‘You can’t ban compassion’: helping stray cats is illegal in much of Australia – but for some, it’s worth the risk

A cat’s classification under the law – whether it is a pet or a pest, whose responsibility it is, and how it should be dealt with – varies across jurisdictions. Illustration: Guy Shield/The Guardian

Over the past 10 years, Sarah’s* two-bedroom ground-floor apartment in Sydney has become something of a haven for stray cats.

“I’ve got six at the moment,” she tells Guardian Australia. “Only one of them was a tame homeless cat.” All the others were unsocialised strays. “One of my latest ones, I’ve had him for two years, and he was about 10 when I met him [and] in a really bad way.”