Where do Victoria’s cats go? Pound and shelter outcomes, 2023

Chart 1. Where do cats go?

Denominator: every recorded way a stay ended. A transferred animal is counted again at the facility that receives it, so transfers inflate the total. Leaving transfers out, 8.8% of cats went home.

Chart 2. The facility effect: cats admitted vs share going home, by facility

Facility details for

Chart 3. Recorded reasons for cat euthanasia, ranked

Chart 4. Do curfews change the odds?

Simple difference-in-differences: each council's change, minus the median change for councils with no curfew over the same years.

Colac Otway (No curfew → night curfew, November 2023): 13% → 10%; reference +1.1 points; difference −4.5 points
Manningham (No curfew → 24-hour curfew, April 2024): 19% → 21%; reference +1.1 points; difference +0.1 points
Surf Coast (Night curfew → 24-hour curfew, September 2023): 16% → 25%; reference +1.1 points; difference +7.5 points (small sample)
Swan Hill (No curfew → 24-hour curfew, January 2025): 4% → 5%; reference −0.1 points; difference +1.2 points

Show reference councils (no curfew in either year) Show small-sample council

Chart 5. How much does the answer depend on how we count?

Bars are 95% intervals from 2,000 resamples of facilities. The shaded band spans the ten estimates; the dotted line is the published statewide figure.

Where do Victoria’s cats go? Pound and shelter outcomes, 2023–25

Chart 1. Where do cats go?

Chart 2. The facility effect: cats admitted vs share going home, by facility

Chart 3. Recorded reasons for cat euthanasia, ranked

Chart 4. Do curfews change the odds?

Chart 5. How much does the answer depend on how we count?