Councillors have resolved to adopt a cat control order to keep cats inside their owner’s property at nighttime at a public Council Meeting on Monday 27 July 2026. 

The nighttime curfew was adopted with a series of other actions. Together, they’re aimed at: 

• understanding more about general cat management in Boroondara through research 
• encouraging responsible cat ownership, including cat registration, microchipping and de-sexing
• better supporting cat owners with managing their cats
• Better managing semi-owned and stray cats in the community
• protecting Boroondara’s wildlife and biodiversity.

You can view a recording of the meeting on Council’s YouTube channel and read the report here.

We know some cat owners already keep their cats inside at night. For these owners, the new curfew will not be a major change. However, for others this will be a significant change and we recognise owners and their pets will need time to adapt to the new curfew requirements. 

For this reason, cats registered with the City of Boroondara on or before 9 April 2027 (whose registration has not lapsed) will not have the curfew applied to them.

Timeframe for curfew to come into effect 

The cat curfew will take effect from 10 April 2027, providing cat owners in Boroondara with 8 months to:

• learn more about the curfew and what it means for them and their pets
• understand what the conditions of the new curfew are
• prepare and put into effect steps needed to meet those conditions. 

Before the nighttime curfew commences, we need to develop processes to support the implementation and enforcement of the new curfew. Further information will be provided on our Pets and animals webpage in the coming months, as we work to raise awareness of the new curfew across the community too. 

Councillors nominated 31 December 2029 to:

1. understand research findings and 
2. check the overall effectiveness of our cat management measures. 

The above review and further community consultation will inform whether changes or adjustments on our cat management approach is needed.

Active cat management program 

In addition to the new nighttime curfew, Councillors endorsed the development of a new active cat management program. This will be written into our existing Domestic Animal Management Plan 2026-29 and allow us to:

• support voluntary cat containment by cat owners
• intervene in semi-ownership situations to move cats to full ownership, registration, microchipping and desexing of cats
• work with animal welfare organisations and vets to manage all cats effectively and humanely and 
• explore additional Council funding and State/Federal grants to boost this activity. 

More information about this management program will become available over the coming months on our Pets and animals webpage. 

Additional research 

Councillors also endorsed further research to study cat management and cat predation on wildlife in metropolitan areas. This research will be aimed at discovering more about the impact of cats in environments like Boroondara’s. 

Specific details about the scope and methodology of the research will be determined in the coming months. Findings from this research will help inform if any changes to our overall cat management approach are warranted. 

Further actions 

The following actions were also adopted, with details to be provided to the community in the coming months:

• First-time registration cat bells: all owners who register their cat for the first time will be provided with information regarding cat bells on collars. These bells can help protect local wildlife by warning them of a cat’s approach. 
• Advocacy to State Government: we will lobby for changes to Victorian Government legislation to allow council to trial capture / de-sex / return approaches to cat management. 
• Ongoing funding in future budgets: councillors will consider budgetary funding of a new role in our Animal Management team to support the rollout of the cat management program and enforcement of the new nighttime curfew. 

More information

Specific details related to the curfew, cat management program and impact research study will be added to our Pets and animals webpage in the coming months.