The NSW Companion Animals Act introduced in the late 1990s failed to deliver on its early proposal to introduce a night curfew for cats. It appeared that an unprecedented response to the Government's call for public comment made it clear that such a curfew would be seen by cat owners as a hostile act. And so no curfew. Times may have changed. People seem to more readily accept these days that we must protect wildlife, even urban wildlife, and that cats can be a threat to birds and other small animals. And perhaps as a result of strict new controls on dogs, pet owners generally seem to accept that the ownership of a pet carries responsibilities. No longer should we say that "it's a cat, it's not our fault". At the least a cat curfew would discourage the ownership of cats by people who were not prepared to control them. I believe there is nothing terribly onerous in confining a cat overnight. Most people will keep their cat inside, and a great many cat owners do now for the sake of the cat's safety and for the cat's company. It would be unreasonable, of course, to require cat owners to contain the cat during the day. What do you say? Should we have an overnight cat curfew?
