THERE ARE NO ‘STRAY’ CATS – THEY EITHER OWNED OR THEY ARE FERAL
By law, there is no way to identify a cat as being “stray”. By contrast, the law dedicates pages and pages to the issue of “stray” dogs and what should happen to them.
Which leaves only 2 options for a cat – it is either an owned cat or it is feral cat.
An owned cat would have an owner that cares for it by way of food and a place where the cat can live. An owned cat is also required to be microchipped and registered so that if it does wander from the home it is an easy process to find its owner.
A feral cat has no owner and no home. It wanders the streets, drains, our bushland and our forests. A feral cat has to fend for itself and hunt for its own food. A feral cat is not registered or micro-chipped. A feral cat will breed freely, without a home or owner or medical care.
Referring to a homeless cat as “feral” and a “pest” animal (don’t use the word “stray”) is very important in making sure that these cats are dealt with under the NSW Biosecurity Act 2015. They are considered a biosecurity risk because cats kill as many as 50,000,000 animals per week, in their hunt for food. Feral cats do most of the damage.
No, that is not an error. The correct number is 50 million animals per week – many of them are our native birds and small mammals.
To care for our environment, we really must deal with feral cats. They need to be reported, captured and taken to the local animal care/pound facility and dealt with by way of finding a home for the animal if it can be domesticated, or, euthanize the animal if it is too feral and/or no home can be found.
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For enquiries regarding the State Government or its departments, or to put you in contact with someone who can help, please contact my office. My office can be contacted by phoning 4991-1466, by email to cessnock@parliament.nsw.gov.au or call into 118 Vincent Street (PO Box 242), Cessnock 2325.
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Cheers Clayton