‘Carnage’: Residents accuse Bayswater council of having ‘blood on their hands’ after cats kill wildlife

Locals have accused the Bayswater City council of having “blood on their hands” after claims almost 900,000 native animals had been slaughtered by cats over the past three years.

Bayswater residents spoke at an agenda briefing last month criticising the council for allowing the “carnage” of native reptiles and birds as a result of cats.

City staff recommended no amendments to be made to its local cat laws, however the council has since voted in support of an alternative motion — put forward by Cr Giorgia Johnson — to put Clause 3.2 of the Shire of Northam’s Local Cat Law out for public consultation.

The clause states “cats shall not be in a public place unless the cat is ... under effective control”.

Up the $100,000 of the 2024-25 annual budget will also be put towards cat control.

The motion was carried 4-3 at last Tuesday night’s meeting with councillors Assunta Meleca, Steven Ostaszewskyj and Josh Eveson voting against it.

“To put Northam’s clause into our local law I think is consistent what we’ve heard from our community, what we have previously attempted to do ... (and is) in line with advocacy we’ve heard all around the State,” Cr Johnson said.

The city’s cat control law came into effect in 2022 but the city was asked by the Joint Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation to amend it.

The amendments included adding the Bayswater industrial area as a cat-prohibited zone and removing a clause that said a cat could not be in a public place unless it was under “effective control”.

Last year the council voted to implement a new law that prohibits cats from 43 sites across Bayswater, including environmentally sensitive sites such as Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary and Gobba Lake, as well as the Bayswater industrial area.

But WA Feral Cat Working Group representative Bruce Webber said the “only solution” to save wildlife was to persist with a change to the local law.

“In August last year ... I presented to you data that showed the general public is overwhelmingly supportive of having cats firmly contained both at a local level here in Bayswater, as well as our State and national level,” he said.

“Yet here we are again today, still deliberating over whether implementing pet care containment laws is the right thing to do ... we need to move beyond the why and get better at being brave about the how.

“This pathway is not waiting for the next review of the Cat Act because it will not produce “on ground change” until 2030 ... the only solution is persisting until the end with a local law.”

In the original motion, city officers also proposed three options to protect native wildlife: cross reference existing local laws, confine cats in specified areas, and increase education and enforcement.

But of the three options, Mr Webber said only one could provide a “real solution”.

“Since last August, millions of animals have been killed by cats here in Bayswater,” he said.

“Just as shocking is the hundreds of cats that have lost their lives or have been maimed in time because they haven’t been contained.

“I hate to say it councillors, but that blood is on your hands.”

Maylands resident David Dyke said the current measures were “clearly not working”.

“Since my original motion in mid March 2021 to mid March 2024, a combination of native reptiles and birds totalling up to 893,958 have been killed by cats in the City of Bayswater,” he said.

“Council, the blood of this is on your hands ... if you allow this carnage to keep happening, what’s going to happen?”