A tiny New Zealand town wants to ban cats under a new ‘pest plan’ to protect native wildlife.
Cat owners in the small Southland community of Omaui will need to have their feline friends de-sexed and micro-chipped, placed on a council list and monitored until the time of their death.
‘Your cat can live out its natural life at Omaui happily doing what it’s doing,’ Omaui biosecurity operations manager Ali Meade told Newshub.
‘But then when it dies, you wouldn’t be able to replace it.’
A tiny New Zealand town wants to ban cats under a new ‘pest plan’ to protect native wildlife, saying domestic cats take a huge toll on native wildlife, killing large numbers of birds (stock image)
Cat owners in the small Southland community of Omaui (pictured) may need to have their feline friends de-sexed and micro-chipped, placed on a council list and monitored until the time of their death
The drastic new changes might spell the end for all cats in the coastal town, with those wanting to buy a new or replacement cat seen to be in breach of the Pest Management Act.
Environment Southland has proposed the changes to help protect biodiversity in the area.
Ms Meade said rules and regulations to monitor cat ownership in the area would have a huge positive impact on the environment.
She said trail cameras had been recording cats in the area to monitor the damage they’re doing to the native flora and fauna.
‘There’s cats getting into the native bush, they’re preying on native birds, they’re taking insects, they’re taking reptiles, all sorts of things. They’re doing quite a bit of damage,’ she explained.
Omauri is home to 230 hectares of lowland and forest where native birds including the fantail (left), brown creeper, grey warbler, shining cuckoo kingfisher and the tui (right) live
‘People have a choice,’ Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said earlier in the year. ‘Is it the native birds and wildlife, like the lizards, insects they want to thrive? Or is it the cat?’ (Pictured: the shining bronze-cuckoo)
Omauri is home to 230 hectares of lowland and forest where native birds including the fantail, brown creeper, grey warbler, shining cuckoo kingfisher and the tui live.
‘People have a choice,’ Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said earlier in the year.
‘Is it the native birds and wildlife, like the lizards, insects they want to thrive? Or is it the cat?’
But the proposals have angered local residents, who say they will actively petition and have accused the council of behaving ‘like a police state’.
Resident Nico Jarvis told Otago Daily Times: ‘It’s not even regulating people’s ability to have a cat. It’s saying you can’t have a cat’.
Submissions on the Southland regional pest management plan can be made until 23 October.
‘There’s cats getting into the native bush, they’re preying on native birds, they’re taking insects, they’re taking reptiles, all sorts of things. They’re doing quite a bit of damage,’ Omaui biosecurity operations manager Ali Meade said (stock image)