Owning a pet comes with key responsibilities for the safety and well-being of our community. As a responsible pet owner, you help create a safe environment for everyone.
Key points to note:
Are you a responsible pet owner?
If your dog or cat escapes, we can help reunite your stray pet with you if it is registered with us with your updated address details. Our Rangers will try to return your dog or cat to you by reading the registration tag and the microchip.
If your dog or cat is missing, please contact the Town’s Ranger Service on 9377 7480.
Cats and dogs must be microchipped, sterilized and registered with the Town of Bassendean.
Cat Registration Form
Dog Registration Form
From three (3) months of age all dogs must be microchipped (unless exempt) and registered with the Town. From six (6) months of all age cats must be microchipped (unless exempt), sterilised (unless exempt) and registered with the Town. Any sterilisation or microchipping exemptions must be accompanied by appropriate documentation showing the exemption.
Impounded Animals
The Town will list impounded animals on our website, so if your animal is missing, please check the impounded animals page regularly.
Animal Care Facility
The Town shares an Animal Care Facility with the City of South Perth.
The facility is equipped with heating and cooling, outside exercise areas for the dogs and play equipment for cats. Fresh linen is provided to all animals to ensure they are kept in a warm, safe environment, along with good quality food for daily feeds.
The Animal Care Facility also offers an advisory service for owners of dangerous pets and those that are no longer safe in the community.
If your dog or cat has been impounded, you are required to pay a fee prior to release and a daily sustenance fee for the upkeep of your pet. It is also a requirement that if your dog or cat is not microchipped, then it must be microchipped prior to release. Similarly, if your dog or cat is not registered, you must also register them prior to release. If the dog or cat is registered, you will need to provide proof of this. Please note, if your animal is impounded, all impound fees, registration fees and microchipping charges must be paid in full before release, and that no discounts or payment plans are available.
Details of the Animal Care Facility are available here.
If a cat is frequently visiting your property and causing a nuisance, residents can hire a trap from the Town of Bassendean. Cat traps provide a humane method of capturing the animal without harm, allowing for its safe transfer to an Animal Care Facility.
While the Town of Bassendean subsidises this service, a nominal fee applies.
What is the cost of hiring a cat trap?
The hire fee for a cat trap is $40, as determined by the Council at the June 2024 Ordinary Council Meeting.
How long can I keep a trap?
The Town will lease the hire for 7-days, after which, it will be collected, cleaned, maintained and then made available for the next person on the Town's cat trap waiting list.
How can I access the Town's cat traps?
Contact the Town's Rangers on 9377 7480 or alternatively send an email to mail@bassendean.wa.gov.au to join the cat trap waiting list.
What expenses does the Town incur in providing the cat trapping service?
The Town incurs several costs, including the purchase, maintenance, and management of the traps, booking management, trap collection, and demonstrating trap use. Additionally, the Town covers expenses for caring for the trapped cats, and if unclaimed, delivering them to an Animal Care Facility and paying the facility’s fees.
The $40 fee charged is significantly lower than the actual cost of managing nuisance cats.
What happens to the cats that are trapped, and what are the associated costs?
Trapped cats are cared for by the Town at its Animal Care Facility for at least 3 days, giving owners time to reclaim their pets. If unclaimed the Town will attempt to rehome the animal if suitable. If rehoming is not possible, the animal is humanely euthanised. The Town currently incurs a $26 per day sustenance fee and $49 for euthanasia for unclaimed cats.
What happens to the cats that are trapped, and what are the associated costs?
Trapped cats are cared for by the Town at its Animal Care Facility for at least 3 days, giving owners time to reclaim their pets. If unclaimed the Town will attempt to rehome the animal if suitable. If rehoming is not possible, the animal is humanely euthanised. The Town currently incurs a $26 per day sustenance fee and $49 for euthanasia for unclaimed cats. The fee was established based on the actual cost of the service to the Town and a benchmarking process with other local governments.
Dogs often bark as a form of communication or to signify danger or alert us to an intruder. If a dog barks without a reason, the cause may be lack of training, insufficient exercise, loneliness, inadequate shelter, ill health, and deliberate or unintentional provocation by people or roaming dogs.
Should you have a problem with a dog barking, you should first try to establish the reason why it is barking and try to make contact with the owner. Often the owner is not home and not aware of the problem. If you feel comfortable, the Rangers have found in their experience that dog owners are usually more obliging if you have contacted the owner to discuss the issue.
If the problem continues, you may wish to contact the Rangers, who will provide you with a Barking Dog Complaint Pack that includes the required, statutory complaint form and a 7 day dog barking diary for completion. Once the Rangers receive the completed pack, we can begin an investigation and work with the dog owner to correct the problem. During this correction phase the Rangers may require you to complete a further 14 days of diaries, so that we can make sure the actions being taken are working to resolve the problem.
We recommend calling the Rangers on 9377 7480 to discuss your particular situation and obtain the Barking Dog Complaint Pack, that way we can give you specific advice for the issue you are experiencing.
There are three classifications for Dangerous Dogs under the Dog Act 1976 –
- Dangerous Dog (Declared)
- Dangerous Dog (Commercial Security)
- Dangerous Dog (Restricted Breed)
In accordance with the provisions of the Dog Act 1976, a dog may be declared to be a Dangerous Dog by a local government or local government authorised person if, in the opinion of that local government or authorised person -
- the dog has caused injury or damage by an attack on, or chasing, a person, animal or vehicle; or
- the dog has, repeatedly, shown a tendency -
- to attack or chase, a person, animal or vehicle even though no injury has been caused by that behaviour; or
- to threaten to attack; or
- the behaviour of the dog meets other criteria prescribed for the purpose of Division 2 of the Act.
In addition to standard dog owner responsibilities, owners of Dangerous Dogs (Declared) must ensure the following:
- Dog to wear prescribed collar bearing alternating red stripes and yellow stripes, each stripe being 25mm wide and set at an angle of 45 degrees to the rim of the collar
- Property to display prescribed warning signs at every entrance with the words 'Dangerous Dog' in capital letters, 20mm high
- Escape and child proof fencing
- A maximum of two dogs per property
- Dog to be held on leash and muzzled at all times in a public place
There are additional requirements for Dangerous Dog (Commercial Security Dog) and Dangerous Dog (Restricted Breed), which are dogs of the following breeds –
- Dogo Argentino;
- Fila Brasileiro;
- Japanese Tosa;
- American Pit Bull Terrier;
- Pit Bull Terrier;
- Perro de Presa Canario or Presa Canario;
- any other breed of dog the importation of which is prohibited absolutely by the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 (Commonwealth).
The regulations also provide for a restricted breed dog to include any dog of a mixed breed that visibly contains any of the above prohibited breeds.
For more information in regards to Dangerous Dogs, please call the Rangers on 9377 7480.
