Canberrans love their animals! In particular, Canberrans love cats and dogs, which are our most popular companion animals.

We all have a shared responsibility to ensure our pets receive the level of care they need. We want to have a conversation about how we can better manage cats and dogs, not only to keep them safe, but also to protect our community and the environment.

The ACT Government has an ongoing commitment to improving animal welfare and management practices including for companion animals such as cats and dogs.

The Animal Welfare and Management Strategy 2017–2022 has been developed to ensure the ACT Government delivers a consistent and consolidated approach to promoting improved outcomes for animal welfare and management.

This Strategy sets the foundation for a range of legislative, regulatory and other changes to ensure the ACT becomes a leader in animal welfare and management.

The ACT Cat Plan 2021-31

With about a quarter of Canberra households owning cats, cats are a significant part of our society. Cats provide love, companionship and important health and wellbeing benefits to their owners. In return, it is essential that we provide safe and happy homes for them.

The ACT Cat Plan 2021–31 guides the management of cats—owned, semi-owned, unowned and feral cats—over the next decade. More than 4000 people and organisations took part in the extensive consultation held on the Draft ACT Cat Plan in 2019.

The plan has been developed to support responsible pet ownership and balance the wellbeing of cats with management of their impact on Canberra’s environment. It includes eight strategies that will be progressively rolled out over the next 10 years. Priority actions will include the introduction from 1 July 2022 of annual registration requirements for pet cats and the introduction of cat containment for new cats in suburbs that are not currently cat containment areas.

See more at ACT Cat Plan 2021-31

Find out more about the ACT Cat Plan 2021-31