Pressure mounts to manage cats

The cat problem in Palmerston North is getting worse, and there is huge public support in favour of micro-chipping and de-sexing. Danny Auger, Manawatu SPCA

Palmerston North cats might have to be micro-chipped, and neutered and spayed by four months of age if proposed changes to the city council’s Animals and Bees Bylaw go ahead.

The rules sought by the Manawatu¯ SPCA to cut down numbers of unwanted cats and kittens have been recommended by city councillors, against the advice of council staff.

Cat rescuer Jenny Doyle, whose trust traps, neuters and fosters or returns homeless and wild cats, said micro-chipping was a good idea for helping re-unite lost cats with their owners.

But she was worried about the fate of cats that were not microchipped under the new regime, which she feared could grant licence to kill them.

‘‘To bring in laws does not change anything, because the people you want to get to will not do it.’’

City councillor and veterinarian Lorna Johnson, who promoted the tougher control measures, said the rules would not prompt any sort of cat round-up or cull.

‘‘People who are opposed to the idea like to make it sound dramatic.’’

Johnson said the bylaw requirement for micro-chipping would provide some leverage to encourage responsible pet ownership.

It would make it impossible for people to deny responsibility for cats that were causing a nuisance if the micro-chip register proved they were the owners.

Johnson said the proposals were in line with the New Zealand Veterinary Association’s advice to local councils.

It wanted limits on the number of cats per household – the Palmerston North rule is proposed to remain at three.

It wanted cats to be de-sexed unless they were registered for breeding, with identification and registration, such as through micro-chipping, restrictions on their movements in ecologically sensitive areas, and the setting up of cat pounds to care for lost cats.

Johnson said she would not he advocating for a cat pound in Palmerston North.

She said the controls should not cause distress to responsible cat owners, but would give the council ways to respond if complaints about nuisance cats increased.

Manawatu¯ SPCA manager Danny Auger told councillors he was disappointed staff had not recommended the tougher bylaw.

‘‘The cat problem in Palmerston North is getting worse, and there is huge public support in favour of micro-chipping and de-sexing.’’

Auger said the council and community could not depend on the SPCA to continue offering its public de-sexing programme as a way of controlling cats’ breeding.

‘‘We are barely able to maintain the status quo in terms of the numbers of unwanted kittens coming in.’’

Council policy analyst Annmarie Mori said the council’s experience of the problem with cats amounted to about 25 complaints a year.

It was hard to justify bylaw controls as the best way to manage a problem of that scale.

She said the council did not have powers to issue fines or infringements under the bylaw, only to take a prosecution as a last resort.

The raft of recommendations on the bylaw would include the possibility of the council paying for a public education programme about the value of micro-chipping, de-sexing and generally looking after cats.

Although the bylaw was planned to come into effect in July 2018, the micro-chipping and desexing provisions would come in a year later.

The re-written draft bylaw will have to be approved by the full council before it goes out for public consultation.

The hearing of submissions is scheduled for March 2018.