Pet info/care

Dogs can be exer­cised off-leash at cer­tain parks in Alice Springs from the hours of 5am-8am and again from 5pm-8pm. A full list of these parks can be found here. Dogs are required to be under effec­tive con­trol of own­ers at all times. This means that own­ers must be close enough to their dog to issue com­mands, and all dogs must respond to com­mands instant­ly. Any dog deemed by Rangers to be not under the con­trol of its own­er may be required to be put on-leash. 

Exclud­ing Anzac Oval and TIO Traeger Park, dogs may be exer­cised on Coun­cil sport­ing grounds between 5am and 8am. A full list of Coun­cil Sport­ing Facil­i­ties can be found here.

For the enjoy­ment of all users, please pick up after your pets. Coun­cil sup­plies ​‘dog­gy do’ bags and bins at most park loca­tions across the munic­i­pal­i­ty. Please report dam­aged bins or emp­ty ​‘dog­gy do’ bag con­tain­ers to Coun­cil Rangers on 8950 0500.

Din­goes are dangerous

Din­goes are a pro­tect­ed species in the NT. Cen­tral Aus­tralia is home to a large pop­u­la­tion of din­goes which forms a valu­able part of the region­al ecosystem.

How­ev­er din­goes are known to tar­get, lure and injure domes­tic ani­mals of all sizes, and can be extreme­ly dangerous.

While Coun­cil active­ly min­imis­es the threat that din­goes pose to res­i­dents and pets, these preda­tors remain a con­stant pres­ence on the town’s perime­ter. Dur­ing extreme­ly hot weath­er, din­goes will ven­ture fur­ther into urban areas seek­ing water and food. Coun­cil Rangers strong­ly rec­om­mend that care and vig­i­lance is exer­cised when walk­ing dogs through scrub­land, even in urban areas.

Though din­goes may be more cau­tious around humans, it is imper­a­tive to keep your pet near­by and under effec­tive con­trol, prefer­ably on-leash, in order to low­er the risk of an attack. Walk­ing dogs off-leash in scrub­land may appear to be safe, how­ev­er your pet can quick­ly become sep­a­rat­ed and vul­ner­a­ble to an unseen din­go. Aside from cer­tain parks, exer­cis­ing dogs on-leash is com­pul­so­ry under Alice Springs Town Coun­cil by-laws.

If you see a din­go with­in the munic­i­pal­i­ty, please con­tact NTG Parks & Wildlife Rangers on 8951 8250 or 0401 115 731. To report wild or stray dogs, please call Coun­cil’s Ranger Unit on 8950 0500.

For fur­ther infor­ma­tion on din­goes, click here.

There are many cel­e­bra­tions across Aus­tralia that involve fire­work dis­plays, in par­tic­u­lar in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry. While fire­works are often enjoyed by humans, they can cause fear and dread for many dogs and oth­er animals.

It’s impor­tant to pre­pare ear­ly to care for your pets when you know a fire­works dis­play is com­ing up. For a full list of upcom­ing fire­work dis­plays, you can vis­it NT Work­Safe here.

For tips on how to care for your dog dur­ing fire­works, vis­it the RSP­CA web­site for some valu­able information.

Cats are enter­tain­ing, intel­li­gent pets and are wel­come com­pan­ions in many cen­tral Aus­tralian homes. Cats also are also nat­ur­al hunters. Even a well-fed cat will still prey on small ani­mals, often cov­er­ing sev­er­al kilo­me­tres dur­ing a night time hunt­ing expedition.

The trend in local gov­ern­ment author­i­ties around the coun­try is mov­ing towards greater respon­si­bil­i­ty in pet own­er­ship to pre­vent the dec­i­ma­tion of Australia’s native wildlife by domes­tic and fer­al cat pop­u­la­tions. Alice Springs Town Coun­cil encour­ages cat own­ers to keep domes­tic cats safe­ly indoors, at least overnight.

There are numer­ous ben­e­fits to keep­ing your cat indoors, par­tic­u­lar­ly in Alice Springs where there are greater extremes of tem­per­a­ture and many more native predators.

Indoor cats are:

• Less like­ly to be hit by cars or injured by anoth­er ani­mal (reduc­ing vet visits)
• Less like­ly to fall prey to a din­go, wild dog, eagle, snake, or human predator
• Less like­ly to transmit/​be infect­ed by trans­mis­si­ble feline diseases
• Less like to cause dis­putes with neighbours
• Less like­ly to hunt native wildlife, includ­ing pro­tect­ed species
• Less like­ly to con­tract ticks, fleas, or worms from oth­er animals

If not strict­ly indoor cats, there are ways to con­fine your cat to the prop­er­ty, includ­ing: build­ing a cat enclo­sure; cat mesh; fix­ing deter­rents along the top of fences, such as the Oscil­lot Cat Con­tain­ment Sys­tem or PVC pip­ing; or, a Sure­guard elec­tron­ic system.

If your cat is miss­ing, please first con­tact the Alice Springs Ani­mal Shel­ter on (08) 8953 4430. If the Ani­mal Shel­ter does not have your cat, con­tact Council’s Rangers on (08) 8950 0500. Please note, you may incur an infringe­ment if your cat is col­lect­ed, away from your prop­er­ty, by a Coun­cil Ranger.

If a neighbour’s cat is caus­ing nui­sance with­in your prop­er­ty, Coun­cil rec­om­mends first con­tact­ing the neigh­bour to advise them of their cat’s behav­iour on your prop­er­ty. Chances are they are unaware. If the cat con­tin­ues to be a nui­sance, con­tact Council’s Rangers on (08) 8950 0500 to lodge a for­mal complaint.

To pro­tect our region’s native wildlife, stray or fer­al cats can be caught in humane traps, avail­able to the local com­mu­ni­ty by request to Alice Springs Town Coun­cil. To enquire about hir­ing, and the prop­er, humane usage of an ani­mal trap, please con­tact Council’s Rangers on (08) 8950 0500 or email astc@​astc.​nt.​gov.​au (con­di­tions apply)