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CANBERRA'S cat curfew laws have been so successful they should be introduced across the ACT, according to the RSPCA. RSPCA ACT chief executive Michael Linke said introducing cat curfews in older suburbs adjoining nature reserves should occur during the next decade. At the moment, the ACT government's policy is to extend cat curfew areas to new suburbs before people move into the areas. ''Of all the injured animals presented to the RSPCA last year, about 2200, only 5 per cent were injured as a result of a direct cat attack,'' Mr Linke said. In Crace, Bonner and Forde, where cat curfews are in place, there were no cat attacks reported in the past 12 months. ''In the next 15 to 20 years, we will move towards progressively moving it into new suburbs and then moving it into suburbs that border nature reserves,'' Mr Linke said. The ACT government estimates one in four households owns cats, with about 56,000 in the capital. Associate professor at the school of veterinary and life sciences at Murdoch University Mike Calver said half of all pet cats were hunters. ''At one extreme, you have a cat that brings home half a dozen things a year,'' he said. ''The other extreme, an owner told me about a cat that caught two birds a day.'' But he said a new US study showed cats did not present all their kills to owners. ''They used [cameras] to look at the activity of cats and, while parcels on the back step are a good indication of whether a cat's a hunter, they estimated that cats only brought home a third of what they actually caught.'' He said when people with cats lived near bushland, which is the case in many Canberra suburbs, cats hunted native fauna and not just introduced species. ''I would agree that there is a strong case for making restrictions on cats,'' he said. Territory and Municipal Services has issued two warnings to residents relating to cat curfew laws since September last year.

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