Approximately 96 million native mammals, birds and reptiles are killed by roaming pet cats every year in New South Wales. We can't change the nature of cats, but we can change the culture that allows pet cats to roam and kill. Right now, an inquiry is underway in NSW which could change the laws to allow local councils to bring in cat containment rules. Almost every other state permits this - join us in calling for change in NSW.
In 2023, damning research released by the Australian National University found that roaming pet cats kill around 66 million native animals each year in Sydney alone.
The truth is, New South Wales has some of the most archaic cat management laws in the country. These laws not only allow cats to spend their time hunting and killing native animals, they actually prevent local councils from mandating that cats be contained.
This means communities are powerless to introduce one of the easiest and highest impact policies to protect local wildlife.
Now for the good news: the state government has just launched an inquiry into the management of pet cat populations in New South Wales. This is our opportunity to demand 24/7 cat containment across the state — a simple action that would have enormous benefits for our native wildlife.
Cat containment would be a win for cat owners too. Evidence shows that pet cats that are responsibly kept at home can live up to 10 years longer than if they were free-roaming.
This is the only way we’ll see change is to ensure there are thousands of submissions to the inquiry supporting pet cat containment
You don’t have to be an expert. We’ve made it easy to have your say and make a difference.
Together, we can ramp up pressure on the federal and state governments and make it clear that we want changes to the law for cat curfews, funding for responsible pet ownership initiatives like subsidised desexing and a streamlined pet identification and cat registration processes.
Complete this form to receive your writing kit to make a submission to the New South Wales inquiry into the management of cat populations.
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Dear XXXX,
As a resident of [ELECTORATE], I am very concerned about the impact roaming pet cats are having on our native wildlife. I therefore support sensible amendments to the law to enable local governments to enforce anti-roaming laws for pet cats, bringing NSW into line with almost every other state.
Cats are both valued companion animals and one of the world’s most successful predators. In NSW, approximately 96 million native mammals, birds and reptiles are killed by roaming pet cats every year – with about 110 native animals killed by each roaming , hunting pet cat. Unfortunately about 70% of cat owners still allow their pets to roam.
We can’t change the nature of cats, but we can change the culture that allows pet cats to roam and kill. We urgently need responsible pet ownership, and this starts with clear rules to ensure pet owners keep cats contained to their property to save our native wildlife.
This will also benefit pet cats. Cats that are kept at home are happy and can live up to 10 years longer than cats that roam which are often injured or killed through fighting, car accidents and disease.
This reform should be accompanied by funding for education, compliance and to make desexing and registration easier. We also need clear rules around desexing by 4 months of age to prevent unwanted breeding and requirements for all local governments to develop and implement companion animal management plans.
I am therefore calling on the NSW Government and the Animal Welfare committee to support:
Amendments to the NSW Companion Animals Act 1998 to enable local governments to enforce anti-roaming laws for pet cats at a local level, bringing NSW into line with almost every other state.
State government funding of a minimum of $9 million to fund compliance, education, desexing, identification and registration programs.
Requirements for all local governments to develop companion animal management plans to protect wildlife, as is required in Victoria.
Development of a state-wide web resource for responsible pet ownership.
Making desexing mandatory state-wide by 4 months of age, as is required in WA, Tasmania, ACT and SA.
Yours sincerely,
[FIRST NAME] [SURNAME]
[ADDRESS]
[POSTCODE]
[CONTACT PHONE NUMBER]
[EMAIL]
Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.
Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.