Victoria is running a Pet Census until 28th July, 2023. It is anonymous. It is open worldwide. https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/livestock-and-animals/animal-welfare-victoria/animal-welfare/victorian-pet-census?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnrmlBhDHARIsADJ5b_lETv0HBghaf506Zrga8Sscp-d1SjNOly6G6HBksBDVsHf8gemy6VoaArPEEALw_wcB Please fill in, by using a Victoria postcode, eg: 3000, 3181, 3143 https://postcodes-australia.com/state-postcodes/vic It can be completed multiple times using different browsers, different devices, and has no proof of pet ownership. It appears to be gathering info on cat containment to revise the Victorian Animal Act, to remove the Prevention of Cruelty to (all) Animals to replace with a ‘Protection’ism Act this year. Below the questions you can add comments against mandated cat containment, against cat curfews, of the evidence they do not work, and are costly etc. 24hr and 12hr mandated curfews rise killings and prevent effective Community Cat Programs.
If mandated, or even ‘recommended’, ‘cat containment’ goes into the new Victorian Animal Act later this year, more Local Councils will Order cat containment curfews, making it easier for a Victoria Statewide 24-hr cat curfew - like in the ACT https://greens.org.au/act/news/protecting-cats-and-wildlife-heart-new-act-cat-plan (with more cat deaths, more wildlife deaths, more misinformation.) There are already laws if you do not want a cat on your property. Please speak now against the government enActing the cruelty of caging cats, permanent imprisoning, kitten-farming, and costly trapping and killing.
Please share The Conversation 2023 article reporting on research of the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation: ‘Australian shelters and pounds kill 50,000 mostly healthy cats and kittens in a year. There’s a way to prevent this pointless killing’: https://theconversation.com/australian-shelters-and-pounds-kill-50-000-mostly-healthy-cats-and-kittens-in-a-year-theres-a-way-to-prevent-this-pointless-killing-201947 Full report in international journal Animals: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/11/1771
Worldwide evidence shows that 24-hr cat curfews 'mandated containment' farms kittens to kill, costs All residents six times more* than Community Cat Programs, does not save wildlife, and rises suicide-risk in shelter workers as high as police and firefighters. Emeritus Professor Jacquie Rand on Community Cat Programs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbK3R36Xjg *Costing from Jenny Cotterell, a Senior Animal Management Officer for 21 years at Banyule City Council
When a homeless person’s animal is taken into Council Pounds it cannot be returned without a fixed address - Australia, Victoria. Branding suburban homeless cats as ‘feral’ (if they hiss when trapped). Woinarski group’s Sarah Legge is continually quoted in The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, and by Councils ‘each domestic cat will kill around 75 animals per year.’ - Legge, Woinarski ANU. Who is actually the ‘invasive species’ killing Australian cats? Mandated cat containment kills more wildlife. Historically Care and Protection Acts dupe people, and target species for cruelty.
24-hr cat curfew fails, as in Victoria's Yarra Ranges and Casey: https://petwelfare.org.au/2022/09/02/key-issues-to-consider-related-to-mandated-24-7-cat-containment/
In Community Cat Programs, de-sexing needs to be targeted, intensive and monitored, neutering and returning the cats to their home-site. This decreases population quickly, decreases shelter intake, complaints, killing, impact upon staff and costs. A ‘scattergun’ free desexing approach does not work. Studies show CCP is good for dogs too, decreasing their intake into shelters. Community attitudes and mental health improve.
Please also leave a comment below showing you can complete this Victorian Government survey from interstate and internationally - thank you!
Photo of Divine, Jurgis Maleckas
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