Pet bylaw proposal could see all Far North cats ‘chipped and snipped’

By Peter de Graaf of RNZ

The Far North’s cats could be in for mandatory “chipping and snipping” if a proposed new pet bylaw gets the go-ahead.

Currently there are no rules around pets in the Far North district – with the exception of dogs, which have their bylaw – due to an oversight that saw the previous animal bylaw lapse in 2019.

A new Keeping of Animals Bylaw covering the likes of cats, roosters, bees and pigs was debated by councillors last week and will be open for submissions from Monday.

It proposes compulsory microchipping and desexing for any cats older than four months.

The exceptions to the desexing rule would be for cats kept for breeding purposes and registered with a nationally recognised breeders organisation, or if the owner can provide proof the cat’s health or welfare would be harmed.

The bylaw does not set a limit for the number of cats that can be kept on a property.

The lack of a bylaw has left the Far North District Council with little power to deal with complaints about pets, such as those relating to a stray cat plague affecting a block of flats in Ahipara.

The council is only able to take action, under the Health Act, if human health is threatened.

The district’s animal welfare groups are also swamped with large numbers of kittens – worsened by the Far North’s mild climate and almost year-round breeding season – to the point where cat lovers have resorted to holding kitten yoga sessions to find homes for the felines.

The bylaw also moots an outright ban on roosters and a 10-hen limit in urban areas.

A new Keeping of Animals Bylaw proposes compulsory microchipping and desexing for any cats older than four months. Photo / Peter de Graaf, RNZ

Pigs would be barred from non-rural properties, except with written permission from the council, and there would be limits on the number of beehives, depending on the size of the property.

Horse riders would be required to clean up any droppings in urban areas, an issue that has vexed some Kerikeri residents in the past.

Sam Stewart, founder of Kerikeri-based Coast to Coast Cat Rescue, welcomed the proposed new rules.

She said the charity had taken in 2056 cats and kittens since 2021.

Many were previously owned but had strayed or were lost, while others were unwanted kittens of owned or stray cats. Very few had been desexed when they arrived in the charity’s care.

Stewart said desexing and microchipping of companion cats were long-term strategies that would help address the overpopulation problem.

Just as importantly, the bylaw could be the start of “a new normal”.

“It will instigate the beginning of a change of behaviour, a change of culture and a change in the way we do things with our pet cats,” she said.

Stewart said there was no need for a limit on the number of cats per household, because that was not a problem when cats were desexed, chipped and living with a responsible owner.

The number of cats a person had only became an issue when the owner was hoarding and could no longer care for all of them.

That would be addressed by the SPCA, mental health services, and council health inspectors.

Consultation runs from September 23 to November 18.

If the bylaw is passed in its current form, the Far North District Council will become the latest of many around the country to bring in compulsory microchipping and desexing.

The Whangārei District Council introduced a similar bylaw in mid-2022.

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