The federal government is seeking feedback on a plan that, if adopted, would impose night-time curfews on cats and restrict pet numbers.
Pet cats are part of a massive problem confronting Australia’s wildlife, says Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, and she has declared new measures such as giving councils the power to restrict pet numbers, ban cats outdoors and impose night-time curfews to prevent native species extinctions.
Feral cats pose a greater threat to wildlife. There are 1.4 million to 5.6 million feral cats in Australia and they kill on average more than 1.5 billion native mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs, and 1.1 billion invertebrates each year.The plan outlines a range of reforms to beef up controls on feral cats including nationalising management regimes and targeting eradication efforts around priority native species.
The government’s proposed plan notes that regulations for pet cats are set by local councils, which over time have created a “patchwork” of confusing bylaws across the country, which are hard to enforce. The plan says a “very high” priority to reduce wildlife losses is responsible cat ownership, which includes limits on the number of cats in a household, keeping the cats indoors, desexing and registration.
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