Absurd Feline Laws in the ACT

[SlothHead]

Absurd Feline Laws in the ACT


Well inspired by yet another thread about a native animal being attacked I thought I would post this and start collating information from other areas regarding laws in their states.

Please keep in mind this is not an anti cat thread, nor do I really want people posting in this thread that are just going on hearsay, and certainly don’t want people implicating illegal activity. If you do have information would appreciate the reference so that I can include it in what I am collating.

I have had a poke around on the internet from the different government agencies, but it may happen a little quicker if a few people pull together to try and find the information, as the government sites don’t seem to give up information easy.

Anyway, back story.

Since I have moved to where I am, I have noted that many people allow their cats to roam the neighbourhood. Obviously being a fan of native fauna, this annoys me. But then a few nights ago, after 30 minutes of cat howling resulting in a fight between cats in the street which subsequently makes the dogs mark I went out to find 3 cats with no collars, scrapping etc.

This prompted me to contact several agencies to find a solution, what I found was somewhat disturbing.

In the ACT there are no laws which prohibit cat owners to ensure that their animals are confined to their property. After talking with the pound and Environment ACT, (and also finding the relevant literature) it just blows my mind that if I am a cat owner there is no legal requirement for me to make sure that it doesn’t leave my property.

The only power the pound has on the issue is to tell the owner not to let it out. And the only power that RSPCA have is to have the animal captured and the owner has to pay a “fee/ fine” to have the animal returned.

What I want to know, what are the laws of the other states on this issue. If you have the information, just put in a link so that I can add it to the information I currently have.

From here I am starting a petition to have a law included in the Act which restricts peoples pets to their property unless on a leash etc. I will also be talking with a number of the pet shops in the Area to help out. I have had talks with the PIAA on the issue and they are also keen as this is becoming a major problem.

Thanks for reading this far and any information would be of help

Thanks
Dustin

 

[cris]

Some councils do require cats to be contained(cant remember any specific examples), most of them just target dogs though.

In Qld it is an offence to allow an animal in your control(this includes cats) to kill another "animal"(legally this is all vetebrates and things like shrimps and octapus too). Technically someone allowing their cat out is breaking this rule, the laws are similar in most states i believe. This is under the animal cruety thing(i cant remember the correct name).

It is also a legal requirement to take all practical means to eliminate all declared pests (including cats) from your property in Qld.

It is perfectly legal to kill cats too, unless they have a colar in which case take them to the pound.

I think someone should start an organisation against problem cats, it should be fairly easy to get enough support to effectively lobby for changes. It would be good to form some sort of national group to address the issue at all levels.

 

[WombleHerp]

holy crap i hate cats and i agree with you, keeping the cats on peoples properties at least that would be a start to helping our native fauna/flora (yes plants aswell) i agree wholeheartedly with you and its good to see someones doing something or at least trying..


Nat

 

[paleoherp]

my local council has had a cat curfew for many years, the problem is that they cant or wont enforce it

 

[ally_pup]

Major problem in our area too, especially when you wake up and have cat paw print s and scratches all over your car

 

[SlothHead]

Cut curfews are something that a suburb has to apply for, actually there is a suburb in Canberra which i was told had no cats, interesting to say the least.

The only issue with cat curfew is that this still allows owners to let them out during the day.

Do any of you know if the laws in your state preclude owners from letting their cats out?

 

[cris]

Apart from the wildlife angle you can also bring up the disease issues such as toxoplasmosis and cat scratch fever. Perhaps find some cases off ppl who have braindamage and other problems directly related to toxoplasmosis from ppls cats in suburbia. That would make for some good emotional ammo, especially for those that dont give a stuff about our wildlife.

 

[BT]

our street has a "cat ban" and only dogs are alloud, if caught or dobed in you have to dispose of it or move out(it has been enforced and the family moved out). We live on a reserve with some sort of rare native small mammal (cant think of it right now) living in it so all the streets around it have a cat ban so no cats can leave the owners property at night and possibly hunt one.(the only good thing the council has done for ou area)

 

[SlothHead]

Hi BlakeBlake,

how did this ban come about do you know?

That could be a little hard to implement here as there are obviously a few cat keepers in teh street

but certainly a good idea if it can be maintained.

having said that, i'm not against cats or their owners, so long as they are responsible.

 

[venus]

Our council has a cat curfew from dusk till dawn.

Enforcing it is the problem. I have neighbours cats coming into my yard after dusk howling and calling to my cats (who have access to a secure outdoor enclosure).

