The war against the domestic cat goes on in Australia this time from the City of South Perth. They are introducing a law (City of South Perth's Cats Local Law 2024) which will see that all cats are banned from 27 areas within South Perth including bushland, lake areas, a golf course and parks. And if cat owners are non-compliant and break the law they might end up with a AU$5000 fine.
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| City of South Perth's Cats Local Law 2024 will see cats banned from 27 areas, including parks, bushland, lakes and even a golf course. Image: MikeB |
You are probably aware of the gradual erosion of feline freedoms on the Australian continent. Bit by bit the classic indoor/outdoor cat is being confined to the home and it's not being done voluntarily by cat owners but under the law of various jurisdictions.
As mentioned a fine could be as much as AU$5000 but that might be topped up with AU$500 per day fine for ongoing offences. It's a kind of war as I say. They are not pulling their punches this council.
Other Western Australia councils such as Canning, Kalamunda, Fremantle and Bassendean have already introduced cat-prohibited areas.
There was an attempt, as I understand it, to ban domestic cats from all public areas but that was rejected by the Western Australia Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation. South Perth can't go that far but they will introduce some pretty heavy restrictions.
The areas where they are banned are known areas of concern for the committee. The City of Bayswater also in Perth is also to release its proposed Keeping and Control of Cats Amendment Local Law 2024 for public comment. This law will also ban cats from public areas. In other words, domestic cats cannot go outside in certain public areas unless, I presume, under supervision. That would mean on a lead. Although that point needs to be clarified.
What might happen, in the not too distant future, is that a nationwide ban might be imposed on cat owners because if councils and other jurisdictions are imposing these bans piecemeal across Australia it might be more effective to create a nationwide law, an umbrella law which does the job in one go.
You may know that ACT already imposes such a ban. They are the leading jurisdiction in the world to ban outdoor cats.
An important point here is that the Australian citizens agree with these bans. I would argue that they have been indoctrinated into believing that these bans are necessary. It's taken years of gradual indoctrination through many scientific studies and many articles which have always stated that outdoor domestic cats and feral cats kill billions of native species in Australia.
The love of the domestic cat is being eroded and has been substantially eroded by years of bad publicity. A survey published by the Biodiversity Council in March this year found that just one in 12 people or 8% of the Australian population opposed these outdoor cat bans.
It is only a question of time before the whole of the Australian continent has no indoor/outdoor cats. All of them will be confined to the living room!
The anti-cat war goes on. Times are changing. I'd like to see the Aussies themselves do more to protect their wildlife. Is this passing the buck onto the domestic cat?
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