Submissions for the Wellington City Council Dog and Cat Bylaw Update

Submissions close 18 Oct 5pm

Wellington City Council are in the formal consultation phase for their Animal Bylaw, Dog Policy, and Domestic Animal Policy. Your input is highly valued, and they encourage everyone, whether you own an animal or not, to give feedback. They have designed this consultation to help you provide feedback on the topics and animals that interest you the most.

Vulnerable threatened species are now commonplace throughout Wellington City, thanks to the efforts of Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne and countless Wellingtonians, community groups and organisations, including WCC, who have committed to the national Predator Free 2050 vision. Wellington is one of the only cities in the world where native biodiversity is increasing. It is our privilege to be in a position to care for these taonga species and provide safe habitat for them to live, breed and safely disperse.

Encouraging responsible pet ownership is critical for the revival of native species across Wellington City. Decisions made in this process can and will make a difference to the survival of native species including kākā, kiwi, tīeke and kererū in Wellington. 

We have submitted on this and would like you encourage you to submit as an individual if you wish. 

https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/animal-policies-bylaw

Dogs:

https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/animal-policies-bylaw/surveys/dog-survey

Vulnerable threatened species are now commonplace throughout Wellington City, thanks to the efforts of Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne and countless Wellingtonians, community groups and organisations, including WCC, who have committed to the national Predator Free 2050 vision. Wellington is one of the only cities in the world where native biodiversity is increasing. It is our privilege to be in a position to care for these taonga species and provide safe habitat for them to live, breed and safely disperse.

Encouraging responsible pet ownership is critical for the revival of native species across Wellington City. Decisions made in this process can and will make a difference to the survival of native species including kākā, kiwi, tīeke and kererū in Wellington. We encourage you to continue to make bold decisions for the future of wildlife in this city to ensure the city achieves being ‘a sustainable, climate friendly eco-city’ as per the Long Term Plan 2021-31.

We have answered no preference to specific questions and locations in this questionnaire but instead ask that the following principles guide all decision making in this process. These include

• Off-lead areas are fenced for the protection of both dogs and wildlife.
• Off lead/dog exercise areas should not overlap with habitat of vulnerable native wildlife but if they do, they must be fenced.
• Dog exercise areas that currently overlap with vulnerable wildlife must be fenced asap – in particular beaches (for the protection of kororā), Waimapihi/Polhill, Wright’s Hill and Karori Park dog exercise areas for the protection of kākā fledglings and in the longer term, kiwi.
• Increased enforcement of owners letting dogs off-lead in inappropriate areas.

Cats:

https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/animal-policies-bylaw/surveys/cats-survey

Vulnerable threatened species are now commonplace throughout Wellington City, thanks to the efforts of Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne and countless Wellingtonians, community groups and organisations, including WCC, who have committed to the national Predator Free 2050 vision. Wellington is one of the only cities in the world where native biodiversity is increasing. It is our privilege to be in a position to care for these taonga species and provide safe habitat for them to live, breed and safely disperse.

Encouraging responsible pet ownership is critical for the revival of native species across Wellington City. Decisions made in this process can and will make a difference to the survival of native species including kākā, kiwi, tīeke and kereru in Wellington. We encourage you to continue to make bold decisions for the future of wildlife in this city to ensure the city achieves being ‘a sustainable, climate friendly eco-city’ as per the Long Term Plan 2021-31.

We strongly support mandatory desexing of cats in Wellington and increased management of stray cats to protect people's much loved pets from disease and injury and to prevent them from becoming part of the feral cat population. The proposed timeframe for mandatory desexing of June 2025 is suitable for existing pets but new domestic cats should be required to meet this bylaw as they reach 6 months of age.

We are proud to work alongside a council that has historically been progressive in domestic cat management techniques such as microchipping. We urge you to take bold and progressive steps to continue leading New Zealand's domestic cat management. Predator-Free NZ research from 2022 revealed that 82% of cat owners already support de-sexing. Wellington needs to be taking bolder steps and taking action now to begin community consultation on policies such as cat registration, curfews, property containment and leash walking. Research shows there is already appetite for these measures in New Zealand - 43% of cat owners agree cats should be kept indoors or on private property (Predator Free NZ, 2022). Let’s be change makers for the future of happy domestic cats and wildlife in Wellington City and beyond.

Photo by Tucker Good on Unsplash