This is my cat Simon, he is 11 years old and desexed. Simon 5went missing on the 18th March, 2009. I rang the local vets and all the pet rescue groups I could think of and searched the local streets and bush for him to see if he had been hit by a car. My son and I distributed flyers to all of our neighbours and the surrounding streets, still no sign of him.

Five days later I got a call from an Ellenbrook resident saying several cats had been picked up recently by the Shire of Swan under new local cat laws and they had been taken to Julies Kennels in Malaga. I discovered my beloved Simon was indeed a captive of the Kennel and that a neighbour in my own street had trapped him and delivered him to the Kennel on the 19th March, 2009. I have been a resident of this street for 3 years and have been in Ellenbrook, WA for a total of 6 years and had never received a complaint about my cats Simon and Sooty.

I distributed flyers to all of my neighbours in the street warning them that someone was trapping cats and theirs could be next! This prompted two other neighbours to come forward and let me know that they had been targeted by the Shire of Swan in the last month in regards to their cats over complaints from a neighbour. I contacted the Shire of Swan Advocates voicing my concerns that we had one resident in the street targeting cats and complained over the lack of due process that had gone on with the trapping of my cat. The Shire of Swan's response was that anyone has the right to trap your cat if it comes onto their private property and turn it into the pound - it doesn't matter if the cat isn't even a nuisance and there is nothing cat owners can do about it.

On the same day that I picked my cat up I had both of my cats micro-chipped and tagged with collars and engraved identification tags, there will be no excuse for a neighbour not to contact me first before handing my cat over to a pound. I was lucky, it was day 6 when I picked up my cat and the staff of Julies Kennels advised that they would have kept my cat, Simon longer in the pound due to his lovely nature. The normal time frame you have is 7 days before they euthenize your cat.

5I have since confronted the neighbour who was most likely trapping cats in our street, whilst she did not confess to trapping my cat she did confess to trapping cats in the street on the week that my cat Simon went missing and she admitted returning the shire trap to a Shire of Swan Advocate on Monday 23rd March, 2009.

Luckily for one white neighborhood cat it escaped before she had the chance to hand it over to the Shire of Swan Advocate. My cat Simon wasn't so lucky, as a cat owner you have very little power to protect your cats under these new local cat laws.

One effective solution I have found is to make as much noise as possible about this issue to the local papers, your local shire and be bold - confront neighbours who are trapping cats in your street. They often have a misconception that what they are doing is acceptable and find that a row of angy neighbours in their street clearly stating otherwise (who love their moggies) - is often a big wake up call for those trapping cats and hiding behind these laws! Often they take every precaution not to be identified, so let everyone know who is doing it.

Read the recent article by the West Australian Newspaper on Simon's cat nabbing

Excerpt:-

"City of Swan Mayor Charlie Zannino said people could not take the law into their own hands and set traps in their backyards. He advised that people with complaints about cats to contact the local council'.
 
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