Cat cages
We offer residents access to a cat trapping program to help deal with stray, feral, unowned and nuisance cats. You can request to be added to the wait list by logging a request through the My Hobsons Bay Hub or contacting Customer Service on 1300 179 944.
We will not collect any cats or kittens unless they are contained securely due to the risk. Traps are provided to trap stray, unowned and feral cats, they are not provided for the trapping of registered or owned cats.
Residents must comply with the cat trapping procedure at all times. Failure to do so will result in the trap being removed.
The trap is to be set after dusk, at night only, Sunday night through to Thursday night. Do not set traps on Friday, Saturday or public holiday nights, as there is no Council service for the cats to be collected following these days. Do not set traps when weather is forecast to reach 30°C or above.
If a cat is not caught by the following morning, the trap is to be closed and reset/reopened that evening. If a cat is caught in the trap, the trap must be covered with a sheet or towel. All cats must be collected by an animal management officer by calling 1300 179 944. Pickups will be conducted between 8am-2pm.
Feeding unowned and feral cats
There are millions of unowned, stray and feral cats in Australia. The cat overpopulation problem is due to a number of factors, such as supply exceeding demand and the ability of cats to breed extremely quickly. Research has also found that a major contributing factor to this problem is people feeding unowned cats, but not taking full ownership or responsibility for them.
People feed unowned cats because they genuinely care about them, and feel sorry for them. However, many people do not realise that they are causing a bigger problem by feeding, but not owning (e.g. desexing and identifying) these cats. Feeding unowned cats helps keep them alive and strong enough to reproduce, where they keep breeding more and more kittens into a life of disease and neglect.
Feeding unowned cats isn't the answer. If you want to help, you must either take ownership of the cat or contact Council.