# Absurd Feline Laws in the ACT



## SlothHead (Mar 15, 2008)

Absurd Feline Laws in the ACT


Well inspired by yet another thread about a native animal being attacked I thought I would post this and start collating information from other areas regarding laws in their states. 

Please keep in mind this is not an anti cat thread, nor do I really want people posting in this thread that are just going on hearsay, and certainly don’t want people implicating illegal activity. If you do have information would appreciate the reference so that I can include it in what I am collating.

I have had a poke around on the internet from the different government agencies, but it may happen a little quicker if a few people pull together to try and find the information, as the government sites don’t seem to give up information easy. 

Anyway, back story. 

Since I have moved to where I am, I have noted that many people allow their cats to roam the neighbourhood. Obviously being a fan of native fauna, this annoys me. But then a few nights ago, after 30 minutes of cat howling resulting in a fight between cats in the street which subsequently makes the dogs mark I went out to find 3 cats with no collars, scrapping etc. 

This prompted me to contact several agencies to find a solution, what I found was somewhat disturbing. 

In the ACT there are no laws which prohibit cat owners to ensure that their animals are confined to their property. After talking with the pound and Environment ACT, (and also finding the relevant literature) it just blows my mind that if I am a cat owner there is no legal requirement for me to make sure that it doesn’t leave my property.

The only power the pound has on the issue is to tell the owner not to let it out. And the only power that RSPCA have is to have the animal captured and the owner has to pay a “fee/ fine” to have the animal returned.

What I want to know, what are the laws of the other states on this issue. If you have the information, just put in a link so that I can add it to the information I currently have. 

From here I am starting a petition to have a law included in the Act which restricts peoples pets to their property unless on a leash etc. I will also be talking with a number of the pet shops in the Area to help out. I have had talks with the PIAA on the issue and they are also keen as this is becoming a major problem. 

Thanks for reading this far and any information would be of help 

Thanks 
Dustin


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## cris (Mar 15, 2008)

Some councils do require cats to be contained(cant remember any specific examples), most of them just target dogs though.

In Qld it is an offence to allow an animal in your control(this includes cats) to kill another "animal"(legally this is all vetebrates and things like shrimps and octapus too). Technically someone allowing their cat out is breaking this rule, the laws are similar in most states i believe. This is under the animal cruety thing(i cant remember the correct name).

It is also a legal requirement to take all practical means to eliminate all declared pests (including cats) from your property in Qld.

It is perfectly legal to kill cats too, unless they have a colar in which case take them to the pound.

I think someone should start an organisation against problem cats, it should be fairly easy to get enough support to effectively lobby for changes. It would be good to form some sort of national group to address the issue at all levels.


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## WombleHerp (Mar 15, 2008)

holy crap i hate cats and i agree with you, keeping the cats on peoples properties at least that would be a start to helping our native fauna/flora (yes plants aswell) i agree wholeheartedly with you and its good to see someones doing something or at least trying.. 


Nat


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## paleoherp (Mar 15, 2008)

my local council has had a cat curfew for many years, the problem is that they cant or wont enforce it


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## ally_pup (Mar 15, 2008)

Major problem in our area too, especially when you wake up and have cat paw print s and scratches all over your car


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## SlothHead (Mar 15, 2008)

Cut curfews are something that a suburb has to apply for, actually there is a suburb in Canberra which i was told had no cats, interesting to say the least. 

The only issue with cat curfew is that this still allows owners to let them out during the day. 

Do any of you know if the laws in your state preclude owners from letting their cats out?


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## cris (Mar 15, 2008)

Apart from the wildlife angle you can also bring up the disease issues such as toxoplasmosis and cat scratch fever. Perhaps find some cases off ppl who have braindamage and other problems directly related to toxoplasmosis from ppls cats in suburbia. That would make for some good emotional ammo, especially for those that dont give a stuff about our wildlife.


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## BT (Mar 15, 2008)

our street has a "cat ban" and only dogs are alloud, if caught or dobed in you have to dispose of it or move out(it has been enforced and the family moved out). We live on a reserve with some sort of rare native small mammal (cant think of it right now) living in it so all the streets around it have a cat ban so no cats can leave the owners property at night and possibly hunt one.(the only good thing the council has done for ou area)


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## SlothHead (Mar 15, 2008)

Hi BlakeBlake, 

how did this ban come about do you know? 

That could be a little hard to implement here as there are obviously a few cat keepers in teh street

but certainly a good idea if it can be maintained. 

having said that, i'm not against cats or their owners, so long as they are responsible.


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## venus (Mar 15, 2008)

Our council has a cat curfew from dusk till dawn.

