Wellington City Council will begin hearing submissions tomorrow on a new bylaw requiring all cats to be microchipped as part of a plan to better identify and control strays.
A vet putting a microchip implant into a cat. Photo: 123RF
Another proposed change included limiting households to three cats unless they had permission for more.
The proposed changes were in response to many stray cats killing native wildlife including small birds, city councillor Iona Pannett said.
She said killing cats that could not be identified would be a last resort.
"Ideally, they should be given to the SPCA or another animal welfare agency and re-homed," she said.
"My strong inclination is that we shouldn't be killing cats unless it's absolutely impossible to re-home them."
The plan to microchip every cat has the backing of businessman Gareth Morgan, who said something needed to be done urgently to control the stray cat population.
"Wellington has made a huge investment in trying to bring native wildlife back into the city centre and the suburbs, but small birds for instance are far too easy prey for wandering cats," he said.
Public submissions are set down for Monday and Tuesday.