Australia Archives - CATFENCE

Six months on, cat containment rules working well

Neil Sanderson — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 20:29:33 +0000

Since the introduction of new cat containment regulations last August, the City of Whittlesea, Australia has seen positive benefits for cats, the community and wildlife, reports the North Central Review.

“In just the first six months of the new regulations coming into effect, the number of complaints relating to cats received by council has decreased by 70 per cent from 2022 totals.”

All cats in the city, 40km northeast of Melbourne, must be confined to their owner’s property or under effective control when outside. Additionally, all newly registered cats must be desexed.

These measures were endorsed by the Council as part of the Domestic Animal Management Plan 2021-2025. Recognising the significant change for cats and their owners, the Council provides support and information, including educational materials, videos, and practical advice for a smooth transition away from free-roaming.

While educating the community on cat containment remains a priority for the Council, since the beginning of February, cat owners who who do not comply with the new regulations may face penalties of AU$96 for a cat that is roaming, and AU$384 for a cat that has not been desexed.

Pictured: The Oscillot system of cat-proof paddles (or “rollers”) is a popular choice for Australian cat owners wishing to keep their cats safely contained.

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Cat owners urged to keep pets ‘happy at home’

Neil Sanderson — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 06:21:07 +0000

Cat owners in East Fremantle, Western Australia, are being encouraged to keep their cats ‘Happy at Home’, as this extends their average life expectancy from just three years to between 12 and 18 years, while helping preserve the 46 per cent of Australia’s threatened fauna that live in urban areas.

East Fremantle and five neighbouring local governments in the southern Perth metropolitan region have launched Happy at Home, an education programme for cat owners keen to keep their feline friends and native fauna safe from harm.

The South West Group (SWG), in partnership with the six local governments and Murdoch University, obtained grant funding from the State Government to explore how pet cats and native animals benefit when owners keep their cats on their properties.

The SWG’s Regional Natural Resource Management Facilitator, Peter Nash, said recent advances in GPS tracking technology have allowed cat owners to track the movements of their cats.

“Recent cat tracking research by the University of South Australia found that many cat owners were unaware how far and how frequently their pet cats roam, and the many hazards their beloved pets face when they roam,” Mr Nash said.

“One interesting finding of this research which tracked more than 900 cats nationally, was that of the 177 cats that were classified by their owners as being kept inside at night, 39 per cent of these were found to have actually roamed over more than 1 hectare during the night.”

Murdoch University Professor Michael Calver said cats killed millions of native animals each year, and while the problem in remote areas was caused by feral cats, free-roaming domestic and semi-owned stray cats were the cause in cities and towns. He co-authored a recent review that found free-roaming pet cats can kill up to 186 mammals, birds and reptiles a year.

“There are some very big benefits to domestic cat health and survival when they are kept safely contained at home,” Prof Calver said.

VeterinarianClai re Sharp from Murdoch University’s Animal Hospital added: “The greatest risks to roaming cats are traumatic injury or death from motor vehicle accidents, fights with dogs or other cats which can cause deadly feline immunodeficiency diseases and injuries from misadventure.”

Dr Sharp also commented that vet fees to successfully treat injured cats were often high and only a third of Australian cat owners had pet insurance.

Cats can also pass on deadly diseases, like toxoplasmosis, to the native animal population.

The six local governments partnering in the Happy at Home campaign believe it is important for cat owners to take greater responsibility for the safety and behaviour of their pets.

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RNZ interviews Dr Lynette McLeod on cat containment

Neil Sanderson — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 10:45:30 +0000

Lynette McLeod is a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Psychology and Behavioural Science at the University of New England in New South Wales.

She studies why so many people are reluctant to keep their cats from roaming – despite the countless benefits for the cats as well as the cat owners.

Lynette will be speaking about that next week at the New Zealand Companion Animal Conference in Auckland.

She was interviewed yesterday by Wallace Chapman on RNZ National, and you can listen to the interview below.

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Australia continues to lead on cat containment

Neil Sanderson — Thu, 30 Mar 2017 08:06:18 +0000

Our neighbours in Australia could teach New Zealand quite a bit about protecting native wildlife through cat containment.

We just spotted this news item from the Border News (serving the twin cities of Albury, NSW and Wodonga, Victoria which sit across the Murray River from each other).

The Albury council has granted approval for a new housing development, conditional on cats being kept on their owners’ properties at all times. And an even bigger development is expected to get the same treatment.

