General News
28 May, 2026
Council seeks feedback on cat desexing policy
THE HINDMARSH Shire Council have endorsed the draft Hindmarsh Domestic Animal De-Sexing Policy for a period of public consultation, which ends this Thursday.
At the council meeting held earlier on May 6, the draft policy was released to establish the council’s approach to mandatory desexing for cats registered within Hindmarsh Shire.
The council claims the policy has been drafted “to support responsible pet ownership, reduce overpopulation, and improve animal welfare outcomes, consistent with Council's Domestic Animal Management planning obligations”.
The policy will give effect to the council’s powers under the Domestic Animals Act 1994 (Vic) to refuse or refuse to renew the registration of cats unless they are desexed or exempt.
The draft policy restricts exemptions to those predefined under the Act, such as registered pedigree breeders, but it provides no clear framework for the recognition of farm cats, leaving rural landholders without a legitimate pathway to retain animals used for vermin control.
Historically, some regional chapters of the Victorian Farmers Federation have taken a dim view of any policy that treats essential working animals – such as farm cats that control vermin in grain storage or feedlots – as residential pets subject to regulatory standards more appropriate for metropolitan areas.
HSC said mandatory cat-desexing was an action identified in its Domestic Animal Management Plan 2026–2029, “supporting council’s obligations under the Domestic Animals Act 1994 to promote responsible pet ownership and reduce animal nuisance”.
However, the Act does not explicitly contain a universal, state-wide mandate requiring all cats in Victoria to be desexed.
Instead, the Act provided the legal framework that allows local councils to implement such requirements as part of their specific municipal policies.
Some Victorian shires have opted for mandatory desexing to reduce shelter intake, while others – particularly those with rural or agricultural profiles – have opted against it; the council itself admitted only “over seven” of the 79 councils have adopted it.
But with the council’s own data (338 registered cats, 325 desexed) reporting very high voluntary proportions, it can be argued that imposing new compliance costs will incentivise pet owners to avoid registration altogether, making this move counterproductive to the goal of monitoring the cat population.
Most telling, the council argued in the meeting agenda that “uptake of recent subsidised desexing programs was modest” – unsurprising if desexing proportions were already high.
The council acknowledged the potential reluctance to register in the agenda, stating, “the policy is supported by practical and enabling measures, including subsidised desexing opportunities,” but this seems circular if this has already been offered and declared “modest” in its success.
The policy also does not address feral populations, where most of the problems with cats would seem to be – quoted in the agenda document was a Landcare Facilitator ecologist to detail observed “impact of unmanaged cat populations across the shire”, but how this was relevant to managed domestic populations the policy will address wasn’t clear.
Furthermore, the quoted ecologist pointed primarily to “the disappearance of birds such as superb fairy-wrens” due to predatory behaviour from cats, but the species is actually very common, not officially under any threat and appears from south-eastern Queensland through New South Wales, Victoria, and into the south-eastern corner of South Australia, even in Tasmania and Kangaroo Island.
HSC has claimed the draft would “support and promote responsible pet ownership and will progressively implement mandatory desexing to be completed by December 31, 2027, consistent with Council’s DAMP 2026–2029”.
The draft policy and the online feedback form are available at bit.ly/4a5M7tS, with feedback closing on Thursday, May 28, at 11.59pm.