Ahead of Queensland’s draconian compulsory cat registration legislation coming into force in July, one local council is reaching out to the disadvantaged cat owners in their community by offering desexing and microchipping for $10;
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Moreton Bay Regional Council is conducting a heavily-subsidised desexing and microchipping program, which may help reduce registration costs.
Under the council’s Catsmart program, owners could have their cats desexed and microchipped for $10 a potential saving of more than $150.
(More information on the program can be found here)
The council will team up with the RSPCA’s mobile desexing unit to roll out the Catsmart program from March 30.
Council will be microchipping and de-sexing cats at Caboolture, Deception Bay, Wamuran, Kallangur and Bribie Island.
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Moreton Bay last year received $86,000 to create a program working with local vets and the RSPCA’s mobile unit, to help all pet owners in their community have access to affordable desexing. Congratulations to them for taking such a compassionate stance and working with their community instead of in spite of them, as time and time again it’s been proven that access to low cost desexing is an effective tool to generate compliance in the community. So why are great programs like this not always the first choice?
In other Queensland cat news, the Gympie regional council are finding that although they’ve had compulsory registrations for over 8 years, it’s not made a fluffy tabbies worth of difference to impound rates.
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The number of cats caught by the Gympie pound remains constant, although the former Cooloola Shire Council started to enforce cat registrations in 2001.
Gympie Regional Council Deputy Mayor Tony Perrett said about 500 cats were caught every year and the figure had remained the same for a number of years.
While the number didn’t decline, RSPCA Media and Community Relations manager Michael Beatty said he wanted other councils to follow in GRC footsteps and introduce cat registration while providing incentives to get cats microchipped and desexed – to reduce the number of cats being euthanased every year.
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So despite a complete and utter failure of compulsory registration we just forge on – traumatising the elderly, restricting TNR programs and killing! killing! killing!
Just how many times does this idea have to fail before we look to other solutions?
Until all local councils, shelters and rescues stop trying to punish and coerce and start serving their communities, we’ll keep seeing ineffective legislation that makes it harder to be a pet owner, harder to save the lives of pets and even harder to reach those people in the community who need our help.
[…] Terrorising elderly people, setting animals up to be at the mercy of vengeful neighbours and retarding TNR programs are the immediate costs of this program. If we’re going to do what others have tried and failed at, then we sure as hell better have more success than them. […]