Domestic Animal Management Plan 2026-2029

Introduction

Victorian Councils are required to review and renew their Domestic Animal Plan every four years in accordance with Section 68A of the Domestic Animals Act 1994. Hindmarsh Shire Council has been working with the community to prepare a new plan for 2026-2029. As part of this process, Council conducted a ‘Have Your Say’ consultation in June 2025 to seek community input to help guide Council to develop this plan. The feedback received from the community told us that residents were experiencing nuisance noise from barking dogs and fighting cats, cat overpopulation in some areas, dogs wandering at large in some areas and that the community strongly supports mandatory desexing of cats.

The draft Domestic Animal Management Plan 2026-2029

Council has developed the new plan with the feedback received from the community and based on what they viewed as important. The draft plan encourages responsible pet ownership and addresses nuisance and wandering through education, enforcement and cat overpopulation with the objective to ensure that cats over three months of age are desexed prior to registration. To support the community with cat desexing, Council has engaged with the Vet Project, which will provide a mobile desexing service, and the cost of desexing will be subsidised by Council.

Your feedback is important

The draft plan encourages a comprehensive and proactive approach to domestic animal management, with a strong focus on responsible pet ownership, animal welfare, education and community engagement. Council would like to ensure that this plan represents the things that are most important to the community with regard to domestic animal management. Feedback is a great tool for you to use to ensure that Council meets the community expectations over the next four years.

Before Council adopts the Domestic Animal Management Plan, we want to hear from you! Please read the draft Plan (attached to this page) and provide your feedback by completing the survey below.

Please provide your feedback by 5:00pm on Thursday 27 November 2025.

Have any questions?

If you have any questions, please contact Cherylee Shandley, Manager Planning and Environment, on (03) 5391 4444 or email info@hindmarsh.vic.gov.au.