Enforcing it is the problem. I have neighbours cats coming into my yard after dusk howling and calling to my cats (who have access to a secure outdoor enclosure). 

As much as I love cats (I have 4 of them), I wholeheartedly agree that cats should be contained (for their own safety as well as wildlife issues etc) to their owners yard.

We dont let our dogs roam, so we shouldnt let cats either.

Its up to the owners though, most responsible cat owners contain their cats, as well as desexing them.


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## venus (Mar 15, 2008)

We also have a new development in this area that if you buy, you cannot own a cat.
It backs onto some marshland, hence the ban.


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## Australis (Mar 15, 2008)

My local council fines cat owners who dont contain their cat within their own yard
in exactly the same manner that dog owners are fined for the same thing.

The difference is the motivation, the motivation to fine a dog owner for allowing their
dog to roam free is higher because dogs can cause much more damage to a person.


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## SlothHead (Mar 15, 2008)

Australis said:


> My local council fines cat owners who dont contain their cat within their own yard
> in exactly the same manner that dog owners are fined for the same thing.
> 
> The difference is the motivation, the motivation to fine a dog owner for allowing their
> dog to roam free is higher because dogs can cause much more damage to a person.




Yeah that is essentially the same reason that the pound has said to why the law hasnt changed yet. 

Having said that, they said they have had 3 recorded cases this year of cat attacks on people. All three cases were from people trying to disperse cat fights in the street at night. 

Worse bit is that the process is realy stacking up to be rediculously long, oh well more people making a push on it, theoretically the faster it will happen.


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## Bushfire (Mar 15, 2008)

The issue of restriction of cats is at a council level not a state level so to introduce restrictions you will need to get your council to introduce a by law. Many many councils have done this. I would arrange to talk to your councillor to talk about it and the process of getting it discussed at a council meeting.


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## BT (Mar 15, 2008)

i came about when they developed the reserve all around it about 13 years ago,they found endangered flora and fawna inhabiting the reserve and deemed that if cats were in the surrounding streets they would be attracted to the small mammal(still cant think of the name its on a sign in the reserve, will have a look at it when i go herping again) and most likely killed and hunted by cats it so all people in the streeets are not alloud to have cats.1-2 people still keep them in our street but as a "indoor" cat, and they hope that they dont piss off the dog and reptile loving neighbours.
cheers
Blake


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## Miss B (Mar 16, 2008)

That's awesome. I wish I lived in a street or neighbourhood that had a cat ban.


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## Miss_Croft (Mar 16, 2008)

I personally am not a big fan of cats (or foxes). When I was growing up we use to catch (or shoot) 13+ foxes a year – Often we were so effective that there were no foxes coming around. 

Back to cats – we also had issues with people dumping cats around holiday time – About 3 cats each holiday – owners would just dump their cat in the bush and leave it with a few days feed and then leave for holiday. These cats would soon run out of food and start to eat all the local birds. We knew cats were around because there were fewer birds and possums around. 

I once found a 5 kittens roaming the bush – evidently dumped without collars. It was interesting to note a large Common Brown snake was hunting one of the kittens a few months later (One of the locals felt sorry for the kittens and started to feed them). 

Our solution was to trap and have the cats euthanized – Locals would say “I don’t know why I cannot keep a cat here”. We would look out to the bush and say – there is a lot of bush for them to get lost. – We never found a cat with a collar so was unable to find their owners.

Any cat without a collar is a feral cat and has no place in Australia. A pet cat is depicted by wearing a collar. Just watch out – some pet cats accidentally loose their collars.

For those of you who have an issue with cats in your street – start a trapping champagne – humanely euthanasia the ones without collars and take the ones with collars to the pound or cat shelter.


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## Lozza (Mar 16, 2008)

we don't seem to have any regulations on cats or dogs here. People just let them roam freely.
Most people around here use 1080 for dogs, foxes etc.
I regularly see cats as road kill. People don't desex them and then when they have too many kittens either dump them in the bush alive or kill them inhumanely :evil:


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## bobchic (Mar 16, 2008)

In my opinon cat laws are not enforced as much dog laws due to the risk to humans. 

A dog mauling a human has a greater impact on society (in political eyes) then a cat who eats a bird or a lizard.

Hence why they put alot more effort into the dog laws then cat laws. Cats arnt known to maul, difigure or kill people. (yes there are virus etc that can be caught from cats, but you have more of a chance getting eaten by a dog then catching it)

If you are serious about this you will need to gain your council approval and then set up your own monitoring. Then if that proves suscessful it may be implimented in other areas. 

Not an easy way to go but would be quicker then trying to get council the fund enforcing the rules. 

