Hornsby Council to fit out felines with GPS units for Cat Tracker program
CATS will be fitted with trackers in an effort to curb native wildlife attacks across Hornsby shire.
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CATS will be fitted with trackers in an effort to curb native wildlife attacks across Hornsby shire.
Hornsby Council unanimously supported Liberal councillor Nathan Tilbury’s suggestion at last night’s meeting for cat owners to undertake a questionnaire before the units will be fitted.
The program will start immediately.
Several residents’ complaints about feral and pet cats, and threats to wildlife, prompted Cr Tilbury’s motion.
Ku-ring-gai and Northern Beaches councils already use Cat Tracker Australia system.
The survey questions the number of cats in each household, the breed, age, whether they have reproduced, if they are wormed and what type of prey was caught.
Cr Tilbury insisted the project was about collecting information.
“I have received a couple of messages that this is a knee-jerk reaction and I think cat owners are going to be concerned because it’s going to give weight to cat haters,’’ he said.
“But that’s not what this is about, it’s about getting the data.”
He said cats killed three to four per cent of all native birds in Australia each year.
He said survey results could mean offering solutions such as more pet-owner interaction, the provision of toys and changing cats’ diet to suppress instincts to forage for food.
Greens councillor Emma Heyde backed the project.
“Lizards, birds and bandicoots are all easy targets for cats,’’ she said.
“Wildlife is already under pressure from climate damage and overdevelopment.
‘Responsible owners who keep their cats restrained are helping us keep The Bushland Shire healthy.”
She said the program would not stop feral cats or pets roaming day and night.
“It will start a conversation about how many other animals cats kill,’’ she said.
Companion Animals Register data shows there are 15,873 microchipped cats in the shire.
The program would target neighbourhood cats flanking bush but particularly Hornsby to Brooklyn, known as the Pacific Highway corridor.
There are 6621 cats in the corridor.
It would also target cats in the Hornsby CBD — mostly Edgeworth David Ave — where more being displaced because of more high-rise apartments.
Berowra resident Jan Primrose raised concerns trapped cats would be euthanised if they were not microchipped.
“As traps don’t distinguish between stray and domestic cats, residents’ pet moggies are likely to get trapped too,’’ she said.
“I fully support the concept of protecting our native wildlife from feral cats.
“But we don’t have feral cats in the heart of Hornsby or much wildlife, we have stray cats and myna birds.”
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