Marty Sharpe
Dags, dreadlocks, fur balls ... call them what you will, under new animal welfare guidelines they are about to be banned from cats.
The draft animal welfare code, published this week by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, will set minimum standards for issues ranging from requiring owners to feed young kittens twice a day to forbidding them from allowing the fur of long-haired cats to become matted.
The code, written by the New Zealand Companion Animal Council, said it would be an offence to abandon a cat, and that no cats should be killed by drowning.
"Kittens, in particular, have a 'diving reflex' that prolongs their distress while drowning," the code said.
It also warned that increased concern for native wildlife meant failure to control cats hunting native birds, insects, skinks and geckos could, over time, result in a backlash against cats.
The code also recommended that owners have their cats tagged with a "microchip" to identify them.
Napier SPCA manager Mike Wallace is hoping councils will respond to the new guidelines by making bylaws to restrict the number of cats allowed on a property.
While Hastings District Council has a bylaw restricting the number of cats on a property, Napier City Council has no restriction.
Mr Wallace said the new guidelines would make little difference to the way things were done presently, but would make prosecution of cat owners "a little bit easier".
"It's always been an offence to mistreat or abandon animals under the Animal Welfare Act. This just aims to make people take more responsibility," Mr Wallace said.
Mistreated cats and feral cats were common in Napier, with East Pier and Clive Square among the more popular "dumping places", he said.
"We can get up to 20 feral cats at a time. At one property at Bay View we got 40 cats. We got over 50 on a Hastings property. It would make sense for councils to restrict the number of cats on a property, the way they do for dogs," Mr Wallace said.
Mr Wallace has kept the coat from a feral cat that had hair so badly matted it needed to be shaved after it was found last year.
Hastings SPCA chairman Janet Mitchell said the branch usually saw about seven cats in that sort of condition each year.
"It's horrible for the cat, extremely painful," Mrs Mitchell said.
The new code would make it easier to prosecute offenders with a clear set of guidelines to prove minimum standards were not being met, she said.
Public submissions to the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) will close on May 16.
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