As much as I love cats (I have 4 of them), I wholeheartedly agree that cats should be contained (for their own safety as well as wildlife issues etc) to their owners yard.

We dont let our dogs roam, so we shouldnt let cats either.

Its up to the owners though, most responsible cat owners contain their cats, as well as desexing them.

 

[venus]

We also have a new development in this area that if you buy, you cannot own a cat.
It backs onto some marshland, hence the ban.

 

[Australis]

My local council fines cat owners who dont contain their cat within their own yard
in exactly the same manner that dog owners are fined for the same thing.

The difference is the motivation, the motivation to fine a dog owner for allowing their
dog to roam free is higher because dogs can cause much more damage to a person.

 

[SlothHead]

My local council fines cat owners who dont contain their cat within their own yard
in exactly the same manner that dog owners are fined for the same thing.

The difference is the motivation, the motivation to fine a dog owner for allowing their
dog to roam free is higher because dogs can cause much more damage to a person.

Yeah that is essentially the same reason that the pound has said to why the law hasnt changed yet.

Having said that, they said they have had 3 recorded cases this year of cat attacks on people. All three cases were from people trying to disperse cat fights in the street at night.

Worse bit is that the process is realy stacking up to be rediculously long, oh well more people making a push on it, theoretically the faster it will happen.

 

[Bushfire]

The issue of restriction of cats is at a council level not a state level so to introduce restrictions you will need to get your council to introduce a by law. Many many councils have done this. I would arrange to talk to your councillor to talk about it and the process of getting it discussed at a council meeting.

 

[BT]

i came about when they developed the reserve all around it about 13 years ago,they found endangered flora and fawna inhabiting the reserve and deemed that if cats were in the surrounding streets they would be attracted to the small mammal(still cant think of the name its on a sign in the reserve, will have a look at it when i go herping again) and most likely killed and hunted by cats it so all people in the streeets are not alloud to have cats.1-2 people still keep them in our street but as a "indoor" cat, and they hope that they dont piss off the dog and reptile loving neighbours.
cheers
Blake

 

[Miss B]

That's awesome. I wish I lived in a street or neighbourhood that had a cat ban.

 

[Miss_Croft]

I personally am not a big fan of cats (or foxes). When I was growing up we use to catch (or shoot) 13+ foxes a year – Often we were so effective that there were no foxes coming around.

Back to cats – we also had issues with people dumping cats around holiday time – About 3 cats each holiday – owners would just dump their cat in the bush and leave it with a few days feed and then leave for holiday. These cats would soon run out of food and start to eat all the local birds. We knew cats were around because there were fewer birds and possums around.

I once found a 5 kittens roaming the bush – evidently dumped without collars. It was interesting to note a large Common Brown snake was hunting one of the kittens a few months later (One of the locals felt sorry for the kittens and started to feed them).

Our solution was to trap and have the cats euthanized – Locals would say “I don’t know why I cannot keep a cat here”. We would look out to the bush and say – there is a lot of bush for them to get lost. – We never found a cat with a collar so was unable to find their owners.

Any cat without a collar is a feral cat and has no place in Australia. A pet cat is depicted by wearing a collar. Just watch out – some pet cats accidentally loose their collars.

For those of you who have an issue with cats in your street – start a trapping champagne – humanely euthanasia the ones without collars and take the ones with collars to the pound or cat shelter.

 

[Lozza]

we don't seem to have any regulations on cats or dogs here. People just let them roam freely.
Most people around here use 1080 for dogs, foxes etc.
I regularly see cats as road kill. People don't desex them and then when they have too many kittens either dump them in the bush alive or kill them inhumanely :evil:

 

[bobchic]

In my opinon cat laws are not enforced as much dog laws due to the risk to humans.

A dog mauling a human has a greater impact on society (in political eyes) then a cat who eats a bird or a lizard.

Hence why they put alot more effort into the dog laws then cat laws. Cats arnt known to maul, difigure or kill people. (yes there are virus etc that can be caught from cats, but you have more of a chance getting eaten by a dog then catching it)

If you are serious about this you will need to gain your council approval and then set up your own monitoring. Then if that proves suscessful it may be implimented in other areas.

Not an easy way to go but would be quicker then trying to get council the fund enforcing the rules.

Goodluck

 

[trader]

Absurd Feline Laws in the ACT
What I want to know, what are the laws of the other states on this issue. If you have the information, just put in a link so that I can add it to the information I currently have.

Thanks for reading this far and any information would be of help

Thanks
Dustin

all the best!

You may find this thread posted a couple of weeks ago interesting

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/other-animals/cat-survey-city-of-monash-residents-melbourne-76597