The City of Greater Bendigo is proposing changes to its ‘dusk till dawn’ cat curfew. The ‘dusk till dawn’ law requires cats to be kept on their owner’s premises from sunset to sunrise. This means they are not to wander past the owner’s land boundaries and trespass onto neighbouring properties. Greater Bendigo wants to replace the existing curfew with a twenty-four hour, seven day a week curfew. The council says it’s only doing what its residents want and to protect local native wildlife.
Tom cats can be a nuisance.
Fair enough. Responsible cat owners fully comprehend what a nuisance cats can be, especially male cats. Tom cats spray everywhere and pounce on any females in season. Cats can be very noisy when mating. The council goes as far as offering cat-traps to people who are having trouble with bothersome felines. However, council law requires all cats to be registered, micro-chipped and offer a discount for neutered cats. So, technically, the problem of amorous cats shouldn’t exist or the occurrence should be a rarity.
The proposed cat law requires cats to be confined to their owner’s properties twenty-four hours, seven days a week. Easy, I hear you say. Yep, simple… If you own your own property and have a few (hundred) dollars lying around, you’ve got it made. Better still if you’re a DIY or have one in the family – a custom built enclosure is the solution to all the problems imposed by a ‘24/7’ curfew. Therein lies the problem – some cat owners lease their properties, some owners survive from day-to-day while others – especially the elderly – rely on their pets to provide companionship and a reason to get up every day.
Let’s break the leasing problem down just a tad more: if you lease a property, you can sneakily build an enclosure and hope to hell the real estate agent/ landlord doesn’t catch you or you ask permission to build one. If you go with seeking permission to build an enclosure, what happens if the answer is no? Well, I guess move – find a place where you can build an enclosure, raise the bond for a new property, pay at least two weeks rent in advance and pay for an enclosure to be built or build one yourself – or get ‘rid’ of your cat. If you have to get rid of your cat you need to find someone who will adopt your cat, pay someone to board your cat, pay the vet or the R.S.P.C.A. to euthanase your cat or deny you own a cat. If you euthanase then you feel like you’ve murdered a family member and by refusing all responsibility for your pet, you create another feral cat that will hunt local wildlife in order to survive.
Cats provide companionship to the elderly.
Many senior citizens opt for a cat because they are relatively easy to care for and they are quite content to curl up in a warm spot to sleep. Having a cat gives the elderly responsibility and something to focus on besides ageing and ailments. Without a companion or the loss of their companion, many elderly people lose their drive for life and they give up. This places a strain on the already overloaded healthcare system or finding them a place in an aged care facility.
In spite of the ‘dusk-till-dawn’ curfew and the proposed ‘24/7’ curfew, cat owners are not overly concerned about the ramifications; what will be, will be. Their concern is more with dog owners and the inequality that exists between the enforcement of dog laws and that of cat laws.
Dog owners are supposed to keep their dogs on leads except in designated areas but many dog owners don’t bother. They let their dogs run free. Their dogs chase wildlife at local reserves, chase cats, run onto neighbouring properties and bark at all and sundry.
It is a Greater Bendigo requirement for dog owners to pick up after their dogs and dispose of the waste responsibly. In some suburbs, this is rarely done. Many Bendigo residents are tired of walking through dog poo every time they mow their nature strips or go for a walk.
Occasionally, the Bendigo Advertiser reports on domestic dogs killing sheep and wildlife or attacking people but not on cats doing similar. Where are the traps to capture nuisance dogs? Why aren’t dogs being made to stay in the confines of their owner’s property lines? Why aren’t dog owners being fined for not picking up their dog’s poo? Why are dog owners allowed to let their dogs chase wildlife? Why do dog owners continually flout the law by not restraining their dogs on a lead or chain? Why are dog owners allowed to let their dogs bark at everything, sometimes for hours on end? Why do dog owners get away with so much? Cat owners don’t understand the inequality. Why the hell are cat owners and cats continually picked on? Why can’t all animal laws be equally enforced? It makes a person wonder whether council members are dog owners and whether they turn a blind eye because they, themselves, are too lazy to clean up after their own dogs and, personally, can’t stand cats. It’s time that equality among pets was achieved.
Help for low income earners?
Putting pet inequality aside, for now, how many domestic cats are going to be killed as a result of this proposed ‘24/7’ curfew? How many elderly people are going to lose their companions and be forced into retirement homes and be reliant on government services and the healthcare system? If people were to abandon their furry companions, the feral cat population would grow, not diminish. It’s the feral cat problem that needs to be addressed not blaming and penalising responsible cat owners. Further, if a ‘24/7’ curfew were to be implemented then the City of Greater Bendigo would need to consider low income earners. It would need to provide, or at least discount, cat enclosures to anyone with a healthcare or pension card. If the government can provide water-saving shower heads, ‘safety’ power-boards, and LED globe replacement then it is in a position to help responsible cat owners.