Many cat groups and others are advocating for the government to provide this service. On the surface it would seem like a good idea so why should we not campaign for Gov. assistance with this vital work of cat desexing or vote for those who want to bring it in?
The answer lies in three main areas
- We need to consider the real price of “free” desexing.
When funding is made available it may appear to be “free”, but the real facts are that this is a service never previously provided for in any budget so additional funding will be needed and it has to come from somewhere. So who will really bear the cost? For it to be sustainable the government will be sure to enshrine statewide cat registration. This is a tax C.A.T.S. has fought to push back and has so far been successful in holding off on a state level, although individual councils have started to bring it in. The mechanisms now in place as stated by Susan Close (former SA Minister for Environment) on ABC Radio Sept 2024 is that the Federal government provides the funds and State Gov. encourages Council to formulate the plans. This system is not generally transparent to the resident who is suddenly hit with the cost for every cat they own and assist with desexing. The initial saving becomes a burden in annual registration fees which in some councils are matched to various compliances. That is to say the registration fee would be less if you have also microchipped (an unwise law now in SA which should remain a choice) and vaccinated, which is a procedure you may or may not desire. Now multiply that with your number of cats and think about paying for it every year. - The government will require, as they do now, for every desexed cat to be lodged on the DACO data base.
Councils can assess this data base to see if you have actually performed these additional procedures whether you agree with them or not. - Council can also see if you have registered all of your cats.
This disables anyone assisting an unowned cat with a place to live in their back yard if they already have the pet household limit that any council with bylaws stipulate. This would usually be 2 cats. Additional cats will be frowned upon and you will be asked to rehome or surrender them or else go into a long legal battle with your council, no matter if you have spent much money on these cared for cats or not, whether you have put up expensive cat netting or not, whether you have put up additional expensive high fencing or not, your efforts to assist in reducing the free living cat population will be punished rather than rewarded. C.A.T.S. Inc has seen this many times.