Tasman's cat bylaw is meant to support feral cat trapping efforts across Tasman Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
Conservationists are welcoming proposed new rules for Tasman cats, but some want tougher restrictions which confine felines to their owner's properties.
Sophie Davies, speaking on behalf of environmental trust Project De-Vine's Chris Rowse, described the bylaw as a "good first step".
The bylaw, as currently written, would require all domestic cats over the age of six months to be desexed, microchipped, and registered on the National Companion Animal Register.
New cats would have to meet the requirements immediately while existing cats would be allowed a grace period until 1 July 2027.
Desexing cats aims to reduce the overall number of cats, especially unwanted cats, which threaten native wildlife, including birds, skinks, geckos, and insects such as wētā.
Microchipping and registering would make it easier to reunite missing or abandoned cats with their owners, while identifying and therefore protecting them from feral cat trapping efforts.
"Many of our precious taonga species are vulnerable to cat predation," Davies said.
"Cat owners, cat control regulations, and cat management have an important role to play in protecting some of our special wildlife."
To bring about the positive effects of those regulations, Davies was seeking for the grace period for existing cats to be shortened - a popular request of submitters.
Forest and Bird's Scott Burnett wanted a shorter timeframe for existing cats to comply with the rules and a limit on the number of cats per household. Photo: Supplied
Forest and Bird representatives Scott Burnett, Te Tauihu conservation manager, and Cynthia McConville, Golden Bay branch chair, supported that position.
Colleague Gillian Pollock, representing the Nelson-Tasman branch of Forest and Bird, concurred but also went a step further, asking for the eventual containment of cats so they can't roam free.
"Cats evolved as predators, while our wildlife evolved without mammalian predators. We have to take the two apart, they just don't mix," she said.
Volunteer pest trapper Linda Jenkins agreed.
"It's really disheartening to know that despite all the work that goes into rat and mustelid control, domestic cats are still out there at night, predating on our native birds."
Resident Les Cook protested the nuisance factor of the "urban guerillas" that are cats and added his voice to the request that the pets are confined to their owners' properties.
Tapawera farmer Lloyd Faulkner said effective cat controls were needed to protect native wildlife from predation and farm animals from toxoplasmosis. Photo: LDR / Max Frethey
Both he and Tapawera farmer Lloyd Faulkner wanted to see limits of two cats per household.
Deputy mayor Stuart Bryant read Faulkner's statement at the hearing, saying that cats were "out of hand in places" with more than 100 feral cats caught near St Arnaud over the course of a single year.
Faulkner also wanted more extensive education on how to dispose of cat waste, which can carry and spread toxoplasmosis - the infection that culled his lamb flock by two thirds last year.
"If we are going to be predator free by 2050, we've a long way to go. Let's not pussyfoot around, do it once and finish it. It won't be easy, but to save our birdlife and farming, it's got to be done and be done properly."
Councillors on the hearing panel will deliberate on the proposed bylaw on 16 October, with the final version to be voted on by the full council on 28 November.
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