Scotland’s first minister and the UK prime minister’s spokesperson have been forced to deny there are plans to ban cat ownership in Scotland after media interest in feline welfare proposals prompted outrage from pet lovers. The concerns were prompted by media coverage of a report for the Scottish government by the independent Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, which published its recommendations on responsible domestic cat ownership last Monday. Among its proposals, which included encouraging vaccination and neutering, the report also suggested that consideration be given to “containing” cat ownership in certain rural areas that were also home to red-listed bird species. It is estimated that domestic cats kill 27 million birds in the UK each year. This morphed online into the unfounded claim that the Scottish government was to ban cats completely, which the first minister, John Swinney, was forced to deny. The story quickly gained traction. The former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls expressed his shock on Good Morning Britain and asked: “Has the world gone mad?” A clearly exasperated Swinney clarified to Bauer Radio on Monday afternoon: “There’s a report being produced by an external organisation, which has come into the government for consideration. Let me just clear this up today. The government’s not going to be banning cats or restricting cats. We have no intention of doing so and we’ll not be doing it.” The commission’s report refers to other jurisdictions where restrictions on cat ownership exist in order to protect local wildlife, ranging from “keeping cats indoors at all times, to allowing them outside only during the day, or only on a leash, or in a secure outdoor run”. But it goes on to acknowledge preventing free access to the outdoors has a significant impact on feline welfare. Ultimately it suggests that “new housing developments in rural areas could have a stipulation that cats may not be kept in conservation-sensitive areas/other areas that have not had high levels of predation, especially with red-listed or amber-listed birds/other species”. Asked about the proposals and if the UK government might follow suit, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson expressed some puzzlement. “I don’t think we have any plans to ban people from owning cats,” the spokesperson said. When told the policy was just about only allowing cats outside on leads, they added: “No plans for leads.” Alice Palombo of the charity Cats Protection told the Mail on Sunday, which published the original article on the mooted cat ban, that these “highly independent animals” did not like to be restrained on a lead and could suffer stress-related problems if kept permanently indoors.