BURNSIDE Council has voted against becoming the second Adelaide council to introduce cat registration, despite surveys finding 75 per cent of residents support the move.

Councillors baulked at the estimated $130,000 cost of bringing in the bylaw, which would then have cost $60,000 to administer each year.

The rules, modelled on those adopted by Mitcham Council in 2011, would have required cats to be microchipped, wear a collar and tag and be desexed.

Each household would have only been allowed two cats, unless the council gave permission for more.

Cr Jane Davey told last night’s meeting there was strong support in the community for stricter cat bylaws.

Asurvey of 2035 residents in June – conducted after thecouncilreceived a 470-signature petition in favour of bringing in cat management bylaws – found 73 per cent of respondents supported the push.

A follow-up poll found 79 per cent of residents wanted new cat laws.

“It’s evident that the Burnside community want us to provide the leadership to provide better cat management,” Cr Davey said.

“With increasingly dense housing across all our suburbs, one of the council’s basic responsibilities is to regulate animal population, which is the case with dogs and chickens.

“Would I be allowed to keep a couple of pet pigs or horses in my backyard? Of course not.

“But why do we allow cats – owned or not – to roam free in our streets and parks and the hills face zone?”

Groups such as Burnside Cat Care Group, Cats Assistance to Sterilise and Cat Supporters Group of SA wrote to the council strongly opposing the proposed bylaw, saying similar laws had been ineffective interstate and bad cat owners would hide their pets from authorities.

Cr Henry Davis said reducing cat numbers could lead to an increase mouse and rat numbers.

He said there was no evidence to suggest there was a big feral cat problem in Burnside.

“We’re considering spending $150,000 on a bylaw that will probably fail,” Cr Davis said.

“In the last year there’s been nine complaints about cats.

“We’re proposing to spend $16,000 per complaint and that seems a lot to me.

“In the best case we succeed and reduce the number of cats in our community and their impact on wildlife, but that is not necessarily the case.”

Councillors voted 4:6 against the bylaws.

Instead, the council will next year increase cat ownership education, improve responses to cat complaints and address feral cat colonies.

Meanwhile, about two-thirds of Mitcham’s cats remain unregistered despite the councilbringing in cat registration three years ago.

Mitcham Council’s annual report, released last month, showed 2444 cats were registered last financial year, up from 2256 the year before.

Council chief executive Matthew Pears estimated there were another 5000 unregistered cats in the area but would not say if he considered they had been effective.

The RSPCA supports the compulsory registering and microchipping of all cats.

“Microchipping helps identify owners of stray and wandering cats that end up at shelters and pounds,” chief executive Tim Vasudeva said.

He said this was highlighted by the difference in the number of cats and dogs surrendered to the RSPCA which were reunited with their owners.

In the 2013/14 financial year, more than 50 per cent of dogs were returned to their homes, compared to less than four per cent of cats and kittens.

Originally published as Why council won’t toughen cat laws