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Proposed laws trigger WA cat fight WA cat owners could have their homes searched and their pets seized if they're found not to be sterilised, microchipped and registered under proposed laws, the state opposition says. WA opposition local government spokesman Paul Papalia said the cat bill would be the most extreme law targeting cat owners in the country, if passed through parliament. Under the bill, owners face a $5,000 fine if their cats are found not to be sterilised, microchipped or registered on a database that will be freely available to the public. "The powers this legislation gives local governments is incredible,'' Mr Papalia told reporters. "They have the ability to come into your house and check whether you're complying with the legislation, particularly if you're a breeder of cats, and they can come in and seize your cat.'' He said it was frightening that cat owners would have their details publicly available on a register, which could be exploited by marketing companies or lead to vexatious complaints by neighbours. Mr Papalia said the bill empowered local governments to compel owners to restrain their cats within their property at all times. A spokeswoman for cat welfare shelter Cat Haven said herding cats could be tricky for owners. "They can scurry away quite quickly,'' she said. She also said the state government could provide funding assistance for the construction of cat enclosures in the home. WA Premier Colin Barnett, who admitted he was "not a great lover of cats'', said thousands of felines were being euthanased every year and this legislation would tackle the issue. "I'd just ask people to think about the responsibility of being a pet owner and the responsibility to make sure cat numbers don't grow exponentially,'' Mr Barnett said. "We have to euthanase thousands of cats a year and that's not acceptable in a humane society.'' Mr Barnett said cat owners also needed to be conscious of the damage cats do to native species and the environment. The Cat Haven spokeswoman said the bill could have gone further by lowering the age at which a cat must be sterilised, which is six months under the proposed laws. "We get females in at four months that are already pregnant,'' she said. She also said the period for holding cats at management facilities before they are destroyed should be extended. Under the planned laws, a cat may be destroyed if it is not reclaimed from the facility by its owner within at least seven working days from being notified in writing where the cat is being held.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/proposed-laws-trigger-wa-cat-fight/story-e6frg12c-1226131647218

Poll added

Big Brother WA!

Big Brother is not only watching and listening - he is keeping dossiers on you and is going to invade your home and inspect it...just in case you keep a feline...

Hmmnnn....so much for the big "L" Liberal notions of 'freedom' and 'democracy', eh!?

Too extreme.

That said all cats found wandering should be killed.

FriYAY wrote on Sep 8^th, 2011 at 10:01am:

Too extreme. That said all cats found wandering should be killed.

That's a tad drastic for a first offence, don't you think!?

Cats and dogs found wandering should be caught and held in a pound for a maximum period of time - in order to allow for sufficient time for the owners to be contacted and/or come forward to claim said animals and pay fines - before being put up for adoption by another member of the public (unless they behave aggressively whilst captive).

Such fines should be based on the nature and frequency of offences to date, i.e.: whether or not the animal has been de-sexed, microchipped, registered, etc. - plus a loading for second and subsequent offences!

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That's a tad drastic for a first offence, don't you think!?

That would be why we picked Needs work.

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and they can come in and seize your cat.''

It would take a brave/foolish person to try.  

There's a good reason that cats have been accepted into the Hu's domains for thousands of years. Already in some of the most draconian shires there is a rodent problem.

Cats are being used as a scapegoat in Australia. It's not cats, who've been here longer than white settlers, that've caused the extinction event underway in Australia. It's people and their practices.

Apart from Hu's cats are the top predator. That makes them the most vulnerable part of the food chain. That's enviro-science 101. The east african savannah is wall to wall wilderbeest not wall to wall lion and cheetah. The reason is that wilderbeest are born ready to run. Lions and every other cat have a long infancy, this keeps cats in a home territory. If food becomes hard to find the cats die.

Cats are lousy predators of birds. Sure they can climb, but they're not monkeys. They climb for defence not attack. There are good predators of birds, they're other birds, having wings helps. But of course even then the sky is not filled with raptors, who've wiped out other bird species. Cat's stalk birds to hone their skills, they don't expect success. Sometimes they are successful, they catch the sick, old and stupid.

The Western ring tailed possum is an endangered species, in the bush, but in towns on the west coast where there are plenty of cats, the possums are in plague proportions. Roofs provide good habitat and food is plentiful. In this wine growing area it is virtually impossible to grow backyard grapes, possums defoliate the vines.

In the bush feral cats main food source is rabbit. A friend of mine was a roo shooter out on the nullarbor. When he started he'd shoot feral cats and foxes as a favour to farmers. And promptly got chewed for it. "what the hell do you think keeps down the rabbits" they told him.

The bad story on cats is baseless hysteria. There's no shortage of rabbits, rats and mice and nobody ever saw a fat cat chase anything.

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It's not cats, who've been here longer than white settlers,

They do not know whether cats were introduced by British settlers, or by Dutch Explorers or traders who were ship wrecked prior to 1788.
There is also stories about them being introduced by Asian traders.