2018-12-14
The Greens are today calling on the ACT Government to better monitor and enforce cat containment in declared areas, given no fines have ever been issued for allowing domestic cats to roam and no cats have been collected, despite community complaints.
“It’s time for the ACT Government to claw back its credibility on cat containment, as the education over enforcement approach is just not working,” ACT Greens Spokesperson for Animal Welfare and City Services Caroline Le Couteur said.
“The Greens are disappointed to discover that not one person has ever been fined for failing to contain their cat in a declared cat containment area and no cats have ever been picked up by Domestic Animal Services, despite formal community complaints and wider concern about the negative impacts of roaming cats.”
According to Transport Canberra and City Services (TCCS), in total 10 formal complaints have been submitted relating to breaches in cat containment areas—four in Forde, three in Crace and one each in Moncrieff, Bonner and Coombs. The enforcement of these complaints has been non-existent, despite the fact that non-compliance in a declared area can be penalised with a fine of up to $1,500.
“The advice TCCS routinely gives to community members—to speak to their neighbours if the identity of the cat is known and to trap cats on their own land—is also concerning as it puts the onus completely on the complainant.
“It is unfair to expect people to have these uncomfortable conversations with their neighbours, and also spend their own money and time hiring traps from the RSPCA as suggested by TCCS.
“At the very least, the ACT Government should provide traps to community members for free and support neighbourhood trapping programs or incentives. It would be preferable for Domestic Animal Services to take responsibility for trapping cats and advising owners of breaches and their obligations to keep cats contained.”
“The Greens believe that mandatory cat registration would also assist with containment, as it would help return lost pets to their owners and the registration fees would help subsidise staff and facilities. The ACT and Tasmania are the only two jurisdictions that don’t require cat registration in any regions. Subsidised cat de-sexing is a Parliamentary Agreement item, although we would like to see continued funding available for this, as well as subsidies for microchipping.
“We are looking forward to improvements that expand the cat containment scheme, and ensure that it is an effective scheme, as per the Parliamentary Agreement,” Ms Le Couteur said.
There are currently 15 cat containment areas across Canberra: Bonner, Crace, Coombs, Denman Prospect, Forde, Gungahlin Town Centre east, Jacka, Lawson, Macnamara, Molonglo, Moncrieff, Strathnairn, The Fair at Watson, Throsby and Wright. A cat containment area can be declared in a suburb, or area of a suburb, if there is a serious nature conservation threat as a result of cat activities. An ACT study revealed domestic cats are responsible for killing a total of 67 different species of birds and animals.