LOCAL STORIES

Helping those in need.

By Warren Strybosch

With food and petrol prices on the rise and now interest rates putting pressure on new homeowners, people are starting to find it hard to put food on the table.

Already, we are hearing stories of families having to go without. With likely interest rate rises continuing to occur this will place even more pressure on those families already struggling to obtain the we list some of these organisations that are providing food relief, a community meal, and/or shelter for the night.

We want to thank these organsiations for the work they do in looking after our community.

Cat Curfew

By Jodie Moore

There appears to be a growing trend amongst Melbourne councils to bring in stricter policies when it comes to cat ownership. In April 2022, Knox Council implemented a 24/7 ban on domestic cats leaving their owner’s property. There will be a 6 month grace period where only warnings will be issued but then this will change to a $91 fine for first time offences, then jump to $545 for subsequent breaches starting in October 2022.

In July 2023, Bass Coast Shire Council will also implement a 24/7 ban on cats straying from their owners property. They intend to have a 12 month education drive in the lead up to this ban.

Manningham Council have announced that they will be implementing a trial 24/7 ban but have not yet announced a date for this.

The general consensus for this growing trend is to protect the wildlife with a side note about protecting the cats themselves from injury and illness. Protecting the wildlife is important and a night curfew will help with this, but I think it is up to the cat’s owner to worry about illness and injury. However, what about the consequences? Many outdoor cats help to keep the rodent population down. Will we suddenly see a spike in essentials they require to get by on a day-to-day basis.

In this month’s edition we have tried to find some organisations in the local area who may be able to help those families doing it really tough and require some additional support. Started on page 14,

rats and mice throughout these Councils and neighbouring councils, potentially causing much bigger problems?

There doesn’t appear to have been much thought given as to how local households will be able to implement this. Simply building a cat run or enclosing your property in a high fence will be costly (and potentially unsightly) and prohibit many low-income families from doing this. Locking cats up, particularly older cats that are used to being outside seems cruel and is no better than locking up a wild animal in a cage at the zoo. Families who are renting will likely be unable to get permission from their landlord to build an enclosure as well. Will this lead to a lot of cats having to be rehomed because the families can’t afford to cat-proof their property? who loves being outside as well as inside. We have a number of cats in our street, and once they established their pecking order, they all seem to get on really well and we quite often find one or two other cats sitting near or in our front yard a couple of metres from our cat. Although they don’t sit together, it appears they still like the company of each other. We ensure our cat comes inside overnight, as do our neighbours and often that means she has to come in by 4pm in the summer otherwise she hides from us so she can stay out. Our house also doesn’t get a lot of sunshine inside throughout the day so she would miss out on that precious light if we were to keep her in 24/7.

What are your thoughts on a 24/7 ban on cats leaving their owners property? Email us at editor@findmaroondah.com. au and we’ll publish your comments next month.