Restricted cat numbers proposed

A limit on the number of cats per property in urban areas is being proposed by the Manawatu District Council as it undertakes its five-yearly revision of the Manawatu District Bylaw.


The newly-introduced proposal requests that no person shall keep more than three cats aged three months or more for a period exceeding 14 days unless they receive the appropriate permit from council.


Senior Environmental Officer, Colin Perrin, said such a bylaw would make it easier for council to enforce nuisance, hazard and health conditions if there were problems with a residential property over-populated by cats.


He said the move had received support from the Feilding and District SPCA and was one that had already been introduced by a number of other local authorities throughout New Zealand.


Other proposed changes to the bylaw involve water supply provisions for water demand management and adequate backflow prevention measures and specific trade waste requirements for grease, interceptor and amalgam traps.


A full list of the changes can be found in the bylaw review’s full Statement of Proposal that has now gone out for public consultation.


The review can be inspected at the council office in Feilding or on the council’s website www.mdc.govt.nz and submitters have until 4pm on Monday, December 3, to lodge a submission.