Please be a voice for silent cats and dogs. Please fill-in government surveys, and send in submissions. Community Cat Programs not only lower cat-intake into pounds, they also free-up resources to rescue and rehome dogs. This 'One Welfare' approach optimises the well-being of people, animals and their environment.
Knox Council Domestic Animal Survey 2025-2029 closes on the 13th of April. Please help with your voice - as cat-owners are a minority and never had consultation on 24-hr lifetime lockdown. Today I went to Knox's Pets in the Park, which is paid for by pet registrations. A person wearing a cat-suit was the only cat there. Guide: https://www.change.org/p/knox-advocats/u/33386102 Survey: https://haveyoursay.knox.vic.gov.au/dogs-and-cats
City of Melbourne's survey for Domestic Animal Management 2026-2029. Please respond by 29th April, 2025. Please ask for Community Cat Programs. https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/domestic-animal-management-plan-2026-29
Melbourne made a 6pm to 8am cat curfew on the 1st April. Agenda 6.1 9 makes the untrue claim that Stonnington has a curfew. A councillor pushing 24-hrs states that 'Merri-bek has 24-hr containment provisions which is our neighbouring council...' 'and Merri-bek cats are contained all day long'. In fact, Merri-bek Council rejected curfew/mandated containment, to focus on Victoria's 90percent of unowned cats.
New peer-reviewed science published:
'Rethinking Urban Cat Management—Limitations and Unintended Consequences of Traditional Cat Management': https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/7/1005
Australian Pet Welfare Foundation has a new website, making it easier to access publications: https://petwelfare.org.au/publications and government submissions: https://petwelfare.org.au/government-submissions https://petwelfare.org.au/
Register online with your Council, and others, to be informed of online consultations on Domestic Animal Management Plans 2025-2029. Councils make night-curfews, then say they do not work, and then make 24-hr cat curfews. Cat-curfews are proven to fail, and cost all residents ten-times-more than scientifically-proven Community Cat Programs. Governments and the privately-funded Invasive Species Council, push for cat curfews, as 'electorally popular'. Cat curfews cause more wildlife-deaths - not less. Currently all major political parties have expensive cat-curfew, killing, stances.
Victorian government to collar native dingoes following the Invasive Species Council proposal, against dingo welfare and First Nations lack of consultation. The Age and Sydney Morning Herald 5th April 2025: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/dingoes-to-be-collared-in-contentious-bid-to-protect-sheep-20250401-p5lo8v.html
more links are in our main page: https://www.change.org/p/knox-advocats
Thank you all AdvoCats for Animals.
Photo of my cat's next-door friend, who has received threats from a neighbour who also made false 'dangerous dog' reports to Council and had a much-loved companion taken away from a woman in her nineties.