SPCA wants pet cat curfew in NZ...

[carole]

This was in our local paper last night and really concerns me, as most of you know Cats in NZ are 99 percent indoor/outdoor, the SPCA of all people are proposing to put forward to our local council, to introduce cat curfews on all pet cats, which means they would have to be shut up at night from 9pm until 7 am in the morning, they say to protect our native birds and wildlife.

They also want to have all cats with ID tags and registered, if your cat is found by a ranger out of those hours it will get picked up, if you donot claim it, then it will be Put to Sleep.

I do have real problem with this, let me tell you why, firstly I will tell you I already keep my cats inside at night, so that does not affect me too much, and I would consider microchipping them, collars are out of the question, and I presume microchipping would be acceptable.

The extra cost of registering cats would put my already tight budget in jeopardy, it would mean less money for unexpected vet fees needed.

My other point is cats are different animals to Dogs, as we all know, they are not so obediant and it is sometimes hard to get them to come inside, I have been having this problem with my younger cat lately, it is summer and they love to stay outside, however I have had her nearly two years now and not one night has been spent outside.

I just cannot see this idea working well, and it has not been thought out, there are cat owner's who will deliberatley leave their cats out, more dumping than usual IMO, and there will be people who cannot afford the extra registation fees, or can be bothered with the stress of trying to get kitty in every night, and it is a stress believe me, I believe the SPCA will end up with double the numbers of cats, that already had reasonable homes with food in their bellies being PTS.

I might add they also are going to limit the number of cats you can have three only, and less if you live in an apartment.

Keep in mind this is only a proposal as such, but it could become law, I have already sent my letter of protest to the newspaper, as even though I am not greatly affected , many would be , and it would be a sad end result IMO, I mean isn't the SPCA about caring about all animals not just native ones.

There are definite positives about keeping animals inside at night, I agree, but putting it into practice would not be that easy,many of you might disagree with me on this whole subject, but please remember NZ is a society where nearly everyone owns a cat per household, and they have always been indoor/outdoor since cats arrived in NZ.

worried furmummy here.

[catmandu]

Thereshould be no limit,if the Cats,are being properly cared for.Numbers are not the problem,its the FOOLS ,that want the right,to have a Pet,but not the responsibility.

[christa]

Originally posted by carole
I might add they also are going to limit the number of cats you can have three only, and less if you live in an apartment.

How can they do that???

I think I'd consider moving!

[PayItForward]

Stupid idea as birds roost safely in trees at night, so cats NEVER hunt birds at night !!!

Also the amount of birds killed by cats is neglient and DOES NOT affect the bird population as birds only catch the very young and older birds not breeding aged birds. Man kills a significant number of birds by destroying their enviroment (study last year by RSPB)

The only thing which will happen is more rats, shrews etc will breed as that is what cats hunt at night. More vermin...just what NZ needs.

Plus the extra resource problems for the rescue centers, which can not currently cope with the abandoned cats to date. Forcing these shelters to take in owned cats as well is plain daft.

Carole, is there any elections coming up soon, it sound like a political 'pie in the sky' idea to be shelved after an election.

[davidpizzica]

Carole, it seems like to me that this proposal was thought up by a politician who doesn't own cats. I agree with PIF that this a ploy to get this politician elected.

[NoahsMommy]

Don't cats kill birds in the daytime??

It seems like they are using that excuse to have better control over the pet popluation...or something.

I think the limit in our county is three as well, unless you have a rescue or breeders permit. Luckily, they don't know about my 9 cats. hee hee

[aly]

Here it only costs $5 to register a fixed dog or cat and I think $20 if they aren't fixed.

I think it is a wonderful idea to keep cats inside at night. I don't think it will help the birds, but I think it will at least keep the cats safer. Cars can't see them as well at night, etc.

[carole]

Yes Aly I have no problem with keeping my cats inside at night, I do it for their protection, but believe me they are not alway's so obediant, I have had major problems and whole lot of stress trying to get my younger one in, but as I have said, so far so good, however it will not be that easy for everyone else to do that, there is a bigger issue here than just keeping them in at night for safety.

