Mount Barker council to set up cat spyware under new by-laws
New by-laws in Mt Barker will impose a night-time curfew on cats – but even more controversially, set up covert surveillance if bad behaviour is reported.
Adelaide Hills
Don't miss out on the headlines from Adelaide Hills. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Backyard cameras will be used to spy on misbehaving pets as Mount Barker District Council seeks to introduce new pet by-laws from July 1.
The Hills council voted unanimously during Monday night’s council meeting to introduce a controversial by-law, which will require cats to be locked up between 8pm and 7am.
Around 11,000 cat owners will also be required to pay registration, and will be limited to two cats per household.
However, the biggest by-law controversy will be the introduction of backyard spyware.
Manager for Health, Public Safety, and Community Services Jamie Tann said under the new rules, council would be able to set up “covert surveillance” if they received reports of “nuisance behaviour” from local cats.
“We’re not going to have someone running around at night picking up the cats,” he said.
“But if someone says my neighbour’s cat is repeatedly coming into my yard, we’ll have covert cameras that we can set up in the yard and we could use that as evidence to say your cat is causing a nuisance.”
For the first time in the Adelaide Hills, cat owners will also be required to pay registration.
From July 1, cat owners of unregistered and non-desexed pets will be charged $40 annually for a standard cat, and $20 for felines that are microchipped and desexed.
Residents failing to adhere to new regulations will also be charged with a $10 late fee.
Mr Tann said he estimated cat registration would boost council’s budget by an additional $200,000 a year.
However, in a report tabled to the council last night, he admitted that implementing the new laws would take time.
“Ensuring compliance with cat registration will take time, especially as this is a brand new requirement from 2020/21 and beyond,” he said.
“It is anticipated that 25 per cent of cat registrations will be received in the 2020/21 period. This will result in approximately $50,000 in revenue.”