Dardanup Shire Council had recently increased the powers of rangers to seize owned cats, making major additions to the existing state-wide Cat Act. The ‘Keeping and Control of Cats Local Law 2014’, was to include confinement, with cats found to be not ‘controlled’ by their owners caught by rangers and their owners fined.
2.1 Cats in public places
(1) A cat shall not be in a public place unless the cat is, in the opinion of an authorised
person, under effective control;
(2) If a cat is at any time in a public place in contravention of clause 2.1 (1) —
(a) the keeper of the cat commits an offence unless the person establishes a defence
under section 6.4; and
(b) an authorised person may seize and impound the cat and deal with the cat
pursuant to the Act.
It also looked to victimise cat foster carers, by cracking down on those holding more than the three cat maximum, and not permitting more than four;
For the purpose of this Policy, the term ‘keep’ refers to a cat being owned and registered to the owner and also a cat being fostered and/or waiting to be rehomed at a premises where the owner in ordinarily resident
The policy also restricts the number of cats that are allowed to be kept on a premise to a maximum of four cats at any one time.
A maximum of four cats was chosen as this is considered the maximum number of cats that could be reasonably kept on a residential premise. The number of cats chosen is based on health reasons and amenity.
If foster carers wanted to keep more than three cats, they were going to have to apply for a permit, and submit to an inspection by council rangers, including an assessment of their properties suitability, cat confinement facilities and cleaning protocols.
Foster carers were also going to need to register all of their foster cats at their address, then re-apply for permission to future animals;
From Council Minutes...
The approval lapses when the number of registered cats is reduced by death, sales or otherwise disposed of such that only two (2) cats remain. The number of cats may not be increased back to four unless a new application is granted approval.
The plan was while rangers are on the street collecting any cats daring to take a walk around the block – or daring to sit on a verge – Council was simultaneously kicking the legs out from under the community foster groups who could potentially save their seized cats from the needle.
I think it’s probably the most anti-cat initiative I’ve seen yet.
Thankfully for the animals, local residents came forward to point out the stupid:
Benotto Animal Management manager Claire Gick said she was disappointed with the outcome.
“The Cat Act was careful to not encourage local governments to insist that cats must be kept indoors, however now with this law this is effectively what the Dardanup Shire Council has done.”
The Joint Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation (JSCDL) reviewed the local law last month. It has recommended that the Shire;
• Repeal Part 2 of the Local Law within 6 months; <— the section on confinement
and• Not enforce Part 2 in a manner contrary to the undertaking.
It is unclear how the legislation, as it stands, will continue to effect cat fostering in the Shire.
Hey, remember when the major cat groups in WA said we should give Councils more powers to ‘deal’ with cats… how’s that working out?
4 cats only BECAUSE HEALTH. Makes sense.
Also, the part about the permit waning when the number goes down to two really gets my ire. I tend to foster 2 litters a year, and give myself a break between them. That’s a costly foster expense.
Thankfully I live in the US now where pet laws are a little ahead of the Australian curve.
So how is your targeting breeders working out fur you now. Just working out now that you too have bee conned by the ar groups who actually want no one owning cats are we? Good to see you are now facing to face the same stupidity you forced on us breeders