Minton Farm calls for statewide cat confinement rules amid rising number of wildlife attacks during COVID-19 pandemic

There are calls for SA cat owners to keep their pets confined at all times amid an increase in attacks on wildlife that’s been blamed on the pandemic.

The founder of an animal rescue centre in the Hills says more people buying pets during the pandemic has led to an increase in cat attacks on wildlife – and statewide action is needed.

But State Environment Minister David Speirs says the area’s council should “show some leadership” and implement its own cat controls to stop “horrendous attacks”.

Bev Langley, of Cherry Gardens-based Minton Farm, is circulating a petition calling for new laws requiring owners to keep their cats on their properties at all times.

“Five years ago, in one year we’d get nine cat attacks,” she said.

“This year six out of eight rescues are domestic cat attacks.

“I think people got cats when COVID hit and they’ve all gone to work and let them out day and night.”

Bev Langley moving eagle 'Phalcor' to the Freedom Flight enclosure. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Mrs Langley there was clear evidence that at least 55 of the animals she took in between January and the beginning of May were injured in cat attacks, and 60 per cent of those had died.

The majority of those patients were ringtail possums, but brush-tail possums and a variety of bird species were also attacked.

“I’m not going to release animals back out there because they’re just going to be cat toys. They’ve got no hope of survival,” Mrs Langley said.

Confinement was also essential for cats’ safety, Mrs Langley said, to prevent pets from injuries, such as being hit by cars or bitten by snakes.

In December, this family of ducks was killed by a cat which broke into an enclosure at Minton Farm. Picture: Bev Langley

Onkaparinga Mayor Erin Thompson said her council was advocating for the Dog and Cat Management Board to review cat rules on a statewide basis, recommending legislation changes to make it easier for councils to control cat management.

“If we were to press on with a by-law it could take us up to two years to do that and cost a significant amount of money to ratepayers. In that two years the Dog and Cat Management Board could in fact change the legislation, which would mean that the work we’d done on the bylaw would be ultimately a waste of time and money.”

Mr Speirs said the Dog and Cat Management Act gave councils the power to control cats themselves.

“The council should show some leadership, get on with implementing an appropriate regime, and stop these horrendous animal attacks from happening into the future,” he said.

“This is another failure of leadership from the City of Onkaparinga and follows other poorly executed attempts by other councils.

“The Marshall Liberal Government is supportive of stronger measures to control cats and will look at other possible ways to achieve this when a long planned review of the Dog and Cat Management Act is undertaken next year.”

Last year, Parliament’s Legislative Review Committee disallowed a Marion Council by-law that imposed a night-time cat curfew.

It said its regulation about how cats would be seized and destroyed was not in line with the Dog and Cat Management Act and some of the things it sought to do were outside its powers.

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