What’s the buzz on keeping animals?

Published on 10 January 2024

We are reviewing our Dog Control Policy and our Animals and Bees Bylaw. We do this regularly to make sure the rules in them are still the right fit for Palmy.

After receiving feedback from the community and other organisations we’ve made some changes. Now we want to hear if you think we’ve got these right.

There are more than 9,000 dogs in Palmerston North. Our Dog Control Policy outlines the obligations and responsibilities of having a dog. It also specifies where you can and can't walk your dog, where dogs must be on a leash, and where they can be leash free.

The main changes we are proposing for the Dog Control Policy are to make the language clearer and easy to understand. We’ve also changed some wording so that it is more in line with central government legislation.

To see the changes we’ve proposed to make to our Dog Control Policy go to pncc.govt.nz/dogpolicy and let us know what you think.

We use the Animals and Bees Bylaw to set out the responsibilities of keeping different types of animals and bees and making sure they don’t damage property, pose a risk to health and safety, or cause a nuisance - such as loud noises or bad smells. 

The main change we’re proposing for our Animal and Bees bylaw is changing the requirement for cats to be desexed from six months to four months. The reason for the proposed change is that cats may reach puberty any time after four months of age. Desexing by four months reduces the likelihood of cats developing nuisance behaviours like spraying, straying or vocalising. It would also support cat population management by preventing or avoiding unwanted cat breeding.

To see the other changes we are proposing to make to our Animal and Bees Bylaw go to pncc.govt.nz/animals and let us know what you think.

Hard copies of submission forms are available at all our community libraries or our Customer Service Centre in Te Marae o Hine The Square. You can make a submission until 4pm 12 February 2024.