Environmental protection and animal protection issues converge when considering endemic animals, but may conflict when considering introduced predators that pose a threat to endemic species. The objective of protecting biodiversity, which implies eradicating these predators, clashes with the objective of animal welfare, particularly when it comes to sensitive species such as mammals. The species which concerns us here, the cat Felis catus , combines a strong nuisance potential for biodiversity with a strong emotional attachment from the population. Moreover, it has long been managed in urban areas, the objective being to reduce nuisance for human inhabitants, before obtaining a special protection status as a domestic animal. We use a socio-ecological approach to analyze different cases of cat management in metropolitan and overseas France, and a bibliographical analysis of situations encountered in Australia and the United States. This comparative analysis illustrates how articulation between nature protection, animal protection and social acceptability implies taking into account the plurality of environmental ethics.

Environmental protection and animal protection issues converge when considering endemic animals, but may conflict when considering introduced predators that pose a threat to endemic species. The objective of protecting biodiversity, which implies eradicating these predators, clashes with the objective of animal welfare, particularly when it comes to sensitive species such as mammals. The species which concerns us here, the cat Felis catus , combines a strong nuisance potential for biodiversity with a strong emotional attachment from the population. Moreover, it has long been managed in urban areas, the objective being to reduce nuisance for human inhabitants, before obtaining a special protection status as a domestic animal. We use a socio-ecological approach to analyze different cases of cat management in metropolitan and overseas France, and a bibliographical analysis of situations encountered in Australia and the United States. This comparative analysis illustrates how articulation between nature protection, animal protection and social acceptability implies taking into account the plurality of environmental ethics.