Page 220 - Week 01 - Thursday, 10 February 2022
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I am pleased to introduce the Domestic Animals Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 to the Assembly today. This bill seeks to amend the Domestic Animals Act 2000 to bring forward some key reforms that will strengthen responsible cat ownership in the territory and deliver on the ACT cat plan 2021-31.
Cats are beloved pets and family members for many Canberra households. The 2019 Canberra pet census estimated that about 16 per cent of households own a cat. We know there are many benefits that come with pet ownership and cats are no exception. Cats can offer companionship and affection and help their humans to manage life’s stresses and strains.
Because pet cats are such special friends, we want to make sure they are happy, healthy and safe. Cats which are allowed to roam experience more injuries and shorter life spans than those which live indoors. They also have more chance of being separated from their families if they get lost and do not have up-to-date microchip details. The bill that I am introducing today aims to address both these issues by introducing mandatory annual registration for cats, along with new cat containment rules across Canberra.
The new registration requirements for cats will closely reflect those introduced for pet dogs last year. All cats will be required to be registered from 1 July 2022. There will be a 12-month grace period for people who already own cats before this date to register them, to give people time to understand what is required and smooth out the timing of annual registration renewals. Cat owners will need to renew their registration annually but will pay only a one-off fee of $57.55, or $20.70 for concession cardholders, this year, when they register a new cat for the first time. Owners of existing cats who register for the first time will be exempt from this fee.
In the future, people who do not register their cats will be subject to strict liability offences with associated fines. However, the government will be taking an educative approach to compliance during the early years of the registration scheme. Compliance activity will be pursued in future only once registration activities are bedded down. Annual registration will ensure that we have up-to-date contact details for pet owners so that we can reunite cats with their families quickly if they are lost or roaming somewhere they should not be. We know how sad and stressful it can be when cats go missing, particularly for children and older people who look to them for companionship.
The bill also takes an important step forward for responsible pet ownership by requiring all cats born after 1 July 2022 to be confined to their owner’s premises at all times. Importantly, cats born before 1 July 2022 will be allowed to continue to roam for the term of their natural life, unless they live in a declared cat containment suburb. We recognise that the adjustment to full containment for cats who have previously been allowed to roam would be stressful for cats and owners alike, so this grandfathering provision supports a more gradual introduction of city-wide cat containment over time.
We recognise that this is a big change from previous cat management practices, and it is one that we have considered carefully. The evidence is that roaming cats cause
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