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Canberra Today 17°/20° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

No need to panic about Tiddles yet

cat in bag

SOME in the media this week have been talking as if mandatory universal cat containment was an impending new reality. We can thankfully report that it is a long way from being so.

Every cat owners knows that they are not the easiest of creatures to keep contained, and that even with the best will in the world they will every now and then get out, to not be seen until the clink of opening food tins lures them back home for dinner.

A citywide ban with heavy fines attached would force many cat owners to surrender their beloved moggies, and could be the sort of issue to bring a government down.

So we asked Shane Rattenbury’s office what on earth was going on and have this reply from a spokesperson:

No, nothing official has happened. A paper was prepared for the ACT Responsible Cat Ownership Steering Committee By Kathy Eyles, from the Fenner School of Environment and Society ANU and Michael Mulvaney, from Conservation Planning and Research, Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate. The report made a number of recommendations which the Government is considering, one recommendation was Canberra wide cat containment. But certainly no decisions have been made. There was an article in Saturdays Canberra Times about the concept of cat containment and it has gone on from there.

Here is a link to the report: http://www.feral.org.au/responsible-cat-ownership-in-the-act/

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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