Right: How many is too many? Some owners go too far, say even cat fanciers, who admit it does not help the cause if too many uncontrolled cats prowl at night.
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Background information
Cats are kept as pets in Australia and are also one of the major invasive species that are causing detrimental effects to indigenous wildlife. For biosecurity reasons any cats that are imported into Australia must meet conditions set of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
Historical records date the introduction of cats to Australia at around 1804 and indicate that cats first became feral around Sydney by 1820. There are now an estimated 2.7 million domestic cats and over 18 million feral cats in Australia.
There are several ways to classify cats. They include: pet cat, house cat, domestic cat, stray, feral, semi-feral, unowned, colony cat and free-roaming, amongst others. Common characteristics that are used in defining different groups of cats include their degree of socialisation, ancestry, ownership, fear of humans and reliance on humans for their care.
The broadest two groups that can be identified are 'owned' cats, which live in a household where they are fed and cared for by humans, and 'unowned' cats that do not live in a household and may or may not be fed or cared for. The term 'free-roaming', on the other hand, can include both owned and unowned cats, since it generally refers to a lack of confinement.
Government sponsored control measures have typically focussed on feral cats, those that live in bushland without any human contact or socialisation.
However, increasingly municipalities are taking measures to control owned cats.
Control of owned cats
Owned cat control measures are intended to encourage responsible pet ownership behaviour by members of the community that own cats or look after a cat in some way (semi-own).
The anticipated outcome of such measures is a reduction in the number of cats being euthanised; a reduction in the impact of stray cats on the natural environment and wildlife; a reduction in the occurrence of nuisance caused by cats, such as noise, unwanted entering and damage to properties, and a reduction in the number of cats living in poor conditions and in poor health.
Among the regulatory measures typically applied are a requirement for cats to be registered with the local government; a requirement to enable the electronic tagging of cats for identification purposes; restrictions on the number of cats able to be kept; restrictions on where a cat may roam; provisions relating to the impounding of cats; penalties for abandoning of cats; and incentives, such as a subsidy for the sterilisation of cats; compulsory confinement and night curfew; and cat-free zones
Current cat containment in the Australian Capital Territory
A cat containment area can be declared in a suburb, or area of a suburb, if there is a serious nature conservation threat as a result of cat activities. The ACT Government pursuant to Section 81 of the Domestic Animals Act 2000, has declared the following areas to be cat containment areas: Bonner, Crace, Coombs, Denman Prospect, Forde, Lawson, Molonglo, Moncrieff, Wright and The Fair at Watson.
Throsby was announced as a new cat containment area on Monday 20 April 2015. Cat containment legislation will also be effective in Jacka from 1 January 2017
Federal government cat containment proposal
The federal government is seeking public support for expanded '24-hour containment requirements for domestic cats, particularly close to identified conservation areas of significance'. The measure has been listed as a high priority.