A conservation group looking to bring native birds back to a Canterbury town have welcomed council plans for expand rules around cat ownership.

The Ashburton District Council is proposing a requirement for cats over four months old to be microchipped, registered and desexed.

Methven and Foothills Birdsong Initiative went to the district's biodiversity advisory group in February last year calling for the council to introduce a cat management policy.

Just over a year later, cats have been included in the draft Keeping of Animals, Bees and Poultry Bylaw, which is undergoing a 10-year review.

Birdsong spokesperson Mac McElwain said including cats in the policy is a good start.

“Cats do monstrous amounts of damage to bird life.

“Anything that recognises that the council’s prepared to help in that is welcome news.”

Under the proposed new section of the bylaw, existing cat owners would have just over six months to comply with the desexing, microchipping, and registration requirements, with a transition period running from September 23 through to the end of March 2027.

The other aspect of the cat controls prohibits people from feeding a cat “other than a cat they own” to avoid encouraging stray or feral cat populations.

The consultation documents outlines “the proposed rules are intended as a statement about responsible cat ownership and reflect what most cat owners in our district already do”.

The council “intends to take an educational approach rather than allocate additional resources for active enforcement”.

The existing pest control programme would remain unchanged, with un-microchipped cats caught in traps taken to the SPCA or humanely put down.

SPCA senior scientific officer, Christine Sumner said the organisation supports a bylaw requiring cats to be desexed by four months of age.

“Desexing has welfare benefits for a cat but importantly it helps reduce the number of cats and kittens that need our help each year.”

SPCA takes in an average of 20,000 cats and kittens each year across the country with most being strays or kittens born to an undesexed companion cats whose owners are unable to provide them with care, she said.

“Desexing companion cats can help protect wildlife when part of a long-term strategy to reduce the stray and feral cat populations in New Zealand.”

There are currently 15 local councils with bylaws requiring desexing or microchipping of cats, including Selwyn since 2020.

Sumner said an educative approach can motivate some cat owners to be more responsible.

“It is hard to know if these bylaws have impacted stray and feral cat populations because many factors are at play.”

Achieving a reduction in stray and feral cats takes time, as desexing rates need to reach and remain at high levels, she said.

When the council adopted the draft policy to go out for consultation on June 10, councillor Julie Moffet said it was “time that cats are taken into consideration” in the bylaw.

Councillor Carolyn Cameron also voiced her support for the inclusion of cat microchipping and desexing into the bylaw.

Consultation on the bylaw opened closes on July 15.

By Jonathan Leask