Goodluck


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## trader (Mar 16, 2008)

SlothHead said:


> Absurd Feline Laws in the ACT
> What I want to know, what are the laws of the other states on this issue. If you have the information, just put in a link so that I can add it to the information I currently have.
> 
> Thanks for reading this far and any information would be of help
> ...


 
all the best! 

You may find this thread posted a couple of weeks ago interesting

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/other-animals/cat-survey-city-of-monash-residents-melbourne-76597


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## Hickson (Mar 19, 2008)

http://www.ava.com.au/UAM/proc01/buttriss.htm


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## missllama (Mar 19, 2008)

in the area i live in there trying to make it so that all cat owners must have there cats registered with the council and they must be desexed cats arnt allowed to breed UNLESS they are pure bred and they are registered for it, this is not happening yet but they are trying to get this law going i no there is also something els about keeping the cats inside but i dont no alot about it, i personally have cats they are indoor cats, and i wont let them out my house because i no one of them will attack birds etc if it gets the chance, i personally think that it should be a law that cats are kept inside, it makes sence to me everyone has there own opinions tho


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## LennytheGecko (Mar 19, 2008)

Good on you Slothhead for looking into this problem.

I have spent about an hour searching the Western Australian Laws on Cats. I am sad to report i havent found anything that says cat HAVE to be kept indoors... only a suggestion that cats shold be kept indoors from dawn till dusk and have collar with bells on it(and i know the bells dont work). I also found that it is a $50,000 fine for any cat to be taken and released in the bush(or in any other place of abandoment), drowned, clubbed(or similarly killed or injured), gas, poison or feed substances that may cause pain or suffering. But you are able to hire a cat trap ($20) to catch the cat and give it over to the RSPCA or pound.

I would fully support laws that make people keep their cats indoors at all time. There are cat owners who do the right thing and keep their cats indoors (like my mum who has 5 cats and her friend who has 38!!! cats).... and then there are the raggy, rough,dole-bludging families that have a brood of unsterilised cats(and children) that they dont feed so the cats(and probably children) find their own food in our nature reserves and backyards. I can unfortunaltly can see alot of cat/kittens being destroyed if laws come in confining cats to the owners property but us humans created this problem, so maybe it the price to pay to help protect our wildlife and domestic birds and fish.....

*www.catsterilisation.com.au* offer discounted cat sterilisation in western australia.


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## missllama (Mar 19, 2008)

cats incorperated is the place to call for discounted sterilisation in s.a 
males are $50 females are $70


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## lisc1 (Mar 19, 2008)

I do love my cat, but love my wildife as well, so our cat is housebound with an outdoor pen that is accessible from the garage - it's the only responsible thing to do - although we do have 3-4 cats from the neighbourhood who fight in the backyard and come through at all times of the night! really irritates me when i stand in cat poo when I'm gardening too grrrrr.

I did contact the council here in Brisbane and basicly unless they are collarless there is absolutely nothing you can do - I hate irresponsible cat owners with a passion!


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## Jen (Mar 19, 2008)

lisc1, there is something you can do, get hold of a cat trap, trap the offending cats - if they have a collar take them back to their owner (once) if no collar or repeat offender, take them to an rspca in a suburb far far away.


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## Nelly (Mar 19, 2008)

Our local council really hasn't done much... but at least they make suggestions for keeping the cats indoors.

http://www.gosford.nsw.gov.au/customer/dogs-cats/responsible-cat-ownership


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## Spikie wanna cricket (Mar 22, 2008)

working in the animal care industry for the last 3 years i have found out none of the systems in place work not for cats not for dogs, not even for our beautiful reptiles

it is a sad truth many ppl have tried to change althought it is a battle with a brick wall


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## Serpant_Man (Mar 22, 2008)

The problem with a law is it has to be enforcable and financially justifiable. This means in a practical sense that someone a ranger or whatever has to be out patrolling. Then they have to catch the cat they see (which is extremely hard when you have an animal as nimble as a cat) locate the owner which unless the animal is wearing a tag mean scanning for a microchip or following it home to fine the owner. Even this may not be sucessful as there are many thousands of 'domestic' cats who are simply neighbourhood animals whom no one is going to take responsibility for.

restrictions imposed on the owners have to be achievable. in an ideal world cats would live indoos all the time but this is not the case. So where do we draw the line - that cats not be allowed out after dark, or after 7 o'clock? Then what about daylight savings? Cats are incredibly difficult to legislate for to control them by their nature. i considered getting a static collar for mine to allow them in the ayrd during the day whilst knowing that when nigh came they could not run away as i called them in for the night. However I was told that whilst their is a clause in the Dog Act which allows for static training, no such legislation exists for cats. 

And once again whatever is decided upon has to be enforced to a degree that it seriously discorages people from continuing that behaviour.

SL


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