Cat control rules find more fans

Councils around the country are looking to band together to rein in roaming moggies.

The Dunedin City Council has suggested its colleagues help it push the Government for national rules that could involve cat rangers and shutting cats in overnight.

Seven other councils around the country have given the idea, and its environmental focus, their backing ahead of a vote at the Local Government New Zealand annual meeting this month.

Hamilton City councillors discussed the issue at their latest meeting and were keen on rules for felines, but there were some dissenters at the table.

Cat control would mean a significant increase in animal-control staffing, Hamilton City Safe manager Kelvin Powell said in response to councillors’ questions.

‘‘In essence, it’s talking about replicating something akin to the Dog Control Act but for cats.

‘‘We have 11,500 dogs in Hamilton and we have six dog-control officers who are responsible for that,’’ he said.

‘‘We would presumably have more cats in Hamilton than we have dogs.’’

Money from dog registrations covered about 65 per cent of animal-control costs, he said.

The Dunedin City Council suggested in its remit that councils should be allowed to recover the cost of managing cats.

It suggested measures include putting cats in collars with a bell, microchipping, desexing, and the creation of cat rangers.

In Hamilton, animal-lover Cr Mark Bunting was a big supporter because he said cat legislation would be good.

He recounted how his household recently took in two ‘‘pretty crook’’ kittens which had been dumped.

‘‘As our ageing population grows, so does the number of old ladies with cats, so [cat management] is something that we’re going to have to deal with,’’ Bunt- ing said. ‘‘Is it just old ladies?’’ Cr Paula Southgate interjected.

‘‘I’m just being stereotypical,’’ Bunting said.

Organising councillors had often been compared to herding cats, Cr Dave Macpherson said, so maybe the rules would help the council staffers who had to wrangle elected members.

Cat management was a community need and rules would be a good start, he said – though he quipped it would be ‘‘bigger than Ben Fur’’.

It might also help to work out whether cats causing damage were domestic or wild, Macpherson said.

‘‘At the moment, you daren’t go around eradicating cats or using your .22 [rifle] on them because you might actually hit someone’s pet,’’ he said.

But Cr Leo Tooman asked where the council would draw the line.

‘‘Next thing, we’re going to have the kids who have to register their pet rabbit or their pet mice or their canary.’’

Cr James Casson leaned on environmental arguments, citing Forest and Bird estimates that cats kill 1.12 million native birds a year.

Councils needed to deal with the cat issue, Southgate said, but birds and animals would still face other predators.

And paying for cat ownership might encourage people to treat their animals better, Cr Siggi Henry said.

Councillors voted 8-2 to support the Dunedin City Council remit on cat management at the LGNZ meeting.