Feral Cats – controls on “owned” cats

Yes Dave You are quite right. From memory the range of regulations in Victoria includes State regulation (registration …. not sure with which Department now) and, locally: 1. ‘no cats’, eg in the whole, I believe, of Waterways, VIC 3195 2. ‘all cats confined 24/7’ – Yarra Ranges?? 3. ‘cats confined at night’ – Bayside and many other Councils (This last version was pushed by animal welfare people because of the risks to cats at night, and supported by wildlife people although cats surely hunt by day with reptiles frequent victims along with birds and, possibly, possums. It’s main focus was not wildlife.) And yes enforcement is vital. A few weeks ago I walked home for 2km or so a couple of hours after midnight and saw 5 cats despite Bayside’s curfew. I wish I had a gun! Requiring confinement 24/7 is a great basis for enforcement. Councils will visit to check on dogs at home, and this would enable them to see what is in place to check registered cats. But it needs backing by a ‘’shoot – or trap – on sight” policy about roaming cats. No more three strikes etc. The greatest difficulty would surely be in rural areas where cats are used to control rodents around the home and grain storage etc. (and where rat poisons risk killing raptors). That’s just an example of how “we” – as John Young pointed out so strongly – have created problems and should be responsible for solutions. Even in my own urban area I have some basis for believing cats are good for superb blue-wrens by keeping down rats (the meso-predator release problem, cf cat elimination on Macquarie). So yes, there could be exceptions but surely only after a baseline precautionary principle stance of ‘no cats – except where proved to be beneficial’ is established. Finally, common law principles. Dogs aren’t allowed on to my property without breaking the law. So why I must I trap cats, find the owner, and warn them that the next time…..? Please sign the petition at http://tinyurl.com/p5wbcbm Michael Norris From: Dave Torr Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 2:12 PM To: Michael Norris Cc: Charles Hunter ; birding-aus Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Feral Cats There are already a lot of council regulations that seek to control cats – depends on where you live of course. Getting the regulations enforced is another thing altogether unfortunately! On 2 March 2015 at 14:05, Michael Norris <menorris@ozemail.com.au> wrote: Hi Charles There is currently a petition on Change.org to the Victorian Government on cats that complements other efforts. It asks for domestic cats to be confined to owners’ properties. 3,600 signatures so far http://tinyurl.com/p5wbcbm Please sign! Michael Norris