In a significant policy shift, the Albanese government is contemplating stringent new regulations on cat ownership in Australia to tackle the rampant problem of feral cats decimating native wildlife. The proposed measures include curfews for pet cats and restrictions on the number of cats one can keep.
On Wednesday, Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek unveiled a substantial $60 million funding initiative, allocated to 55 projects designed to safeguard Australian wildlife. The funding will support efforts to address the feral cat crisis, which has seen as many as 5.6 million feral cats across the nation, causing extensive damage to native species. These felines are responsible for the deaths of approximately 1.5 billion native mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, and 1.1 billion invertebrates each year.
Feral cats have been linked to twothirds of mammal extinctions in Australia. To counter this, the new projects aim to “humanely capture and eradicate” these predators. Testing grounds on Kangaroo Island and Christmas Island have been utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of traps, some equipped with artificial intelligence, in managing feral cat populations and other pests.
The funding will also advance the development of dronebased thermal cameras and tracking technologies utilizing feral cat DNA. Although the primary focus is on feral cats, the initiative will also address the impact of domestic cats, which kill an average of 186 animals per year.
Plibersek’s forthcoming cat abatement plan, to be presented to Parliament in the coming months, outlines potential regulations such as limits on the number of household cats and nighttime curfews.
“The Albanese Government is declaring war on feral cats to help curb the approximately 7 million native animals killed each year,” said Plibersek. She emphasized the severe threat posed by feral cats to species like the greater bilby, numbat, and Gilbert’s potoroo.
The draft plan, which received inprinciple approval from ministers across Australia’s states and territories last November, does not mandate new rules for state governments but calls for collaborative federalstate efforts. Some local governments have already implemented restrictions, such as curfews, but often lack the resources to enforce these regulations effectively.
The proposed measures include:
- Enforcing curfews on cats, requiring them to be kept indoors from dusk to dawn.
- Imposing limits on the number of cats per household.
- Establishing catfree suburbs and mandating desexing and registration.
Local councils would be granted authority to tailor bylaws to local conditions. For instance, Victorian councils have the power to impose daytime restrictions on cats, with Knox City Council in Melbourne’s East enforcing a 24hour ban on roaming cats. In the ACT, all cats born after July 2022 must remain on their owner’s property, with roaming bans in wildlifesensitive suburbs. Meanwhile, Western Australia and NSW are still formulating laws, with Perth councils considering roundtheclock curfews.
The Albanese government’s initiative marks a pivotal step in addressing Australia’s severe feral cat problem and protecting its unique biodiversity.
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