Mount Barker is an Australian city whose council has passed a measure that calls for a curfew for cats and other regulations that cat owners must adhere to.
Mount Barker is an Australian city whose council has passed a measure providing for the establishment of a curfew for cats and other rules that cat owners must adhere to.
In southern Australia, not far from Adelaide, stands Mount Barker, a city that has taken a very clear stance towards cats, although the mayor has sworn that the new regulations are not intended to combat animals but to reduce the impact they have. these have on the local environment.
The city council voted a new statute relating to the situation of cats in which there is a feline curfew which will become operational in the first months of 2020. In practice, cats will not be free to leave their homes every day starting from 20:00 am and until 7:00 pm.
It will also come introduced the limit of two cats per property. Exceptions can only be made for those who already own more than two cats.
The goal is to put a stop to the "annoyances" and damage that the behavior of these animals causes on the streets of the city at night.
The mayor, Ann Ferguson, said the move was the result of a community "protest" about the behavior of cats in the area. There was even a consultation on the issue that saw good participation by citizens, a sign that the issue is really very hot.
Indeed the feline issue is very much felt across Australia so much so that several cities have already established rules regarding the management of cats (some even very questionable such as that of exterminating them with poisoned sausages!).
The citizens of Mount Barker have been annoyed by the fact that cats defecate on lawns, urinate on house doors and kill wildlife. Hence the need for the new restrictive rules.
Residents whose cats are found wandering the streets at night will be punished with penalties (yet to be detailed). The board is also considering the possibility of fine-tuning surveillance to "flush out" cats that break the curfew.
Ferguson stated that she is a "cat lover" and that the new rules do not aim at all to devalue this animal but rather, as stated on the municipality's website:
“The curfew is also in the best interest of pets as the safest place for a cat is the home. They won't be at risk of getting lost, hit by a car or fighting with other cats ”.
But the cat, you know, is a very free and independent animal, will it respect the curfew imposed by its owners?
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