Knox AdvoCats want Knox Council to revoke the 24 hour cat curfew
Knox AdvoCats want Knox Council to revoke the 24 hour cat curfew
0 have signed. Let’s get to 500!
At 500 signatures, this petition is more likely to be featured in recommendations!
Michelle Lehane started this petition to Knox City Council Community Laws Dept.
- The Knox City Council introduced a 24 hour Cat Curfew, supposedly in the name of protecting wildlife and cats themselves, which began on 10th April, 2022. The Council has not considered the negative impact it will have on cats and their owners alike. The Council's solution to allow cats any kind of outdoor access is for owners to provide their cats with enclosures. However, cat enclosures are not always physically possible, affordable or permitted by a Landlord. In this situation, owners will be faced with the following;
- Denying their cat their basic freedom to go outside to lay in the shade and get fresh air during hot and humid weather.
Denying their cat their basic freedom to eat fresh grass to sooth upset stomachs, reduce fur balls and aid healthy bowel movements.
Denying their cat their basic freedom to run and play outside for exercise. - Owners that do not have air conditioning, or cannot afford to run it for extended periods to keep their cat cool during the high temperatures of Summer, are likely to be faced with their cat suffering illness due to heat exhaustion. This will also burden owners with additional Vet bills. Keeping a cat indoors during the extreme heat of Summer when constant cooling is not possible, is akin to keeping a pet in a hot vehicle.
- For owners that do not work from home, there are additional risks. Doors and windows cannot be partially open to let fresh air in without the possibility of their cat escaping or placing the household at risk of break-ins. Furthermore, when owners are unable to be present to monitor their cats' condition during hot and humid weather, their cat is at greater risk of illness.
- Cats trapped inside will meow loudly and endlessly out of desperation to go outside. Cat owners experiencing their cats suffering like this and knowing they are being forced to inflict this cruelty upon them, will cause unbearable levels of stress for all involved. The constant meowing will also deprive owners of sleep.
- Older cats that have never known life to be any different than to be free to go outside during the day, that are suddenly and permanently denied this, will suffer overwhelming stress and depression. It is highly probable this will result in cats urinating on furniture and on the floor to communicate how they are feeling. This is a common form of feline communication when cats want to convey they are in distress.
- Owners will be faced with high levels of stress added to their lives on a 24/7 basis trying to keep their cats inside around the clock. It will be especially stressful for those who suffer with debilitating illness or disabilities and the elderly. It is unreasonable and unfair to expect that people who are reliant on a mobility aid, such as a wheelchair or walking frame, be able to exit their home whilst simultaneously preventing their cat from darting past them outside, which would obviously be followed by having to retrieve the cat as quickly as possible to avoid a financial penalty from the Council.
- Cats form bonds based on trust with their owners, incarcerating them will erode that special relationship. Under these conditions, a cat would be inclined to attempt escape and unlikely to return.
-
The Knox City Council are encouraging the public to use cat traps! https://www.knox.vic.gov.au/our-services/animals-and-pets/problems-animals/nuisance-cat-complaints
Imagine your beloved cat being caged inside somebody's trap, frantic, terrified and being transported to the Knox City Council's Pound! If that wasn't traumatic enough, owners whose cats are captured, will be issued a fine!
For the first 6 months of the 24/7 cat curfew, owners whose cats are caught beyond the property they are registered to will receive a warning from the Council. After this, second 'offences' will receive a $91 fine. Third and repeat 'offences' will receive a $545 fine!
- Foxes do not appear to be of any concern to the Knox City Council, despite them being a significantly greater threat to wildlife.
- If animal welfare is of such a concern to the Knox City Council, then why are they choosing such a cruel solution toward one animal in order to protect other animals?
- The existing sunset to sunrise curfew is both achievable and understandable and does not cause severe stress to cats or their owners. Perhaps the Council could consider recommending that owners fit their cats with a bell on their collar to alert other animals when they are near as a secondary solution.
- Why during a Pandemic, when life is already at a heightened level of constant stress, would the Council choose to add something as stressful as this on top of it?
- One can only conclude that this curfew has been orchestrated by cat haters in an effort to eradicate cats and to financially profit every time someone's cat manages to escape.
-
Imagine yourself in the place of a cat under the 24 hour curfew. Imagine if you were told that from 10th April, 2022 that it would be illegal for you to walk outside your front or back doors ever again.
Imagine knowing the closest you would ever get again to being outside would be to look out of a window.
Imagine the only fresh air you would ever breathe again would be through the mesh of a fly screen or security door.
Imagine what this would do to your mental health.
Imagine what this is going to do to the mental health of cats whose owners are not in a position to have an enclosure!
- We, the signatories, ask the Knox City Council, Community Laws Department, to repeal the 24 hour Cat Curfew.
0 have signed. Let’s get to 500!
At 500 signatures, this petition is more likely to be featured in recommendations!