In Australia, there appears to be a clash between the Cat Act 2011 of Western Australia (WA) which provides powers to local governments regarding domestic cat management and federal laws which are able to demand state-wide cat confinement. WA wants a more harmonious approach across WA regarding cat confinement with a complete ban on indoor/outdoor cats.
Councils including the cities of South Perth, Bayswater, Fremantle, Canning and Vincent have long been pushing for cat containment laws, with claims free roaming cats kill up to 340 million native animals each year. Fremantle councillor Adin Lang — who has been petitioning for cat containment laws since 2019 — said WA was lagging behind the rest of the country.
The Western Australia Cat Act 2011 provides limited jurisdiction over cat confinement. Correct? Yes, that's correct. The Western Australia Cat Act 2011 provides a legislative framework for the management and control of domestic cats in Western Australia, but its provisions on cat confinement are indeed limited.
The Act primarily focuses on issues such as the registration, microchipping, and sterilization of cats. It also grants local governments the authority to create and enforce local laws concerning the control and management of cats within their jurisdictions. However, it does not impose strict statewide requirements for cat confinement.
Instead, local governments can use the powers given by the Act to establish their own rules regarding cat confinement, including curfews or restrictions on cats being allowed to roam freely. As a result, cat confinement regulations can vary significantly between different areas in Western Australia, depending on the local laws put in place by each local government.
Western Australia has the power to confine domestic cats to their homes across the entire state. At the moment there is a patchwork of local laws governing the containment of cats to their homes under local legislation. Local governments can enforce laws only about the registration and impounding of cats under the Western Australia Cat Act 2011. The local governments cannot enforce laws across the entire state which has resulted in disharmony regarding legislation on cat confinement.
It is argued by advocates of domestic cat confinement that the debates that took place before the Cat Act 2011 came into a force, indicate that the act was intended to allow local governments to make their own laws for cat containment.
As this is not happening, there are demands that the act is reviewed and amended to allow local governments within the entire area of Western Australia to create a unified approach to domestic cat confinement which they regard as the best method of cat ownership because it is better for the cats and better for wildlife. And the underlying reason as you probably know is that Australians want to protect their precious native species from domestic, feral and stray cat predation.
That's why, the Australian continent is the home of cat confinement. They been pushing for it for a long time in conjunction with killing feral cats as fast as possible. There will come a day in Australia when all domestic cats are confined to the home and when that day arrives I sincerely hope that cat caregivers have taken on board the responsibility to ensure that the interior of their home is suitable for a cat meaning mentally stimulating because at the moment they aren't. Very far from it.
Confining a domestic cat to their home is okay provided environment is enriched which requires an investment in time and money but this, as mentioned, isn't taking place. And therefore local and federal governments are driving cats to a poorer environment and lifestyle which will probably inevitably lead to poorer cat health due to stress and obesity.
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