More consultation on cats

Rockingham City councillors have voted to continue consulting with the community on the issue of nuisance cats before lobbying the State Government to amend laws.

After community complaints about cats roaming neighbourhoods, Cr Matt Whitfield put forward a motion for the council to support the need for nuisance provisions to be included in the State Cat Act to specifically address wandering or nuisance cats.

In his report to council, Cr Whitfield wrote that many residents believed cats should be treated the same way as dogs, and should be contained to the owner’s property.

“There are numerous complaints around cats causing a nuisance in the community and currently the City is powerless to implement any changes to our local laws to cover this, due to the fact these provisions are not included at State level,” he said.

“If the State were to implement new changes to the Cat Act then, at that point, the council could make a decision whether or not to include those in the local laws.”

The Cat Act does not support provisions for wandering or nuisance cats including cat containment.

During last week’s council meeting, councillors debated whether to spend money to conduct further consultation with the community, or to agree to “advocate” for changes.

The decision was made to undertake further consultation, which was passed unanimously.