New legislation protects cats

The Cat Bill has now gone through both houses of Parliament, has received the Royal Assent and is now law. The main provisions in the Act regarding sterilisation, microchipping and registration will become effective in November 2013.

As the Greens WA spokesperson for Animals I supported the Bill primarily on animal welfare grounds - in order to reduce the large number of strays and abandoned cats that are euthanased each year); on social grounds - to safeguard the vital role that companion cats have in our society; and on environmental grounds – to protect native birds and animals from predation from cats.

I did however seek some clarification on some aspects of the Bill and argued for changes that I believe would have made it more effective. Research in other States where legislation exists shows that many cat owners simply do not get round to sterilising their animals, sometimes because of the expense but often for lack of motivation. Also where the compulsory age for sterilisation is 6 months many unwanted litters are born before that age.

I argued for increased funding to assist organisations and cat owners who are on a fixed or low income in meeting the costs of the new regime of compulsory registration, microchipping and sterilisation.

I also argued strongly for a lower age of sterilisation and that the responsibility for microchipping and sterilisation would rest with the breeder and would have to be done prior to transfer to a new owner. These changes were not adopted and I was advised that one of the reasons for this is that earlier sterilisation is not supported by veterinary practitioners in Western Australia. Since current research shows that early age de-sexing is not harmful to cats and can in many cases be beneficial, I have written to Murdoch Vet School about this and will be having discussions with the director of the Murdoch Veterinary Hospital early in 2012.
Watch this space for further developments!