Media response - cat containment

Published on 27 November 2020

• Bev from Minton Farms in Cherry Gardens is quite distraught over an increase in animals brought in because of cat attacks this year and more recently was devastated to find that several ducks and ducklings that had been rescued and were almost ready to be re-released into the wild were killed by cats despite being kept within a fox proof enclosure at Minton Farm. She’s calling on councils in the Hills to introduce 24/7 cat confinement to help protect wildlife.

  The Adelaide Hills Council will bring this in from January 2022. I was wondering what the Onkaparinga Council’s position is on this matter and whether it would also consider introducing 24/7 cat confinement, particularly in the high biodiversity value areas of the Mt Lofty Ranges?

Comments attributed to a council spokesperson 

We are disappointed to hear about the impact cats have had on wildlife in care at Minton Farm and understand how distressing this is for all wildlife lovers.

In a bid to reduce the number of unowned and surrendered cats in our region, we have recently partnered with the RSPCA to implement Australia's largest free cat desexing program, which aims to desex 2000 cats and kittens over the next two years. You can learn more this program on our Onkaparinga Now website.

Where there is evidence of an owned cat being the cause of a nuisance, we may be able to take action under the Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act against the cat owner. Unfortunately, this is not the case for feral or unowned cats.

Some councils have sought to make cat containment mandatory, however it has been unenforceable. We have instead advocated for a consistent statewide approach to cats to be brought into effect by the state government through amendments to the Dog and Cat Management Act.

In the interim, we encourage cat owners to contain their pets and provide some great resources on our website to assist.

For further information please visit our website.

ENDS