Marion Council proposes cat confinement for second time in by-law review

After Marion Council had its plans to lock cats up a night rolled by state parliament last year, they have launched another bid to introduce cat confinement rules.

An Adelaide council has revived its push for cats to be locked in at night – despite the move already being scuppered by state parliament.

Marion Council intends to change its cat by-laws for the second time, requiring felines to be kept inside between 8pm and 7am.

However, the new rules would include a clause allowing cats to be allowed outside under “effective control”, such as on a leash or in a cage or car.

It would be similar to new by-laws introduced by Mount Barker Council.

A previous attempt by Marion to lock cats in at night – which was rejected by the Legislative Review Committee and then parliament – would have given the council powers to trap cats and return them to their owners.

Marion Council wants to keep cats locked in at night. Picture: Tony Ought

Residents would have been able to hire traps from the council to capture cats wandering at night.

It would also have allowed cats that were not claimed within 72 hours of their capture to be killed.

Marion Mayor Kris Hanna hoped the “subtle difference”, which put “more emphasis on the owners not letting their cats out”, would prevent the move being struck down for a second time.

“We’re not going to bang our heads against a brick wall,” Mr Hanna said.

“We’re directly copying the by-laws that have been successfully approved by parliament that Mt Barker put in place.

Marion Mayor Kris Hanna. Picture: AAP/Emma Brasier

He said he “recognised how passionate cat owners are and we don’t want to take that right away from people but it was a “matter of balancing interests of cat owners with other residents and our native wildlife”.

“We will continue to put in place by-laws that the community wants.”

An RSPCA spokesman backed the proposed rules but called for statewide laws to be introduced, rather than by-laws at individual councils.

“In the meantime, we support night curfews on cats as a stepping stone towards 24-hour containment of cats to their owners’ properties,” the spokesman said.

“The latter is quite a change for both cats and their owners so we do not support that being suddenly imposed.

“Our view is that it needs to have a full generation of cats to allow that to happen, with significant public education ahead of it.”

There are more than 30 different by-laws relating to cats across South Australia’s councils.

A rule banning residents from owning roosters in the Marion area has also been proposed.

The new by-laws are out for public consultation until July 23.