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Narrogin cracks down on cats

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Ratepayers in the Town of Narrogin are being encouraged to read a draft local law for keeping control of cats around the town.

The law was drafted in response to the 2013 introduction of the Cat Act, a cat control act that required all cat owners in the State to microchip and desex their pets.

Since the introduction of the Cat Act last November, the Town of Narrogin has caught about four or five wandering or feral cats a week, a number which Town of Narrogin chief executive Aaron Cook says remains high.

"There have been a high number of cats caught through Cat Act measures, but cats breed a lot and so while the numbers are better there is still an ongoing problem with cats in the area," he said.

The draft law titled, Keeping and Control of Cats (Local Law 2014), was approved by councillors at this month's budget meeting and will be published for public comment before council resolve to pass it on to the Minister for Local Government, Tony Simpson, for approval.

If the draft becomes law, it will regulate - among other things - the maximum number of cats that may be kept on a premises, requirements for the confinement of cats, regulation of nuisance issues and condition standards for cat breeders and cat management facilities.

The August council minutes state some residents in the Town of Narrogin currently own or feed large numbers of cats, in some cases more than 20.

Should the law go ahead, it would recommend a maximum of two cats a property, and those seeking to own more than two must obtain a permit.

Mr Cook said should the law be enacted, those who owned more than two cats would not have to dispose of them.

However, once they came to the natural end of their lives, they would not be able to be replaced.

He said local governments across the State were cracking down on cats and the laws would not be unlike dog laws.

"Every local government will be dealing with these issues for a long time," he said.