Cats to be contained from next year

BASS Coast Shire’s Domestic Animal Management Plan 2021-25 will see the implementation of a 24-hour cat containment order from July 1, 2023.

Council defines cat containment as, “keeping a cat contained to a property and/or under its owner’s control, in the same way that dogs are.”

According to the DAMP, council will develop a communication and education campaign to explain the benefits of cat containment.

The DAMP also states that cat owners, including the broader community, will be directly contacted to inform them on any regulatory changes.

While a cat containment ‘working group’ will be established.

“As part of the Plan, a 24-hour cat containment order will be implemented in Bass Coast from July 1 next year, which will mean that cats must be kept on their owners’ property at all times,” Bass Coast Shire Mayor, Cr Michael Whelan said.

“It’s important to note that the curfew does not mean cats need to be confined indoors 24/7, however, if you plan to let your cat roam in your yard, you will need to effectively cat proof it, to keep your cat safe and secure.

“During the 2020-21 period, 155 cats were found roaming and ended up at Council’s pound. These are the fortunate ones; many are killed and some become feral and do untold damage to our native fauna.”

The Plan includes measures to support cat owners to adjust to the new requirement to contain cats to their property.

“The roll out of this order will include an education campaign over the next 12 months, before it comes into effect,” Cr Whelan said.

“We appreciate this is a new rule for cat owners, so the emphasis will be on assisting cat owners in adapting to the change.”

For more information on the Plan, visit www.basscoast.vic.gov.au/damp.

Microbats say ‘thank you Bass Coast Shire’

THERE have been some very complimentary remarks, and few if any negatives about the Bass Coast Shire Council’s decision to ban domestic cats from leaving their owners’ yards 24/7 from July 1, 2023.

And one of the groups getting up and chirping their support are the microbats.

And before you dismiss the claim as clickbait, microbats reportedly save our agricultural industries millions of dollars every year in pesticides.

According to DELWP registered wildlife carer, Ericka Tudhope, of Microbats Melbourne a microbat can eat more than its own body weight in bugs every night, and in summer, when mosquitoes and other nasties are rife. They really come into their own.

On behalf of her flappy friends, Ms Tudhope has warmly praised the Bass Coast Shire Council’s decision to put a 24 hour at-home curfew on cats, saying she wishes more councils would follow suit.

“Absolutely, I wish more councils would take it up. It's a really great initiative not only for the bats, but for all of our native animals that, unfortunately, cats take a heavy toll on, so it's really good news,” said Ms Tudhope on ABC Gippsland Radio during the week.

“They'd be very happy. Cats do play quite a big role in the number of cases of bats that get brought into us at the shelter every year, specifically, little microbats that weigh anywhere from about four grams to 15 grams.

“It's really hard to estimate how many. There's not a lot of studies done on the impact cats have on them, but probably, I would guess it would be about 60% of the bats we get would be from cat attack and I get anywhere from 100 to 200 bats in a year.”

Ms Tudhope said it was easy to appreciate, even love our cute little native microbats.

“It’s not hard to, they're absolutely adorable. I guess the main thing I like to get across is that bats eat so many bugs every night. So especially in summer, when all the mozzies and you’ve got bugs everywhere, a little microbat can eat up to its body weight in bugs every single night which is awesome. And they also eat a lot of our agricultural pests as well, so they save us millions and millions of dollars in pesticide use every year. So, not only are they absolutely adorable and tiny, and everything that's tiny is very cute, they're also playing a huge ecological role for us and keeping all of our bugs in check. I can't even begin to imagine a world without bats and all the bugs that would be around us.”