30 March 2017

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1500 roaming cats impounded, owners face fines

Neil Sanderson — Tue, 13 Dec 2016 09:38:30 +0000

Photo: Josh Woning, North Lakes Times

Moreton Bay regional council near Brisbane impounded more than 1500 roaming cats in the past year, with fines up to AUD$235 for owners, reports the North Lakes Times.

Dakabin RSPCA acting shelter manager Claire McCarthy (pictured) said roaming cats were a “big problem” in the area.

“There is a misconception out there that keeping your cat as an indoor cat is cruel but absolutely the RSPCA believes that is not the case,” she said. “There’s too many outdoor nasties,” she said.

Indoor cats were less likely to get hit by cars, mauled by a dog or fight other cats.

The article does not indicate what proportion of the cats was “owned” versus “community cats” or “feral cats”.

13 December 2016

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Australian research exposes cat adventures

Neil Sanderson — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 11:02:27 +0000

The secret and dangerous lives of wandering cats have been revealed by a cat tracking project in the Lithgow Local Government Area of the Australian state of New South Wales. The findings were published in June.

The aim of the project was to educate cat owners and promote awareness of the surprisingly large distances that domestic cats can roam if they’re given free access to the outdoors.

Small GPS motion-sensing devices were attached to domestic cats using a fitted harness for up to 10 days, to see how far the cats were travelling when unsupervised.

“Many people mistakenly believe their cats don’t leave the back yard, but the results of our survey are proving otherwise,” said Peter Evans from Central Tablelands Local Land Services. “One of the cats tracked through the survey travelled more than three kilometres from home.”

“In general the other cats involved in the project had a range of several hundred metres and the maps of their movements gave us some intriguing insights into their expeditions around the neighbourhood.

“There were also quite a few uncooperative cats. We started the project with 25 registered volunteers, but some cats refused to wear the harnesses, some lost their GPS monitoring devices, and some devices appeared to have been stolen, leaving us with a final tally of 14 cats completing the project.”

The owners of the cats have taken a keen interest in the data collected, including Stephen Barnes, who says he was shocked when the GPS mapping revealed his cat Semi had roamed up to three kilometres from home.

“It was surprising. If anyone had asked me before, I would have said the cats just hang around, never far from the backyard,” said Stephen.

Stephen initially registered three cats to take part in the GPS monitoring, including ‘Squid’, a fat ginger tabby, and ‘Semi’, whom Stephen adopted after finding the black and white cat abandoned some years ago. Unfortunately the third cat, ‘Shoebert,’ was unwilling to wear the harness and had to be withdrawn from the project.

Meanwhile the GPS mapping revealed that Squid had been taking regular walks to the local high school and to a nearby shopping centre, while Semi was tracked three kilometres away on the mountain behind Stephen’s house.

“Semi tended to use the storm drain system on his travels in town, but when I found out Squid may have been crossing roadways on his adventures, I was concerned he could cause an accident and people might be hurt if they swerved to miss him on the road,” said Stephen.

Stephen has now changed the way he cares for his cats as a result of tracking project.

“I used to let them out in the morning at 5:00 am. Now I don’t let them out till much later in the morning when I can keep a better watch on them, and I also call them in much earlier in the afternoon to ensure they are inside before evening,” said Stephen.

“After taking part in the project and learning just how far the cats are prepared to wander, I would urge people to pay closer attention to where their pets are and to bring them in at night. Also it’s clear that cats need to be desexed because it’s very difficult to ensure they’re kept away from other cats.”

Central Tablelands Local Land Services is now looking to roll out the project in other Local Government areas on the Central Tablelands in coming months as part of a national cat tracking program.

This project is supported by Central Tablelands Local Land Services through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.

Source: http://centraltablelands.lls.nsw.gov.au

31 August 2016

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Australian group kills roaming cats

Neil Sanderson — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 12:36:33 +0000

Sometimes it seems the world has gone mad. In Australia, a group calling itself Cat Busters is warning that it will kill roaming cats – and they’ve posted several photos of dead cats just in case anyone thinks they’re joking.

More than 100 people have liked their Facebook page, and the group has put fliers in neighbourhoods across Melbourne, threatening to trap or shoot any cats that roam.

If you have the stomach for it, you can read the story on the Herald Sun website. Surprisingly, the story says the RSPCA declined to comment.

15 July 2016

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