Blackstock, Natalie2025-02-252025-02-252024https://hdl.handle.net/10182/18148Companion, stray, and feral cats have a significant impact on Aotearoa New Zealand’s (NZ) biodiversity. Legislation such as the Wildlife Act 1953, the Conservation Act 1987, and the Biosecurity Act 1993 help mitigate the effects of feral and stray cats. However, addressing the challenges posed by companion cats is a complex issue for decision-makers due to the bonds between these cats and their owners. The current strategy to address the impacts of companion cats is the creation of bylaws by local councils. Bylaw clauses such as microchipping, registration, desexing and containment have animal welfare benefits for cats and cat owners, as desexing reduces the risk of reproductive diseases and unwanted behaviours, and microchipping and registration help return lost cats to their owners. However, as cat management is a highly emotive issue, it has been considered difficult to gain public acceptance for cat-related bylaws. Using a mixed methods approach, this study analysed public submissions from five NZ councils to gain deeper insight into community attitudes and interactions towards cats and cat bylaws. Ten themes were identified through qualitative analysis: nuisance, human and livestock health concerns, toxoplasmosis risk to wildlife, conservation/environmental concerns, benefits of cats, cost concerns, stray and feral cat management, containment/curfews, bylaw support, and anti-regulation sentiments. These themes demonstrate the issues surrounding cat management, and how the public feels about bylaw requirements. Quantitative statistical analysis was used to determine the significant statistical similarities and differences among the councils. Overall, all regions studied showed majority support for cat bylaws, indicating that nationwide cat management legislation may be supported by the NZ public. However, the distinct regional concerns identified in the submissions suggest that the implementation of national legislation would require local authorities to collaborate closely with communities to address these issues. Furthermore, this study supports the need to redefine the legal definitions of stray cats to better address the complexity of human-cat interactions and enable better management of these cats. Additionally, the findings demonstrate that cat containment remains a contentious issue for the NZ public, although there was a small, vocal group in all regions that advocated for mandatory containment measures. Further research into public attitudes towards cat containment is needed to assess the level of support for such measures, both regionally and nationally. Ultimately, successful cat management in NZ requires a careful balance between national standards and local adaptation, focused on encouraging and supporting responsible cat ownership to address the environmental and social impacts of cats.enbylawscat legislationcompanion catstray catferal catcat managementcat predationresponsible cat ownershippublic opinioncat welfarecat containmentAotearoa New Zealandcatsconservation managementDissertationANZSRC::460209 Planning and decision makingANZSRC::300302 Animal managementhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/nz/Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand