Baw Baw Shire is 103 cat traps short of where it needs to be

Baw Baw Shire’s inventory of cat traps stretches to eight. But currently there are 103 residents wanting to get their hands on one. We know this because council has a waitlist.

The claws are out for the district’s roaming felines, who stand accused of killing birds, bandicoots and other wildlife.

Councillor Jess Hamilton claims Baw Baw Shire Municipal Pound is at capacity and, such is the scale of the problem, “we may have to do more euthenasia of cats in order to make space and clean up those feral and unowned cats”.

The Gippsland Monitor has sought the latest cat euthenasia data from council staff.

Hamilton told last Wednesday’s Baw Baw Shire council meeting: “It’s a much bigger issue in my eyes than some of those smaller things nuisance-wise, like barking dogs and needing to pick up your dog's poo. 

“The reality is that animals are dying, but right now it’s not the cats, it’s our birds and our bandicoots and all of our native wildlife.”

At the meeting councillors voted to adopt the shire’s 2026-29 Domestic Animal Management Plan. The plan sets out strategies to promote responsible pet ownership, minimise risks of dog attacks, and encourage the registration and identification of dogs and cats.

Feral cats are estimated to cost agriculture and health $6 billion a year in Australia, according to the National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordination.

What’s the council’s current policy?

Baw Baw Shire requires all domestic cats over the age of three months to be registered and requires mandatory desexing of cats unless they are kept for breeding. Domestic cats must be kept on the owner’s property at all times and not be allowed to wander.

To lower feral cat populations in the shire Hamilton said owners need to desex, register and microchip their animals.

“We need to do the right thing by our native wildlife.”

Network Facilitator and Projects Officer at Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network Caroline Hammond told the Monitor “cats don't have a place in our environment. We firmly support a 24-hour curfew and we support our communities to be able to control and prevent cats from having an impact on our native species”.

In Australia any method used to trap cats must be humane. Cat traps are rectangular metal cages, usually 80cm long and 30cm wide. The cat is lured inside them with bait and touching a metal plate in the trap triggers the door to drop behind them. When a cat is caught in the trap it can be taken to the pound.