Wagga City Councillors pass motion to investigate cat containment

Wagga cats may soon be slapped with a curfew, with councillors looking to adopt a range of measures to keep the region’s felines from prowling the streets at night. Find out more.

Wagga cats may soon be slapped with a curfew, with councillors looking to adopt a range of measures to keep the region’s felines from prowling the streets at night.

In a notice of motion at Monday night’s council meeting, Deputy Mayor Jenny McKinnon called for a report to be prepared for council into cat containment and management strategies.

According to Cr McKinnon’s motion, in NSW the Companion Animals Act 1988 does not allow for local councils to enforce any form of responsible cat containment or curfew.

She stated that councils’ only option was to ‘encourage’ responsible cat ownership, with no local financial penalties enforceable in relation to cat containment - although cats are required to be registered and micro-chipped.

Among Cr McKinnon’s recommendations was that council’s general manager write to the Office of Local Government to request an amendment to legislation for NSW to provide a mechanism for councils to introduce cat curfews in their LGAs to more responsibly manage cats.  

She also recommended that the report look at any additional actions or policy changes open to council to encourage responsible cat management and cat containment in the Wagga Wagga LGA - such as expanding subsidised cat desexing programs.

The majority of Wagga councillors supported the motion, including councillor Dan Hayes who would also like to see the LGA take part in an RSPCA trial called ‘Keeping Cats Safe at Home’.

This program is being trialled in 10 council areas across the state - including Campbelltown, Parramatta and Shoalhaven - and aims to improve care for pet cats through responsible cat ownership and to protect wildlife from cat predation.

New cats in the ACT are now required to be registered and to be on a leash when outdoors, or their owners can be fined up to $300. Picture: Sam Mooy/The Australian

Cr McKinnon said cats were known to range widely when uncontained, resulting in extensive loss of native fauna including reptiles, birds, amphibians, and small mammals.

Cats were also identified in the Wagga Wagga City Council Biodiversity Strategy as one of the main pest species in the local government area, she stated.

“Many Australian states / territories have much stricter cat containment measures that support enforcement by local government authorities,” she stated.

“The most recent change was made in the ACT. From 1 July this year, new cats in the ACT are required to be registered and to be on a leash when outdoors, or their owners can be fined up to $300.”

In her notice of motion Cr McKinnon said the RSPCA recommended full-time cat containment, while many vets recommended that cats be kept indoors when unsupervised for their own welfare to keep them safe from dog attacks and cat fights.

“Cats are an important companion animal for many people, and this is acknowledged,” she stated. “However, they can be a nuisance issue for neighbours who are impacted by roaming cats, in addition to the numbers of native fauna that are lost to cat hunting.

“It seems illogical that cats may roam freely while dogs and other companion animals are required to be contained.”

At Monday’s meeting, Wagga vet Lynn Bodell spoke in favour of the motion.

“Your cat has more rights than a human being; they can go into a neighbour’s backyard without trespassing,” she said.

“By locking up cats this would help in protecting the ecosystem but also if a cat kills a pet rabbit, prove what cat did that otherwise you can’t get the cat.

“Feral cats cost the sheep industry up to $5 million due to a disease call toxoplasma which impacts livestock and also we know cat litter can be harmful to humans as well.

“Eighty per cent of people want cats locked up and it would help in the control of the cat population because domesticated cats can live in this environment with an active area in the house which makes them healthy cats.”

Councillors Rod Kendall and Michael Henderson did not support the motion, claiming there were more important issues.

“I think this is a waste of council resources and I believe there are a lot more important topics that we should discuss tonight,” Mr Kendall said.

“I don’t disagree with it but I think we need to discuss more issues that impact the council, we know there is already a policy in place for cats and this is a state government issue,” Mr Henderson added.

Other items on the agenda which passed successfully were the allowance of two community events to go ahead; Bush Fringes ‘Wagga Wagga Fringe Festival’ to the amount of $10,000, and the Apex Club of South Wagga Wagga’s ‘Motor Mania’ to the amount of $10,000.