Free to roam - Councils are too poor to manage roaming cats that kill 96 million native animals each year in New South Wales

"Animal rescuers across New South Wales say they're struggling to cope with a surge in surrendered cats, warning legislative gaps are fuelling a growing stray "crisis"."

"Under the Companion Animals Act in NSW, cats can only be seized if found in a dedicated food preparation or wildlife protection area, otherwise they are free to roam. "This 'free to roam' is perpetuating a constant breeding cycle that all of us rescuers are overwhelmed with."..."Until cats are treated the same as dogs and have to be desexed and contained, this is just going to get worse and worse." "

"On average the Invasive Species Council estimates each roaming pet cat kills 186 animals per year...We need council and the government to step up."

"In September the NSW Greens introduced a bill proposing to introduce cat containment laws, which would require pet owners to keep their cats inside. The state government is expected to finalise its review within the coming months."

"We would encourage people to keep their cats inside all the time, especially at night." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-18/stray-cat-crisis-new-south-wales/106595620

"Cats kill approximately 96 million native animals each year in New South Wales, including millions of mammals, birds, and reptiles." >>
https://invasives.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Pet-cat-impacts-June-2023.pdf
#cats #pets #dogs #ContainmentFailures #biodiversity #wildlife #mobility #NSW #law #values #councils #Bellingen #Gleniffer #BellingenShire

It’s time for fair votes in English local govt

In #English local #elections, #voting system means #councils don’t reflect how people actually #voted

A small vote shift can completely change who is in control

Right now, millions of local #votes don’t help shape the final result

This leaves voters feeling powerless, because even when lots of people vote for change, final result can look nothing like the community itself

Sign:

https://action.electoral-reform.org.uk/page/2401/petition/1?utm_medium=mastodon_fediverse

#DemocracyNow #ProportionalRepresentation

This could happen anywhere in Australia:
Biodiversity conservation going to the dogs

Somewhere in crowded suburbia is a small creek with a bit of bush left behind by accident. It is a refuge for swamp wallabies, blue wrens and many other species of the biodiversity kin.

‘User groups’, that is locals and their dogs demand that the last bit of green is for their ‘recreation’ and not Australian flora and fauna. Pet owners allow that their roaming dogs destroy the last small fragmented refuges where native wildlife can survive.

Recently a council voted to fence dogs out of the park "to manage the growing dog population in the municipality." There are “problems with dog behaviour…They (swamp wallabies) are threatened and chased and killed by dogs.”

Anger and vandalism followed. Local pet owners demand to "make the park off-leash for dogs.” The dispute requires 'conflict experts’ from outside to get involved.

In a place where everything is 'dog friendly’ and where half of Australian households own at least one dog, they implicitly ‘voted with their paws’ to be 'wildlife unfriendly'.

* Conflict experts called in following a dispute over a dog fence in Coburg >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-09/merribek-calls-in-conflict-experts-about-coburg-dog-fence/106541266

* A 'balancing act' as council votes to fence dogs out of park, sparking safety concerns >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-21/merri-creek-dog-fence-swamp-wallaby-coburg-victoria/105675854
#biodiversity #wildlife #conservation #UserGroups #dogs #pets #roaming #DogOwners #TheBush #recreation #parks #FOMC #fences #UrbanEcology #extinction #councils #WildlifeUnfriendly

The latest Council Tax bill just dropped through the letterboxes of countless people across Anglesey today.

The cost? £2227 for the year. £42 per week. For a rabbit hutch bungalow.

A fundamentally regressive tax that no party ever wants to make fairer.

#anglesey #counciltax #councils #taxation #wales #cymru