Exhibition Item

Council’s Regulatory Compliance section currently utilises the Keeping of Animals Policy to regulate the keeping of animals on residential premises for domestic purposes, including enforcing the number of animals kept on a premises, and sanitary way they are kept. This policy was recently reviewed, and a number of updates have been proposed.

The proposed changes of the Policy are summarised as follows:

• No significant changes are proposed for the Policy Objectives, which focus on the appropriate regulation of animals, informing the community of statutory restrictions and acceptable limits, and the provision of the Policy under s159 of the Act,
• Inclusion of Policy Scope limitations excluding the application to commercial and racing purposes,
• Amendments to Animal – Specific Requirements table to align with modern community expectations regarding keeping of animals.
  Notable requirements include:
  • the restriction of roosters within residential zones,
  • specified limit of 20 pigeons and unambiguous requirements for keeping of pigeons,
  • unambiguous and consistent requirements for keeping of sheep, goats, pigs and cattle within residential zones, limiting 1 (one) animal per 2000m² of land, and
  • no changes to the number of cats and dogs allowed on a residential premises
• Provision for an animal owner to make a request to Council to permit the keeping of additional animals beyond the maximum number prescribed in the Animal – Specific Requirements table, and
• Unambiguous provisions outlining enforcement activities, which will strengthen the enforceability of the Policy