Knox Motion passed, 5-to-4, to include an action on how a Community Cat Program or desexing could be implemented, and to release the hidden feedback. Knox dogs are given two years for better behaviour. But Knox homeless cats are given only one year. Please tell Knox to End the 24-hr cat curfew. Survey is open till 31st October 5pm: https://haveyoursay.knox.vic.gov.au/dogs-and-cats Please fill-in Question 5 'Final thoughts' Is there anything else you would like to tell us about the draft Domestic Animal Management Plan? (1000 characters) ask to 'End the 24-hr Knox Cat Curfew. To implement a Knox Community Cat Program, and for costs to be assessed after a minimum of two years - the same as for Knox dogs. For written submissions, please mark your submission as a 'Public Submission'. Email to: OurKnox@knox.vic.gov.au and to damplan@knox.vic.gov.au Post to: Attention: Annual Planning 2026-2027, Strategy and Transformation, and Community Laws, Domestic Animal Management Plan, Knox City Council Reply Paid 70243, Wantirna South, 3152 or Online can upload file - and please tick the box: 'I would like this to be a public submission'.
Knox has not added the Motion action into its Draft DAMP, has not added a cat question to its consultation survey, and has excluded reference to the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation. Knox rejects change petitions. We need many individual public submissions direct to Knox, to ask for a Community Cat Program, to be run in accordance with the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation scientific guidelines.
New video: Emeritus Professor Jacquie Rand 'Cats, Community & Cameras: A New Era in Free-Roaming Cat Management': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZT_x70gWCg at 10th National Getting to Zero Summit, 2025.
Please refer to our main page for scientific evidence links: https://www.change.org/p/knox-advocats
Australian Pet Welfare Foundation: https://petwelfare.org.au/community-cat-programs AdvoCats: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vK8gS0pDY_DzIyeBBe50GLzNgQLwPziNohriqbjb2CQ/edit?usp=sharing you can copy and paste points to send to Knox - email above.
Casey Council spends $1.8million annually on 24/7 cat curfew, and has risen impoundments by 680percent - APWF Sept 2025.
90percent of Victoria's impounded cats are homeless - with no owners to contain them, and no owners to convict. Community Cat Programs reduce the number of stray cats in pounds and shelters, and free up more resources to care for and re-home dogs. Community Cat Programs are successes. Cat curfews are expensive failures.
Cat desexing does not work unless intensely-targeted in a Community Cat Program, and given enough time to work. Who can trust a council 'trialling' desexing for only a year? When only high-intensity-targeted desexing works, and the savings are cumulative. Who will give the homeless homes? When Knox is bent on a punitive curfew model, raising costs and killing more wildlife and cats.
Knox Domestic Animal Management Plan 2026-2029 survey questions are only on dogs - not caring about cats. You can mention the impact on cat health, on inequality between dog and cat owner neighbours - especially when Knox dogs vastly outnumber cats, that Knox dogs have an Order to run off-leash in over 300 parks, sportsfields and reserves in Knox, as well as three dog-parks, and the Dogs' Party 'Pets in the Park' - where cats are not seen, not heard, not catered-for - although cat-registrations pay for dog-parks and parties.
Stop Council wasting money on expensive cat curfews, which are proven scientific failures in Casey, Yarra Ranges, and Mornington Peninsula Councils.
Rats Australian scientific research shows that rats have developed resistance to poisons such as Ratsak: 'Second-generation rodenticides are so potent they are banned in the United States, Canada and the European Union.' 'The poison makes its way up the food chain and kills other animals in a huge risk to Australia's biodiversity.' The Age & Sydney Morning Herald, June 10, 2025 https://www.theage.com.au/environment/conservation/ratsak-is-losing-its-bite-how-to-get-rid-of-rats-in-your-ranks-20250604-p5m4sm.html
Instead of aiding rescue-groups, Knox places rescuers at high-suicide risk. Knox's curfew is rising council debt, and is costing all residents ten-times-more than running a Community Cat Program.
Knox DAMP crows about hiding the identity of cat-trapping neighbours, and removing cat-owners' ability to defend themselves in court. While Knox dog-owners keep all their rights to living, and knowing the identity of complainants. 'residents dealing with nuisance cat issues, no longer need to provide statements to the Council for cats caught in traps regarding the time of seizure, appear as a witness in Court, or have their addresses listed on ‘cat objection letters’ which are sent to owners of the nuisance cat which identify the complainant.' Agenda 8 Sept 2025 page 160 https://www.knox.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-09/2025-09-08-AgendaMidMonthMeeting.pdf
Registrations of both cats and dogs are down, so Knox proposes door-knocks to issue fines. Remember that Animal Management Officers cannot enter your house, they can only enter your yard.
Knox's Dog Off-leash Section 26 Order for over 300 parks, reserves and sportsfields, and three dog-parks: 'allows dogs to be run off leash in the majority of reserves, including all sporting fields, throughout the municipality, rather than limiting off leash areas to selected reserves' 'Surrounding councils, including Whitehorse, Maroondah, Dandenong and Yarra Ranges, generally restrict dogs off leash to a select number of suitable reserves'. Knox plans to Engage a qualified animal trainer to run free dog sessions in Council reserves. And 'To Partner with Councils Biodiversity team to run targeted education campaigns' on homeless cats. Spending more money to make greater inequality.
Tell Council to stop calling the homeless 'feral' - which contravenes the RSPCA and the Victorian government terms. There are no feral cats in Knox. Knox has urban unowned domestic cats.
Knox counts night-curfew supporters as 24-hr supporters - so please ask to end mandated containment. Owners already lock-in their cats at night.
The impact upon females. In 2021, Knox said that cat-carers need 'education' and 'mental help' and to be treated the 'same way as dogs' - while removing equality and legal rights to defence for cat-owners. Knox felines have no public visibility, are locked-in, threatened by neighbours, owners and rescuers endure hate-speech, and the violence is rising - that Knox is inciting, and hiding. Even the RSPCA 'does not recommend' leashing a cat. Insist that Knox cat-carers are not 'crazy', 'childless cat lady', not in need of 'mental help', of en-forcing re'education', for loving not 'the right pet', or if they are not a 'real dog lover'. Tell of the rising violence towards Australian cats being directly linked to toxic masculinity incel groups torturing and killing, and elating that 'the screams of a cat can sound like the screams of a woman. There's also a demonstrated history of ring members committing real-life violence and it is typically against women.' reported by News Corp Australia 9 August 2025 https://www.change.org/p/knox-advocats/u/33829435
Knox states only 382 responses to its April survey.
Please, please speak up now against cat curfew. This is our only chance for the next four years.
Knox has refused response-ability for the reported managerial problems at its pound run by Animal Aid. Animal Aid managers Mark Menze, Tracy Menze, Shelby Thorn and Adele Scannell were reported by workers as ordering unnecessary euthanasias and breaching codes-of-conduct. Workers state being told: 'We are a business, not a rescue', for 'clean out' killing. Animal Aid refusing to allow rescue groups to save lives. Cats condemned to death 'just because they were timid', and shy. Dogs just because they 'looked old', or in need. Volunteers managed to save many, and workers have left taking dogs and cats with them. One worker who had notified managers she was adopting a cat, on arriving to collect, found the manager and 'Welfare vet' had just euthanised her. Knox cited two of these managers as 'Animal Welfare experts' for 24-hr cat curfew in Knox News Sept 2021 and March 2022, despite the Menze's having no animal welfare qualifications. Knox said that Yarra Ranges would 'review', but Yarra Ranges has kept the same managerial culture, and renewed Animal Aid's contract for a further three years. https://www.change.org/p/knox-advocats/u/33716235 https://www.change.org/p/knox-advocats/u/33747265 https://www.change.org/p/knox-advocats/u/33862332
South Australian Local Council killed pet Bengal cat within an hour because the vet did not read the microchip: https://7news.com.au/news/south-australian-towns-celebrity-rare-cat-wrongly-euthanised-by-local-council-c-20000675
29th September Knox meeting video: https://webcast.knox.vic.gov.au/archive/video25-0929.php Below Press 7 for Ashlley's two questions. Press 10.1 for the vote.
DAMP 1st round released feedback: https://hdp-au-prod-app-knox-haveyoursay-files.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/7417/5938/3136/Phase_1_Community_Engagement_Submissions_redacted.pdf Motion: https://www.knox.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-09/2025-09-29%20-%20Notice%20of%20Motion%20%20187%20-%20Domestic%20Animal%20Management%20Plan.pdf
Knox Councillors who voted against the Motion for cats and dogs:
Mayor Lisa Cooper: Phone: 0407 240 275 Email: cr.Lisa.Cooper@knox.vic.gov.au
Deputy Mayor Glen Atwell: Phone: 0499 884 585 Email: cr.Glen.Atwell@knox.vic.gov.au
Councillor Parisa Considine: Phone: 0499 444 850. Email: cr.Parisa.Considine@knox.vic.gov.au
Councillor Meagan Baker: Phone: 0437 808 011 Email: cr.Meagan.Baker@knox.vic.gov.au In 2021, Cr Baker made 24-hrs and refused community consultation costing less than $10 per cat owner.
Management of cat populations in New South Wales Inquiry rejected cat curfews. Hon Emma Hurst MLC: 'Cat containment laws are simply cat killing laws...Now don't get fooled. There are campaign organizations that will continue to push for cat containment laws. Now, these organizations and these groups that continue to push for these laws are the people who hate cats, let's be absolutely honest about it. If they were genuinely about reducing the number of cats that are in society, then they would be supporting the solutions where there's evidence that they work. ...Instead, they're pushing for cat killing through cat containment laws, where there's NO evidence that that's even going to work to protect wildlife'. https://savecommunitycats.org/sydney-rally-23-aug-2025/#emma-hurst-animal-justice-party NSW Inquiry: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/3011/Animal%20Welfare%20Committee%20-%20Report%20no.%202%20-%20Management%20of%20cat%20populations%20in%20New%20South%20Wales.pdf
Photo: Our Heroes: He survived most of his first year in a Knox chicken-coop. Now trooper Billy has found his human, and his furrever home.