Merri-bek wants cats indoors, but only if owners are feline like it

An inner-city council wants residents to keep their wandering cats under control as it aims to drive down the number of wildlife killed and pets lost or hurt on local roads.

Greens-led Merri-bek council, which stretches from Brunswick to Fawkner and Glenroy north of the city, is the latest Melbourne municipality to take on the issue of roaming cats, but wants to pursue an education campaign rather than an enforceable “cat curfew”.

Sarah Lowres with Gidget, the ginger day-time outdoor cat, and calico cat Ducky, who lives inside permanently.Credit:Joe Armao

Newly instated Mayor Angelica Panopoulos confirmed to The Age on Tuesday that a motion to be voted upon on Wednesday night was for, “a voluntary cat confinement strategy and education campaign, and not a compulsory cat curfew”.

“We want to work positively with our community to promote the benefits of cat confinement, without enforcement measures,” she said. “Keeping cats inside would be voluntary for residents.”

.Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding

According to the Merri-bek report, there are at least 10 Victorian councils with 24-hour curfews including Knox City Council and Yarra Ranges.

At least 27 other councils, including Bayside, Wyndham and Port Phillip, enforce a dusk-to-dawn night curfew on cats, while 17 others are considering some kind of cat ‘containment’ policy.

Generally councils with a mandatory curfew enforce the regulation by taking roaming cats to council pounds and fining the owner.

In its report to councillors detailed in agenda papers for this week’s council meeting, Merri-bek officers said a voluntary policy and behaviour-change education campaign was preferable to a mandatory curfew.

“Councils with a curfew are known to have experienced an increase in the number of cats surrendered [and] a reduction in cat registration levels as cat owners are reluctant to let council know they own a cat,” the report states.

“[Also] an increase in cat cage requests and delays in wait times to obtain a cage, an increase in the number of cats impounded as a direct result of cats being captured thereby resulting in an increase in pound costs, and increased pressures placed on animal welfare groups, foster and rescue groups and pound operators.”

Merri-bek council has identified at least 21 vertebrate species facing extinction that live in the area and could be at risk of predation from cats, including the growling grass frog, tussock skink, and swift parrot.

A spokeswoman for the council, which was known as Moreland until a few months ago, said any decision made this week would not stop the council from reviewing the strategy.

Merri-bek resident and owner of two cats, Sarah Lowres, said she believed keeping cats indoors round the clock was “the most responsible example of pet ownership”, but conceded it was a difficult issue to police.

Of her two cats, one-year-old Calico cat Ducky lives inside permanently while nine-year-old Ginger cat Gidget is inside overnight, but wanders outside during the day to sleep in the front garden or visit the neighbours.

Lowres said she wanted to see the council go further than just an education campaign, with new or young cats required to be inside or ‘contained’ round the clock, but more leeway for older cats.

“A dusk to dawn curfew would be perfect for people with existing pets because it is such an adjustment,” the 27-year-old Coburg resident said. “There are some cats that have spent their whole lives outside and know no better that would suffer.”

Almost 10,000 pet and stray cats or kittens came through North Melbourne-based rescue organisation Lost Dogs Home’s doors in the past financial year, but only 9 per cent were returned to owners.

Liz Beck, Director of Operations from Lost Dogs home said she wanted to see more data about the efficacy of mandatory curfews, but said pet cats should in theory not be treated differently to pet dogs and should not be allowed to roam freely at all mainly for their own welfare.

“When I was a kid we used to see pet dogs wandering around neighbourhoods, but we don’t any more because of all the education – we know what happens to dogs when they get out on the street,” she said. “It’s exactly the same with cats.”

Socialist Merri-bek councillor Sue Bolton said she would vote against the motion as she believed it did not address the issue of wandering stray cats with no owners.

“It might be feel good, but without actually protecting wildlife,” said Bolton, who said she would put forward an alternative motion. “But I’m definitely opposed to any mandatory curfew.”

The council already offers a free cat desexing program for locals with concession cards, as well as cat traps for residents to trap roaming cats.

The council spokeswoman said the success of the strategy would be measured in numbers of complaints about nuisance cats, numbers of cats impounded, number of cats reclaimed when impounded, volume of cat cage requests and numbers of cats registered.

With Jacob Gamble

Residents can attend Merri-bek Council meeting at 7pm on Wednesday, December 7 at the Merri-bek Civic Centre in Coburg or watch a livestream on the council Facebook page.

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