Keeping cats inside at night was inhumane, one person said. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Keeping cats inside at night was inhumane, one person said. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Hutt City Council is being encouraged not to create bylaws that would impose household cat limits and cat curfews.
Council last year sought a report outlining options to deal with cats in Lower Hutt, including mandatory desexing and microchipping, and a rule that cats must wear collars with bells on them.
The options also included limiting owners to three cats per home, and imposing a rule that cats in some areas be kept inside at night to protect local wildlife.
But council officers are now recommending no new rules be put in place.
The decision will go before the Policy, Finance and Strategy Committee next week.
An agenda for the meeting shows it is recommended committee members decide to take no action, and agree there are no issues with cat management in the city.
A survey shows more than half of residents believe desexing and microchipping of pet cats should be mandatory.
Cats are not enough of a problem in Lower Hutt to justify bylaws, council officers say. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
The survey, which collected responses from 3391 people across Lower Hutt, showed most respondents did not want a bylaw enforcing the wearing of bells and collars, and keeping cats indoors at night.
But more than half of respondents wanted council to impose a limit on how many cats one household could have.
According to the report, there have been 36 stray or feral cats reported to council in the past six years.
"Officers consider the current approach to managing stray/feral cats is sufficient at present and that they are not an issue in the city," the report said.
Other options available to council include adopting a "promote and educate" approach to certain issues, or creating a bylaw, which would come with a legal process to follow.
The survey gathered responses to a number of statements, including that cats were "highly efficient hunters" and that they should be kept inside at night.
"My cat seems to be so domesticated she does not recognise birds as prey, and certainly not as food," one respondent said.
"A friend told me about her cat being dived at by birds and not coming outside again for the rest of the day. Maybe the birds are taking over."
But another person said they lived on a hillside section, and would see eight or more cats each day stalking through the bush.
"They are daytime hunters as well. That is a lot of wildlife at risk."
Many commenters also opposed a rule for cats to wear bells, saying the cats had become skilled at hunting despite wearing a bell, and that collars could become snagged on trees and bushes and harm the cat.
On the issue of mandatory desexing, some people said it was the "most important action to take", while others said the type of people who didn't desex their cats would also be the type to ignore a bylaw.
"Compulsory desexing would be ideal for so many reasons but would be impossible to enforce," one person said.
People also said it would be too hard to enforce keeping cats inside at night, with some saying it was inhumane.
