Farmer’s war on felines

A FARMER who shot more than 100 stray or feral cats on his property in a single year has called for stronger laws to stop owned cats from being able to roam uncontrolled.

The Cat Management Amendment Bill 2019 tabled in State Parliament this week will permit a person to trap or seize a cat on their property, regardless of the proximity to other residences, provided the cat is returned to the owner if possible or taken to a cat management facility.

Primary producers and landowners who are more than a kilometre from the nearest residence will also be allowed to continue humanely killing cats on their property.

But the Bill stops short of forcing cat owners to contain their pets from being able to roam freely.

More than 10 years ago the Longford farmer, who asked not to be named, sent a message to the State Government about the seriousness of the issue by hanging dead cats on his fence. He yesterday told the Mercury they were yet to adequately respond.

“I’m not allowed to let my sheep run through the town or into someone’s garden. I don’t see why cat owners aren’t treated the same way,” he said.

“The damage cats do is blatantly obvious. They’ve cost me thousands of dollars worth of destruction of livestock through disease transmission.

“When it was at its worse we shot more than a 100 in a year,” he said.

“This year we’ve shot about 25 or 30. Some of them are feral but some of them are obviously domestic cats that have strayed or been dumped.”

RSPCA Tasmania CEO Andrew Byrne said he expected it would take up to 15 years to get cat confinement “into the heads of the community”.

“The complaints made to councils are always the same,” Dr Byrne said.

“People get really angry with cats jumping into their backyard, pooing on their veggies, beating up their cat or scratching the tarp on their boat.

“All of that would be fixed if people were required to confine their cats to their properties and I expect that will happen in the future.”