If you really think it all out, there are going to be owner's who just cannot be bothered with the hassle, cat's that just won't come in on curfew, there will be more strain on shelter's and some cat's who have reasonable home's could be without one's if this came into action.

It is election year in NZ, funnily enough, but I am HAPPY to report that this is NOT going ahead as of now, the paper reported it would be too expensive too carry out, and the council had no plans as of now to do either, the council was un-indated with concerned cat owner's.

A report today by a university Professor claims it is NOT the cats that are a problem , it is the Rats eating the native wildlife and birds in the Gullies, so if you keep the cat's in , we have a bigger problem as PIF mentioned, Rats galore.

Let me tell you it has been proven it is possums, rats and stoats that eat the native wildlife, and we DONOT have any Kiwi's here in Hamilton,(well the bird variety)

It would appear the SPCA, were putting native wildlife and birds welfare ahead of cats, they are suppose to be concerned about all animal's welfare.

This would be very hard to police, and could also end up with loved pets being PTS by accident, these type of things do happen, imagine a ranger going around trapping pet cats that were out of curfew, a scarey thought and ridiculous IMO.

Gary you hit the nail on the head as well, it is not the responsible owner's who need be targeted, it is the one's who won't spay and neuter or care for the one's they already have.

I also believe if you limit cats per household, then what is going to happen to the already jam packed shelter's, there number's are not going to get less, and there will be less people to adopt them.

Whoever thought this stupid idea up, did not think about all the consquences.

I live in an area which has a high student ratio, lots of flats, not far from me, where I am is not too bad, as I have a new housing subdivision of quality across from me,I believe the cats do an excellent job of keeping the vermin down , and have a very important job to do.

No-one will ever convince me this is a sensible idea, this is NZ, a society that has had indoor/outdoor cats since they arrived here, you cannot just change a culture overnight, or habits.

Do you know there is a ratio of nearly one cat per person living in my city, it is estimated there are 110,000 cats , my pop is like 120 I think, and of course new cats are being adopted all the time, so this would be by the last census that was done a few years back.

[davidpizzica]

Carole, I'm glad that they aren't going to implement that plan. It sounds to me like it would be unenforcible. Not to mention expensive.

[BastetsMum]

The cat curfew has worked well in Australia - South Australia has it. As for limiting numbers of cats per household - I think thats a great idea especially for those less responsible. There should be exceptions to the rule though.

People who foster or care for sick and injured cats
People who can show just cause for keeping more than the said number of cats (like dogs now in Australia - it is illegal to keep more than 2 dogs per household without showing just cause as to why - my parents live on a cattle property and can only keep 2 dogs - this is to stop dumping and ferals attacking domestic animals - over time this may work ...).

Cats kill a large number of birds and wildlife here in Australia. While I love cats - I know that they are an introduced species here and domestic (as well as feral) cats need to be controlled. Bastet is indoors for that very reason. I couldn't bear for her to come home with one of our native parrots dead in her mouth.

I think if you paid for microchipping that should be enough for registration. I don't think paying for registering your cat is going to fix the problem of species predation.

Anyway, I don't mean to cause anyone to get angry over my comments - this is how I see it. We need to be responsible (I know everyone here is) for our pets.

Sorry for the rant ...

[carole]

You are entitled to your opinion and I am well aware of it working in Australia, however this is NZ, and we donot have to follow like a flock of sheep (excuse the pun).

Honestly I donot know what all the fuss is about, we don't have that much wildlife and native birds to worry about in my City, and as I pointed out research shows it is NOT the cats that are the problem, so why as i see it punish responsible pet owners.

What about all the problems I raised, do they just magically go away or not occurr?

I DONOT ever want to see this enforced here and will fight it all the way, and keep in mind I am NOT really affected if it did come into force, as my cats are always KEPT INDOORS at night times.

I respect your opinions but strongly disagree.

P.S I just wanted to add I consider myself to be a very responsible pet owner, but I fail to see how enforcing this on people is suddenly going to make them become responsible, if they were not in the first place, nothing will help to change that, people would ignore the law, not register them, not keep them inside, and guess who pays the sad price, the poor cat.

Personally I am sick of Government Legislation in this country, soon you won't beable to wipe your rear end without a permit what is happening to human rights and choices.