Following their promise in the 2022/23 budget, the Victorian Government announced the state’s first comprehensive cat management strategy on Monday 9 May.
The long term plan has been confirmed to a 10-year statewide program, funded by $1.4 million from the recent budget.
Minister for Agriculture Mary-Anne Thomas said while cats are beloved pets for many Victorians they are also a threat to native wildlife and biodiversity.
“We need to ensure we’re best supporting the welfare of cats as well as our precious native wildlife,” she said.
“While Victoria has high rates of registration and desexing, we also know that we have high numbers of unowned and feral cats. That’s why we are working to deliver the first cat management strategy.”
There are over 224,000 registered cats across Victoria, and there are estimated to be more unregistered, unowned or feral cats in urban and natural environments.
The Victorian Government said RSPCA will play a key role in developing and ensuring the new strategy is effective, with cat desexing a key advocacy goal of the RSPCA.
Extensive stakeholder and public consultation are set to be undertaken as part of the announcement, including targeted discussion with key groups including councils, animal shelters, rescue groups and public land managers.
Knox City Council introduced a 24-hour car curfew in 2021 that faced backlash from community members, while Yarra Ranges Council introduced its curfew in 2014. Each decision resulted in a petition being started by residents, garnering over 3300 and 2500 signatures respectively after the curfews resulted in hundreds of fines.
The new funding will support education campaigns and grants to encourage cat containment and promote responsible cat ownership.
