Council to participate in RSPCA NSW ‘Keeping Cats Safe at Home’ project
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Blue Mountains City Council has been selected as one of ten Councils to join RSPCA NSW’s ‘Keeping Cats Safe at Home’ project, funded by the NSW Environmental Trust.
The four year project, which will run from 2021-2025, encourages cat owners to keep their cats safely contained at home to enhance feline welfare and reduce the negative impacts cats have on wildlife.
Blue Mountains Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill, said: “This program is a real win-win solution that will keep our cats safer and greatly reduce the predatory impacts of cats on our precious native wildlife.
“As a wildlife friendly City within a World Heritage Area, Council encourages responsible cat ownership and we recognise we have a responsibility to minimise the impacts of roaming domestic cats on the natural environment.”
Cr Brent Hoare, who raised the idea with Council last year, welcomed the proposed partnership with the RSPCA NSW.
“Working in partnership with cat owners, this program will deliver subsidised and practical approaches that will make a real difference to protecting both our beloved pets and native animals,” Cr Hoare said.
The project will be delivered by RSPCA NSW with support from Council, and will provide up to $90,000 in incentives for cat owners and may include free or subsidised desexing, cat enclosures and behaviour enrichment advice.
It will include a tailored behaviour change strategy, which will be developed based on extensive consultation with stakeholders, especially cat owners.
Consultation with stakeholders is now underway and Blue Mountains residents are encouraged to submit their views on cat management via an online survey by 31 October 2021.
This project has been assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust. RSPCA NSW is a community-based, not-for-profit, animal welfare charity that protects, cares for, treats and rehomes animals across New South Wales.