WA’s peak cat welfare organisation is calling on the State Government to create uniform cat containment laws in a bid to protect native wildlife and roaming cats.
Cat Haven WA and the WA Feral Cat Working Group have released a video encouraging cat owners to keep their beloved felines “permanently contained” on their property.
The video — which features the likes of City of Fremantle councillor Adin Lang, CSIRO research scientist Dr Bruce Webber and Cat Haven CEO Roz Robinson — was launched on International Cat Day, August 8.
“It’s well known now that pet cats don’t need to roam outside,” Dr Webber said.
“They are perfectly happy to be contained in the home environment if they’re appropriately stimulated and given a nice environment at home.
“It reduces the risk of them dying from car accidents, it reduces the risk of catching diseases, being bitten by snakes and being attacked by other dogs, so it vastly reduces their risk of injury and we see that in the much higher lifespans that pet cats have if they’re contained.”
Ms Robinson said containment would increase a cat’s life expectancy.
“We receive countless calls from people in the community seeking medical assistance for their cat who has been hit by a car, or has been in a bad fight because they let them roam,” she said.
“Keeping them contained would prevent injuries and increase a cat’s life expectancy.
“We also receive a high number of calls from frustrated neighbours looking to hire cat traps, complaining about cats coming into their yards and spraying and defecating in their children’s sandpits.
“Owners are often unaware of what their cat is doing when not contained to their own property.”
WA Feral Cat Working Group chair Susan Hunt said hunting was “innate feline behaviour”.
“Being a responsible cat owner is about keeping your pet cat happy and healthy while also protecting our native wildlife,” she said.
“We need to rethink what it means to be a cat owner in WA and see cat containment as a basic responsibility.
“Research tells us that pet cats will always hunt … studies have shown that cats only bring home 15 per cent of their prey, meaning cat owners never see most of the animals that pet cats kill.”
They said the best path forward was changing the Cat Act so there were uniform laws across councils.
“The challenge that we’ve got in WA is there’s so much confusion about the Cat Act,” Cr Lang said.
“We need the State Government to step in and help us create uniform laws across WA so it’s easy for the community to understand what’s going on and it’s easy for cat owners to understand what is the right thing to do.”
A Department of Local Government, Sports and Cultural Industries spokesperson told PerthNow that the State Government would review the Cat Act “in due course”.
“Once the review formally commences, significant work and consultation is expected to be undertaken to ensure that any reforms align with broad community expectations,” they said.
In 2023 the State Government invested $7.6 million in the WA Feral Cat Strategy 2023-2028 in a bid to tackle the impacts of feral cats on Aussie wildlife.
The strategy — which was launched last June in an Australia first — will increase aerial feral cat baiting, research and monitoring.
“The strategy is guiding a range of measures to combat the impacts of feral cats on native wildlife,” the spokesperson said.
Cat Haven and the WA Feral Cat Working Group’s video comes just weeks after the City of Bayswater announced it would offer households up to $500 to install a “catio”.
A catio — or “cat patio” — protects native wildlife from roaming felines while simultaneously protecting cats from vehicles, diseases and getting lost.
Earlier this year, the city was accused of having “blood on their hands” after claims almost 900,000 native animals had been slaughtered by cats over the past three years.
“Since my original motion in mid-March 2021 to mid-March 2024, a combination of native reptiles and birds totalling up to 893,958 have been killed by cats in the City of Bayswater,” Maylands resident David Dyke told the council.
“Council, the blood of this is on your hands … if you allow this carnage to keep happening, what’s going to happen?”
In June, the City of South Perth proposed to ban cats from 27 areas including Neil McDougall Park, Manning Bushland and Collier Park Golf Course because the areas were “sensitive for wildlife”.
The cities of Canning, Kalamunda and Fremantle and Town of Bassendean already include cat-prohibited areas.
The video can be seen at youtube.com/watch?v=GZjdAcdb6jo.