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Love them or hate them, cats are part of the menagerie of animals we love to call pets. However, they can cause some destruction if they get out at night. These night time feline wanderings have prompted Wollondilly councillor Simon Landow to ask residents if they would throw their support behind a cat curfew. “This isn’t a war on cats. The issue is contentious because people are often dog or cat lovers,” he said. “The idea came from a resident when I was doorknocking houses on the election campaign trail,” he said. “I know other areas such as Hawkesbury have a curfew so I want to consider the idea for the shire.” Cr Landow asked residents to post their point of view on Facebook and he was surprised with the response. His posts received more than 200 comments and about 80 per cent of people were in favour of a curfew. “I knew this was a touchy subject and I am surprised at the level of interest the idea received,” Cr Landow said. He said residents supported the idea because some cats killed native birds, were smelly and defecated in people’s gardens. He was thankful for the comments he had received and welcomed more feedback. Cr Landow will now raise a notice of motion at the next council meeting. He will ask that a report into the feasibility of a cat curfew be prepared and presented to the council. “I also know the curfew would be difficult to police,” he said. “I want to look at how other council areas implement the curfew because I know it is successful in Hawkesbury.” If adopted, the curfew would force owners to keep their cats inside from about sunset to sunrise. “There would be a lot of community consultation before a curfew would be put in place,” Cr Landow said. Cr Landow said he also wanted to promote responsible pet ownership. “I want people to be aware of the destruction that domesticated cats, and dogs, can do outside the home,” he said. Cr Landow said responsible pet owners would not be impacted by the curfew. A WIRES spokeswoman said the greatest threat to wildlife was habitat destruction, but non-native predatory animals such as cats were amongst a range of other significant threats. “Many pet owners are completely unaware of the destruction their pets can cause outside the home where they are just following their natural instincts,” she said. The spokeswoman said cat owners could help their cat to co-exist with native animals and birds by:

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