Shire-wide cat curfew comes into effect

THE Surf Coast Shire’s 24-hour cat curfew will come into effect this weekend, with local cat owners urged to take note of the changed pet conditions.

The new curfew will apply across the municipality and officially begin on September 30, with all cats within the shire to be confined to their owner’s property, unless the cat is appropriately restrained.

The shire put the curfew in place to prevent harm to local wildlife and reduce cats’ impact on neighbours and their pets.

Cr Rose Hodge said the new 24-hour shire-wide cat curfew promoted responsible pet ownership, a priority of the council’s Domestic Animal Management Plan.

“There are 757 cats registered as domestic pets across the shire, with more than half of those in the Torquay Ward.

“Community consultation undertaken as part of the development of our Domestic Animal Management Plan in 2021 and our follow up ‘cattitude’ survey in 2022 highlighted community concerns about the impact cats have on local wildlife, as well as support for a stricter cat curfew.”

Council hopes the curfew will help improve the health and safety of cats, preventing injuries that can occur through same-species fights, vehicle incidents, consumption of poisonous items, or from wandering onto neighbouring properties.

The Surf Coast’s previous cat curfew required cats in urban-zoned areas to be securely confined to the owner’s premises, between 8pm and 6am.

There was no curfew in rural-zoned areas.

Cr Hodge said Council’s Ranger Team has been in communication with cat owners to help them transition to the new curfew.

“Options to prevent your cat from roaming include buying or building a cat enclosure for your yard or installing cat-proof fencing,” Cr Hodge said.

“We have plenty of information and resources on our website to help with this.”

To learn more about the updated cat curfew and to view resources head to surfcoast.vic.gov.au/CatCurfew