
press articles play an important role in how people learn about key issues sur-
rounding cats, but they may present some issues more frequently than other
issues.
2. We conducted a global media content analysis of 796 articles in the English-
language media from 1990 to 2018 on issues related to free-roaming cats, such
as their environmental impacts, the threats and welfare issues cats face, and how
they are managed. We aimed to determine whether non-experts learning about
the issues around free-roaming cats exclusively from the popular press would be
exposed to multiple stakeholder views or opinions.
3. Over 95% of articles analysed were from North America. Most of the people in-
terviewed in the popular press were from non-governmental organizations, mainly
from cat welfare or cat rights groups (which are often focused on only one side of
the issue). Researchers, shelter organizations, veterinarians, and groups that have
different opinions than cat rights or welfare organizations on how to resolve is-
sues surrounding free-roaming cats were rarely interviewed by the popular press.
Most articles focused on cat welfare issues and the management strategies of eu-
thanasia or trap–neuter–release (TNR), whereas less than one-third of the articles
acknowledged that cats have any impact on wildlife or the broader environment.
4. We found that the popular press often presented an oversimplified picture of
issues related to free-roaming cats and provided unbalanced coverage. We also
show evidence of framing by the popular press, including mainly presenting the viewpoints and perspectives from animal welfare and rights groups, focusing on
TNR or euthanasia as the only viable cat management strategies when many al-
ternatives exist and often have greater support from experts, and discussing the
impacts of cats on birds and small mammals but not reptiles or amphibians.