Nuisance Cats

The Town no longer provides cat traps to residents, and setting traps has not been practiced by Rangers since 2020 as a measure to control nuisance cats. Anecdotal evidence and experience suggest that the RSPCA’s strict recommendations for cat trapping are overly resource-intensive, prohibitive for people who work during the day, and pose a welfare risk to the animal if not strictly adhered to. For example, the requirements include: checking/monitoring the trap every two hours, weather dependency, breeding season considerations, placement requirements, and food and cover obligations.

What to do if you have contained a cat in a cat carrier?

Take the cat to your closest vet

The cat can be taken to your closest vet for a microchip scan and health check. The vet will then contact the owner or the Town’s Ranger team to have the cat collected.

Contact the Rangers

If you are unable to take the cat to the vet, the Town’s Ranger team may be able to collect the cat from your Town of Victoria Park address if the cat is safely contained and secured in a cat carrier.

Rangers operate between the hours of 7am–8pm Monday to Friday, and 8am–5pm Saturday and Sunday. If the Town’s Ranger team collects the cat, the cat is taken to the South Perth Animal Care Facility where the cat will be impounded.

The facility is equipped with heating and cooling, and play equipment for cats. Fresh linen is provided to all animals to ensure they are kept in a warm, safe environment, along with good-quality food for daily feeds.

 

If your cat has been impounded, you are required to pay a fee prior to release and a daily sustenance fee for the upkeep of your pet. It is also a requirement that if your cat is not microchipped, then it must be microchipped prior to release. Similarly, if your cat is not registered, you must also register them prior to release. If the cat is registered, you will need to provide proof of this.

The Animal Care Facility is shared between the City of Perth, the Town of Victoria Park, the City of Vincent, the City of Canning, the City of Gosnells, the Town of Bassendean, and the Town of East Fremantle.

  • Cat Trapping
    • An issue of concern is awareness and education in relation to the use of cat traps by members of the public, with “Societies regularly having cats brought in via traps with inadequate (and dangerous) handling techniques, no covering, bedding or water, and the cats appear to have been in the trap for a considerable time; all of which raise serious welfare concerns”.
  • Uniformity of legislation across States and Local Governments
    • “The significant inconsistencies between states/territories and between local councils, in legislation, approach and level of commitment to domestic cat management, needs to be urgently addressed”.
    • “There is a need for careful consideration of the implications of legislation mandating cat containment or exclusion. For example, there have been anecdotal reports of unintended consequences such as cats being vilified and targeted by people in those areas.”

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