The Wellington City Council's environment committee voted on whether to make microchipping cats compulsory.

Wellington City councillors have voted in favour of compulsory microchipping for cats in the city, but it's already facing a possible legal challenge.

Councillor Simon Woolf put forward an amendment at a meeting of the council's environment committee on Thursday.

All but three councillors have voted in favour of the change. "I am not happy with just collars. Collars can come off," Woolf said.

LUCY SWINNEN/FAIRFAX NZ Kent Duston, a concerned cat owner from Martinborough who is consulting with lawyers to challenge mandatory microchipping in Wellington.

He cited the example of the Christchurch earthquakes where many owners of non-microchipped cats faced a lengthy wait before being reunited with their cats.

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Cat owner Kent Duston spoke against the compulsory microchipping.

Duston, who lives in Martinborough, told councillors he was consulting with lawyers to look at repealing the amendment.

Although Duston has microchipped both his cats, he objected to the council making it mandatory.

He said the council was using "standover tactics" to make the case for compulsory microchipping.

"The council has not been open and transparent about what its purposes are," Duston said. "What they haven't said is an unidentified cat will be killed."

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown rejected Duston's claims as an exaggeration.

She said consultation with the community revealed that 83 per cent of cat owners thought microchipping was a good idea.

Woolf said the council hoped to educate the community before the enforcement period taking effect.

"I don't think we've got to that stage yet," Woolf said.

"There is an 18-month lead-in period where owners have a reasonable time to get their cats microchipped."

Some were not reunited with their cats at all, he said.

Councillors Jo Coughlan, Helene Ritchie and Nicola Young voted against the amendment.

All other councillors voted for it (Ray Ahipene-Mercer, Paul Eagle, Andy Foster, Sarah Free, David Lee, Justin Lester, Simon Marsh, Iona Pannett, Mark Peck, Malcolm Sparrow.)

Coughlan said the bylaw discussions had been rushed and should have been considered as part of the wider council animal policy.

"I feel like it has been rammed through a bit."

Sparks flew when an agitated councillor Ritchie criticised the amendment change.

She said the council was not within its legal rights to enforce the compulsory identification and challenged leadership on the issue.

"I can see from this an Island Bay [cycleway] fiasco," Ritchie said.

"There has been no leadership on this issue."

All Wellington residents will now be required to microchip their cats that are 12 weeks or older.

The councillors also voted to amend the 2008 bylaw that includes not feeding animals in public, limits the number of chickens and roosters allowed in the city.

All councillors voted in favour of the amendment to the overall bylaw except councillors Young and Ritchie.

THE AMENDMENTS

Amendment 15 and 16: Agree that all domestic cats over the age of 12 weeks must be microchipped and registered with NZCAR (New Zealand Companion Animal Register), or other Council approved microchip register.

Agree that the Council should use non-regulatroy options to support the compulsory microchipping of cats, subject to funding being designated in the 2017/2018 Annual Plan

CLAWS OUT OVER CATS

The vote came after councillors agreed in May to toughen up the proposed animal bylaw, with measures including compulsory microchipping, limiting the number of cats people could own, and putting a curfew on when cats could roam free.

On Friday environment committee chairwoman Iona Pannett said the curfew idea was scrapped after public feedback.

However, she moved the amendment making microchipping compulsory.

She was backed by campaigner Gareth Morgan, who said microchipping was "the important one" when it came to controlling cats.

"I think the council's going to try and do everything within its legal power so far as cats are concerned," Morgan said. "They can only do so much."

He believed the city council did not have the power to enforce a curfew, but said the regional council could label wandering cats as pests, allowing it to do "all sorts of things".