Far North District Council votes in favour of including cats in Animal Nuisance Bylaw

Cats will be added to the Far North District Council's Animal Nuisance Bylaw. Photo / 123rf

Far North residents will be able to have their say on whether mandatory desexing and microchipping for pet cats is introduced after the council voted in favour of stricter measures.

A majority vote was passed at Thursday’s Far North District Council meeting to include cats in the Animal Nuisance Bylaw yet to be drafted and consulted on publicly. The decision will give the council the powers to seize cats as well as prosecute people breaching the bylaw.

The extent of the cat problem was laid bare by Coast to Coast Cat Rescue trust chairwoman Sam Stewart, who said her rescue has had 1620 cats and kittens come into their care since April 2021.

“A significant proportion of the cats [rescued] were likely previously owned but strayed or were lost or may have been unwanted kittens from stray cats.”

At one point deputy mayor Kelly Stratford said cats were being shipped down to the South Island from the Far North because of the district’s “out-of-control” feline population.

Stewart said uncontrolled cats could create problems such as fighting, running across roads, entering houses and stealing pet food, spraying, preying on wildlife; and breeding litters of unwanted kittens.

Additionally, Stewart noted they could pose a risk to public health by toileting in places such as children’s sandboxes and people’s gardens which could spread ringworm, fleas or toxoplasmosis.

Rehoming unwanted cats and kittens in the Far North had placed an increased burden on rescue groups, Stewart said.

She expressed her support for rules that would back up the work rescues do and for the introduction of mandatory microchipping and desexing, which she said there was a worldwide movement toward.

While New Zealand has no national cat management plan, Parliament’s environment select committee recommended the Government create a national framework involving mandating the desexing and microchipping of companion cats.

In May last year, the Whangārei District Council passed an amendment to the Animal Bylaw that meant all companion cats in Whangārei must be desexed and microchipped by 6 months of age.

However, information from the Far North District Council revealed many unforeseen issues arose from the change. These included a lack of facilities, resources and staff to care for cats which apparently led to some people turning up at the council’s service desk to drop off unwanted or abandoned cats.

Stewart said she knew that had only happened on two occasions.

Enforcement was apparently difficult as people fed cats but did not “own” them. The cost of desexing and microchipping pet cats was tough for low-income families. Whangārei vets did not have capacity for the increased demand for desexing and the SPCA was over-capacity.

Stratford said including cats in the bylaw was not about “throwing big sticks at people who have cats”.

“It’s about empowering our cat rescues, from Donna Dolittles up north to Coast to Coast, who are the people actually on the ground dealing with the prolific amount of cat colonies up here.”

Councillor Ann Court voted against the motion but made a point of saying she sympathised with the challenge cat rescues faced.

She questioned whether cat control was the most pressing concern at this point in time, noting council still doesn’t have a drainage bylaw.

“I think we are setting ourselves up to fail. I think this will be a very difficult policy to implement and a difficult policy to manage.”

Court wanted to wait until central government made a move nationally regarding the issue of cat management.

Karina Cooper is deputy news director and covers breaking and general news for the Advocate. She also has a special interest in investigations.