RSPCA Tasmania says the Greens' bill for cat confinement needs improvement

The Greens tabled amendments to the Cat Management Act in Parliament last week which introduces a clause that cats must be confined to properties or their owners risk fines of up to $1720.

The bill allows for authorised people such as police, council officers, and animal welfare officers to seize or detain "a cat at large" and for a council general manager to either return the cat to the owner or sell or destroy and dispose of an unclaimed cat.

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RSPCA Tasmania chief executive Jan Davis said the majority of cats at large were actually feral or colony cats and therefore did not have owners

"More importantly, this bill proposes that the decision as to what is to be done with a trapped cat rests with the general manager (of a council)," she said.

"That fails to recognise the role of cat management facilities under the regional strategies and also the act as it stands."

Ms Davis said if this amendment was to be introduced as written, the RSPCA and other cat management facilities would be required to take trapped cats to the local council to be dealt with.

"That is never going to work," she said.

"Councils have neither the will nor the resources to take on this responsibility.

"While we're very supportive of the idea behind this proposed amendment, we believe it would need further work before it could be effectively implemented."

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