Mid Canterbury SPCA Backs Tougher Cat Rules

Monday, 24 February 2025, 9:26 pm
Article: Jonathan Leask - Local Democracy Reporter

Mid Canterbury SPCA is backing a push for tougher rules around owning cats.

Ashburton SPCA centre manager Natasha Sutton says she is fully behind the Ashburton District Council’s decision to investigate a policy.

“We can’t stress desexing and microchipping enough.”

They both should be a basic requirement for cat ownership Sutton said.

The SPCA has seen the “kitten season get longer and longer” in recent years and something needs to be done she said.

The organisation has previously pushed for the Government to introduce cat legislation, mandating desexing and microchipping that would allow councils to pass bylaws to manage cats to protect biodiversity.

That’s the reason for the push for a cat policy in Mid Canterbury from the Methven Birdsong Initiative through the Ashburton Biodiversity Advisory Group.

Birdsong spokesperson Mac McElwain said people might have missed the point of a cat policy.

It’s not to imprison pet cats but is about ensuring their safety and enabling the management of the “unwanted cat population”.

“It’s pet cat protection.

“It is simply a step to put in place guidelines to help manage the stray and feral cat population.

“It’s a people issue. Cats will do what cats do and they need help from people to make sure they don’t run amok.”

There is no legislation for cats like there is for dogs and other pets so it needs the council to have a policy they can work off McElwain said.

How that policy could look and work is now being investigated.

The council voted to move forward with an investigation, with councillor Lynette Lovett the only one to vote against it.

She is concerned about the cost and staff time involved in the investigation and any potential policy process.

“This all comes at a cost, whether it ends up like dog registration.

“It will have to be managed by someone as there is no use having policies if they are not going to be managed and policed.”

Chief executive Hamish Riach said all the details will be covered in the investigation report.

He said the investigation would be done in-house, but it will have to fit within the existing work programme.

“There is no specific timeframe in the recommendation and unless council imposes one we will just slot it into the work programme.”

Councillor Tony Todd supported the investigation going ahead and said that Gareth Morgan “was well ahead of his time many years ago when he advocated something like this”.

“I think it’s either cats or birds we want to look after.”

Morgan had famously made headlines when he called for stronger cat regulations in 2013.

There are already 12 councils around the country with existing forms of cat management policy – including the Selwyn District which requires microchipping and registration but not desexing.

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