cool for cats

Report from the roundtable - 9th June

Late last year council adopted the Domestic Animal Management Plan. The purpose of the plan is to increase the profile and importance of domestic animal management at a local level. One of the key actions from the plan was to make mandatory the compulsory desexing of cats.

I was happy to move a motion to formalise the compulsory desexing of cats.

This is me with our much beloved family pet. He's desexed, chipped, registered and always kept in at night per the Yarra Ranges cat curfew.

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I am sure that responsible cat owners would be more than happy to desex their animals. Feral animals, particularly cats, are a huge problem in the Dandenong Ranges. Cats are excellent predators and the wildlife losses are immense due to feral cat activity.

The statistics for unwanted cats are astounding, in 2006 53,000 cats were lodged with animal welfare centres across Australia with 35,000 of them being euthanised. That’s an awful lot of unwanted cats out there.

Anything we can do to try to stop unwanted animals is a positive move, anything that helps the feral cat population to decline is a positive move. It’s good for cats and it’s good for our wildlife too.

I’m pleased to report that the motion was supported unanimously by councillors.