In WA local laws are being introduced in several shires in relation to the keeping of cats. The City of Joondalup have formalised laws which will come into effect in October 2009. Other shires are testing these new laws over the next 12 months before compulsory registration of cats is enforced and the application of fines.
These laws aim to promote responsible cat ownership, welfare and safety of domestic cats and to assist in the prevention of nuisances to the community caused by cats.
Unfortunately for cat owners there is presently no avenue of disputing these laws with the individual shires nor dispute the decisions made under them. These laws have the potential to disrupt and damage relations between neighbours and encourage vigilantes to target several cats in one street just because they don’t like cats.
There are some variations in these local laws depending on which shire your suburb falls in, the main requirements are:-
1. The registration of cats may be compulsory for each cat you own or only for 3 – 6 cats.
2. All registered cats within the Shire shall be sterilized.
3. Cat owners shall ensure their cats are identified by a collar and tag with their identification details including address and telephone number of the owner or be micro-chipped with the contact information of the owner.
4. A cat shall not be in a public place unless it is under effective control; a cat shall not be in designated place specified in a schedule under the local law in particular protected flora & fauna areas. A cat shall not be on private premises where a complaint by the owner or occupier of the premises has been made to the City in relation to the cat’s unwanted presence on the property.
Penalties
Contraventions to these local laws may incur a fine as nominated by your Shire or the impoundment of your cat by an authorised person which includes a Shire Officer or the occupant/owner of a private residence. If a complaint is made by a neighbour to the Shire about your cat, the Shire Advocate or a Shire Ranger will contact you directly as to the nature of the complaint and remedies expected.
Note: you cannot be forced to fully enclose your cat currently under these local laws, only to keep your cat inside during the hours of 9pm to 6am each day.
Where an unidentified cat is impounded and not collected within 7 days of its impoundment the Shire can offer the cat for sale, cause the cat to be destroyed or cause the cat to be rehoused.
How these Local Cat Laws affect Real People…
Trapping cats and removing them from their own street and neighborhood under these new local laws is an emotional issue for the cat owner, their immediate family and for other pets in the household. Children are particularly affected when a beloved pet goes missing as are the elderly and those pet owners who have had their cats for a many years.
With the urban sprawl in Australia the advent of much smaller block sizes for home owners means we are nearer to our neighbours than ever before. Surely there has to be some realism to these new cat laws and equality & fairness for cat owners to also protect their cats and have the due process to dispute complaints.
Aussiecats.com is a new website set up for cat owners in Australia to publicly protest against these new cat laws. Presently cat owners have no rights to dispute complaints made against their cats under these new laws nor are there any legal avenues to protect your cat being trapped by a neighbour. Game on…
Posts Tagged ‘Local’
Aussiecats takes on the new local cat laws in Western Australia
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009Suburban Cats to be Legally Trapped & Euthanized under new Local Cat Laws
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009Cat ownership in WA is under siege by local cat laws newly introduced by the Shire of Swan and soon to be implemented by the City of Joondalup. Cat owners will be penalized by fines if their cat unwittingly trespasses onto a neighbours property without their permission. The ultimate penalty is the trapping of your beloved moggy by a neighbour in a trap supplied by the shire and the impoundment and possible euthanization of your cat if you can’t locate it within 7 days.
The legal trapping of cats opened up by these new local cat laws will only encourage vigilantes who hate cats to have an ‘open season’ on cats in their neighborhood. The Cat Haven, a well known Perth based cat rescue group have already reported incidences of cats caught in traps being drowned in lakes. A horrible death for any animal with no chance of escape – and astonishingly still a set of laws introduced in such poor format by local councils that policing these laws is almost impossible.
Very little forethought went into the ultimate outcomes that these laws would fester, if councils honestly thought that residents of their shire would act responsibly under these new laws they have already been witness to the folly of their naivety. With cats being drowned in traps and my own experience of having my cat Simon being trapped by a neighbour in my own street and taken to the pound with no consultation with the shire. I managed to rescue my cat Simon on Day 6, it was clearly a lucky day for him will your cat be so lucky?
Parts of these laws have validation with responsible cat ownership including limiting the number of cats per household, sterilizing cats, micro-chipping or identifying your cat with a collar & identification tag and keeping your cat indoors from the hours of 9pm to 6 am is also very doable.
What these laws fail to take into consideration is the intrinsic nature of cats and the impossibility of cat owners to always control some of their inherit behaviors which have allowed cats to survive well prior to their domestication. Cats are highly independent creatures who value their freedom, they have instinctual drives to patrol their territory and to chase off any intruders entering their territory. Cats have very strong maternal instincts and are predatory in nature and mark their territory with their scent to keep any other animals out of their area. Cats rely on these instincts to get through life and expecting them to change these behaviors is literally asking them to stop being a cat.
Cats cannot be trained like the dog species and forcing cat owners to achieve the impossible by preventing their cats from occasionally wandering into a neighbours yard is simply ludicrous! The harsh penalty of trapping cats, impounding them and having your cat euthanized as a result is a sickening and heart breaking reality now for cat owners and their families. That this type of action is being implemented by your local shire and your neighbours is just disgusting.
You can protest against these new local cat laws by visiting www.aussiecats.com and having your say.