This article was first published in May 27, 2010. I have added a section at the end, to update the post.
Bendigo was one of the first Victorian councils to introduce cat management laws.
In the 2002/03 period the council impounded 534 cats, killing 338 of them. In 2004, they introduced a cat curfew, using the cat haters in the community to ‘teach cat owners a lesson’:
06 July 2004 – Residents will be on the front line of the City of Greater Bendigo’s cat curfew, officially introduced last night.
Under the plan, the council will supply cat traps to locals who notice a breach of the sunset-to-sunrise curfew.
Mayor Greg Williams said enforcement was not the primary reason for the curfew.”This is really about education and about getting people to do the right thing,” he said.
And by all accounts the program was an enormous ‘success’, with a surge of impoundments and cat haters beating down the doors to get traps;
31 July 2004 – Record numbers of Bendigo cats were on death row yesterday, less than a month after the local council introduced a cat curfew.
Officials yesterday confirmed that the RSCPA animal shelter in East Bendigo had more than six times its usual number of cats waiting to be euthanised.
Shelter manager Fred Cameron said he had never seen so many cats abandoned in his 30 years in the job.
“This time of year, being cold and outside kitten season, we would probably have about 10 cats in cages.
“We have over 60. It has gone berserk.” Mr Cameron said fear of the fines was the main reason behind locals bringing in their cats.
“There are two reasons for this. A lot of the cats are being surrendered by their owners because of the cat curfew, and a lot are being brought in because neighbours are trapping cats,” he said. “Elderly people are probably getting a bit frightened that if their cats get out they will get into trouble.
“Hopefully, we can find owners for them.” Mr Cameron said he had heard council rangers were calling for reinforcements to deal with the increased work.
“The rangers are being run off their feet,” he said.
“I believe there is a waiting list for cat cages and they have ordered, and are expecting, another 12 cat traps.”
More info on the programs results from the Age;
Cat-hating residents are enthusiastically trapping their neighbours’ nocturnally roaming cats and sending them to the shelter. Meanwhile, some cat-owning residents – particularly the elderly – are so stressed at the prospect of the $51 fine they have voluntarily relinquished their kitties.
Since Bendigo’s curfew started, the pound has received 123 cats, up from 79 in June. Registered cats are returned to owners but the night-larking unclaimed moggies are put down after eight days if a suitable home is not found.
Fred Cameron, manager of the Bendigo RSPCA shelter, said most of the cats handed in were from neighbours’ traps. “The curfew sort of helped people who don’t get on with their neighbours to catch their cat and bring it in and get it impounded,” Mr Cameron said.
Supporters of these kinds of initiatives often say the surge dies down after the initial excitement of the trap happy masses. They claim shelter impound rates return to, not just normal levels, but lower as all the cats are removed from the streets.
So more than 6 years on, just how are the cats faring in Bendigo?
Unwanted felines face death
20 May, 2010Kittens and cats are being put down at alarming rates at the Bendigo RSPCA shelter, as owners fail to take responsibility for their pets. According to statistics, supplied by the Victorian RSPCA, during 2008-09 the Bendigo shelter took in 1817 cats and 1243, or 68 per cent, were put down.
And what’s the reason?
An RSPCA spokesman said the high number in cats and kittens being put down was often due to very low microchip and registration rates.
Given that cats are still being impounded after years and years of trapping, and that the cats still entering Bendigo shelter at record levels have very ‘low microchip and registration rates’, is it such a stretch to believe that these cats, have never actually had an owner?
Study after study after study after study have shown that the shelter cat population is primarily driven by a self-sustaining, unowned population. Initiatives that target owners, rarely do more than put unowned cats in breach of some new ordinance and see them targeted for removal.
While it’s easy to blame an ‘irresponsible public’, it’s not proving to be a very effective technique for reducing shelter intakes, or saving the lives of cats.
The Bendigo Weekly is drawing attention to the plight of cats in their community.
The RSPCA is tasked with an enormous role in the rehoming of domestic animals and the care of all animals who are harmed.
The number of animals in need seems overwhelming.
Bendigo RSPCA is used by the Greater Bendigo council as the official pound for lost and straying cats and dogs, and the council in turn uses the services of the Lost Dogs Home to trap them in the first place.
It seems to be a losing battle and the cracks are starting to show across the country and, more importantly, for us in Bendigo.
So just how did having cat laws in the City help cats? In short, it didn’t. The Bendigo Annual Report for 2011/12 shows that instead of taking in just 534 cats for the year, the City had driven up their intakes to more than 1,700.
Of course this has proved to be a boon to animal welfare groups, who are paid to actively manage animals – and the more animals they manage, the larger the cost to the Council. The RSPCA charge Bendigo more than $80 per cat processed.
(In fact, given the current year is a round 1,500 I wouldn’t be surprised if Council implemented an artificial cap on the number of intakes it would pay groups to capture and impound, to arrest skyrocketing costs).
Anyone who tells you that ‘cat laws’ lead to less cats in shelters, hasn’t looked at the actual numbers. Until we approach cat management differently, and stop allowing those who profit from impounding cats dictate the debate, there is little hope that we’ll ever see positive change for cats.
Doing it right
Werribee was one of the first councils to bring in the cat curfew. Well before Bendigo did. It hasn’t helped there either.
In fact Werribee has just TRIPLED their registration fees. That’s certainly not the way to encourage responsible pet ownership. There are a lot of struggling families in that area. They should bring registration fees down, have reduced cost desexing and microchipping.
They also need to stop using lost dogs home for their pound. They have pound facilities but the animals go straight to LDH where you pay a higher fee because you come from the Wyndham council (Werribee) area. Then the Wyndham council fine you as well. You end up paying almost $400 after the council fine and LDH fees.
Wyndham council are just revenue raising and have no interest in helping the people be responsible pet owners