The ‘cat curfew’, now active in Banyule council, Victoria, already seems to be resulting in some remarkable results.
My son and I went to do some basketball practice at the newly created court opposite Northland shopping centre today, and were amazed to spot multiple ‘mother ducks’ with babies trailing after them, in the creek that runs by there. I have lived in the same house in this area for 20 years, and have been visiting this exact same spot for that 20 years, and have never seen a single baby duck there until now.
Similarly, for the first time in 20 years/since I have lived at my place, I have now seen at least 10 finches (very small birds) in my front and back yard. Mostly silvereyes, but also others I did not immediately recognise.
I was not expecting results like this so soon from the ‘cat curfew’, and I am interested to know if others have noticed such a thing. I would be particularly interested in posts from peeps living in other councils that introduced a ‘cat curfew’ a year or more ago … to hear whether or not they have noticed associated ‘ornithological changes’ …
Of course, native populations of mammals and reptiles are also set to benefit massively from cat curfews, but these benefits will not be so immediately apparent I’m guessing; because many of our smaller native mammals are nocturnal/tend to be never seen, and our reptiles are very secretive/‘flighty’.
Anyways, this post is getting a bit ‘ranty’, so I will wind it up. The peeps I would most like to hear from are those who lived in areas years before pet cats were subject to any restrictions at all, and remained living in that same area years after pet cats were subject to restrictions. Apparently the Northern Grampians Shire Council banned domestic cats in Halls Gap (a pretty small town) in 1993. I would be particularly grateful if anyone who lived there before that happened, and after that happened could post below; regardless of what you have to say. No judgement.
TL;DR version