A reminder that stage one of the ‘Cat Smart’ legislation comes into effect on 1 July, 2009. Since I last posted about it, it seems they’ve got themselves a bit of a marketing campaign happening…
Unfortunately they haven’t carried out the campaign very well… going to www.dlgsr.qld.gov.au takes you to a portal where… um… there is no mention of the cat smart campaign. Can you imagine how many members of the public gave up at that point?
Luckily I guessed correctly, and made it to the ‘Local Government’ page, and then the ‘Managing Cats and Dogs’ link. The best page for information I can find is the Pet Owners page. If you are unsure of your responsibilities, contact your local council for information.
It is also interesting to see the results of a household survey in the lead up to the new legislation. 3592 people were interviewed in November 2008, with the following responses:
I’m surprised at the amount of adult cats desexed! But it is also sad to see so many cats are not microchipped. I wonder what the correlation is between cats who are microchipped and cats with a name tag. If anyone knows where I could get that data, let me know ;)
And even if you’re not in Queensland, make sure your kitty is microchipped and desexed!
savvycat x
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
There was nothing at all about this on the Brisbane City council website until very recently, and even now any information regarding cat registration is located under “facilities and recreation”, NOT under “laws and permits/animals” where the rest of the information about pets, including registration of dogs etc., is. The information about cats in that section makes no mention of registering them. I also can’t find anything stating where we can register our cats or how much it will cost. I’ve sent them an email.
That’s pretty bad. I can’t understand how they expect people to comply if they’re not providing adequate information?
I’d be interested in knowing if/when they reply to your email and how much information they give you.
I got a response this morning. Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems to say “we don’t know either”…
Subject: BCC online request reference number: OR26858905
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:36:00 +1000 (EST)
From: enquiries@brisbane.qld.gov.au
Dear Miss S,
Thank you for submitting your request to Brisbane City Council.
Council is currently working on the processes to facilitate this legislation and will provide information on how, when and where to register cats as these processes are developed.
Your original email is included below.
If you have any further Brisbane City Council enquiries, please access the Contact Council page available from the Home Page http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au or phone our 24 hour Contact Centre on (07) 3403 8888.
Yours faithfully,
Angela
Customer Contact Centre
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Miss S’s email 27/6/09:
Issue / Request Details:
I’ve just read a news story saying cats have to be registered with the Brisbane City Council, but we’ve received no information about this and there is none on your website. Please advise when cats must be registered by, where we can register our cats, how much it will cost, and any other conditions being imposed which we may not have been informed of.
Thank you.
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A bit of a worry since this legislation supposedly comes in on Wednesday?!
That’s… really bad. Incredibly bad. How unorganised do they want to be? This has been on the cards for ages!