CWA calls for cat curfew, Dubbo mayor says it's not an issue

The CWA introduced the campaign at its May state conference in Bathurst, aiming to lessen the number of native animals killed by cats and to curb unwanted breeding at night.

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The CWA has declared it wants a state-wide cat curfew and the power to enforce containment should be put into the hands of local councils.

When asked if this was something Dubbo Council would consider, Mayor Mathew Dickerson said the issue had never come up.

"I have not heard anything about it at all from our community and council has no formal position on it," the councillor told the Daily Liberal.

Elsewhere in NSW, Wagga Wagga council has called on the state government to increase its powers to enforce containment, and deputy mayor Jenny McKinnon told the ABC it seemed "illogical" that pet cats can roam free while dogs are expected to be contained.

READ ALSO: Cats kill more than 300 million native animals a year

Clr Dickerson said the Companion Animals Act stipulated people had to secure their dogs but there was nothing in it about cats, and therefore council was not bound to enforce it.

He said council rangers came across cats living in gutters from time to time, and people sometimes requested cat traps to trap ferals.

However, he had had "no representations from members of the public to come forward and do anything about a cat curfew".

"The difficulty would be enforcing it ... you've got to catch the cat for a start. Maybe they wouldn't be happy about being caught and then you're assuming it's microchipped so you can see who the owner is. But if it's not microchipped, well, what do you do with them?" he said.

"So there's the process of enforcement and the cost of enforcement."

READ ALSO: Current council 'fairly well immune' from complaints: deputy mayor

Clr Dickerson said he wasn't sure how big an issue cats killing local wildlife was in Dubbo, but he assumed it wasn't as big an issue as it was in an area such as the Blue Mountains where people live in close proximity to lots of native bushland and wildlife.

"Whereas in Dubbo, we don't have a forest on our doorstep, that's got the same native animals that maybe the Blue Mountains have," he said.

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President of CWA of NSW, Joy Beames, who lives in nearby Dunedoo, said she had seen "a lot of cats" roaming around the region, both pets and ferals.

"What people don't understand is ... they think their cat won't attack anything because it's just been fed, but it doesn't matter. I've seen a cat, with a full tummy, walk outside and 10 minutes later there's dead bird on the ground," Mrs Beames told the Daily Liberal.

"I think education is one of the first steps ... people need to be aware of what cats are up to."

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