Council is working to find a balance between cats as companion animals and the need to protect wildlife. Photo: Paul Hanaoka.
After much deliberation, Wagga City Council has agreed to call for more cat containment laws.
On Monday (18 July), council resolved to write to Local Government NSW (LGNSW) to request updates to the legislation so the council can implement responsible cat management and containment rules.
In NSW, the Companion Animals Act 1988 does not allow local councils to enforce any form of responsible cat containment or curfew.
The council’s only option is to ‘encourage’ responsible cat ownership but can’t impose any fines concerning cat containment.
Deputy Mayor Jenny McKinnon brought forward the motion on cat containment after the recent move by the ACT to legislate all new cats be registered and wear a leash when outdoors, or their owners can be fined up to $300.
Wagga veterinary surgeon Dr Lynne Bodell addressed the council strongly advocating for cat containment through legislation.
Dr Bodell said as a profession, they have been advising people for years about responsible ownership, which includes desexing and locking up cats, but it has fallen short.
“We’ve put out brochures from the Cat Protection Society about good neighbourhood projects about how to lock up your cat and all the right things to do,” said Dr Bodell.
“The problem is we can preach until we’re blue in the face, but unless there’s some legislation, we can’t start the battle on cat control because people don’t listen.”
Loading ...Dr Bodell highlighted the reasons why legislation for cat containment is important.
She said the feral cats cause extensive devastation to the wildlife, damage to the livestock economy and potential risk to humans from toxoplasmosis (a parasite cats can get from eating wild animals or meat infected with the parasite).
Dr Bodell also said cats have more rights than people and residents have to prove a certain feline has killed their pet or other wildlife.
The Cr McKinnon acknowledged cats are important companion animals for many individuals and families; however, they’re a known hazard to Australian wildlife.
“This council’s own biodiversity policy explicitly names cats as a problem pest in the local government area,” said Cr McKinnon.
“So the question is, can we find a balance between the important place of cats as companion animals and the need to provide protection for wildlife?
Cr McKinnon said a full-time cat containment policy is supported by a number of respected animal welfare and health organisations, including the RSPCA, the NSW Animal Welfare League and the Australian Veterinary Association.
Cr McKinnon said an education program should raise awareness that cat containment is a win for everyone.
“Some cat owners don’t believe their cats are hunters and there is a perception that cats aren’t and shouldn’t be contained,” she said.
Cr McKinnon said there are many advantages to cat containment, including a reduction in the number of felines getting sick, hurt or getting killed by accident, being impounded by the council, and it also minimises the risk of them harming or killing other animals and preventing them from roaming with un-desexed cats.
Councillor Dan Hayes partially agreed that owners wouldn’t necessarily do the right thing without a law.
He said RSPCA published a report in 2018 identifying the best practices in cat management in Australia.
“Cat containment has limited value, if any, but needs to be further researched and highlights issues of enforcement of laws with four problems,” Cr Hayes said.
Problems include difficulties capturing cats breaching containment regulations, unrealistic community expectations regarding enforcement and management, that most trapped cats are feral and no one gets fined, and the expense of doing it properly is prohibitive and is likely to exceed the benefits.
Even though Cr Rod Kendall said he has no disagreements with the issues posed by roaming feral cats, he voted against the motion stating the council is wasting its time and resources.
“We’ve got a lot on our agenda in this council and there are much more important things that we can concentrate on and spend our resources on than an issue already in front of LGNSW,” Cr Kendall said.
“I guarantee we spend more time on this motion tonight than we do on probably any other individual one, which is an example of how you can actually waste your resources.
After a lengthy debate, the council resolved to write to the office of LGNSW and other relevant agencies requesting an update on changes in legislation that would provide a mechanism for councils to introduce cat curfews in their local government areas to more responsibly manage cats.
