Guy Barnett,Minister for Primary Industries and Water
The Tasmanian Government is continuing to support and enable responsible cat management in Tasmania, with the next round of important changes to the Cat Management Act 2009 coming into effect from tomorrow (March 1).
The amendments deliver on recommendations for legislative change identified in the Tasmanian Cat Management Plan 2017-2022, which is Tasmania’s first comprehensive plan addressing management of domestic, stray, and feral cats.
The amendments are the result of extensive consultation with industry, Local Government, animal welfare groups, environmental and agriculture stakeholders through the Tasmanian Cat Management Reference Group, and public feedback directly on the amendments and other processes.
Amendments starting tomorrow are:
- Cats over the age of four months must be microchipped and de-sexed (exceptions apply);
- A person must not keep more than four cats over the age of four months on an individual property without a permit (exceptions apply);
- Anyone wishing to breed a cat must be a registered breeder or hold a conditional permit to breed a cat. The State Government will no longer be registering cat breeders. A person will need to be a member of an approved cat organisation to be recognised as a registered cat breeder; and
- A person selling a cat will no longer have the option to enter into a Care Agreement on the sale of the cat. Any cat that is to be sold or given away must be eight weeks old, de-sexed, microchipped, vaccinated, treated for all internal and external parasites, and must have passed a health check from a veterinarian, prior to sale.
These amendments start from March 1, 2022 and are in addition to amendments which came into effect last year in March 2021.
