Councillors at yesterday's full council meeting voted to consult the public on a new set of draft rules for dogs and other animals, including birds.
The vote came after staff recommended changes in draft updated bylaws, including adding a requirement for dogs to be on a leash and kept 10m from protected wildlife, such as sea lions.
Dog owners would also be required to keep their dogs on leashes when on council-owned sports fields, following an "increasing number of complaints'' about dog excrement, particularly during winter.
The vote by councillors meant a hearings panel would listen to the public's views on the new rules next year, before changes were finalised.
But the vote came after some councillors, including Cr Kate Wilson, also suggested a crackdown on cats when the new bylaws were discussed at a planning and environment committee meeting in October.
That had led to questions about the legality of such a move, resulting in legal advice presented to yesterday's full council meeting along with the updated bylaws.
The advice, from council civic and legal manager Kristy Rusher, suggested legislation did not allow the council to control cats to protect wildlife as it did with dogs, and nor could it require cats to be microchipped or kept indoors.
The council's role was largely limited to protecting indigenous flora and fauna inside the parks and reserves it administered.
Instead, the council could try to co-ordinate the work of agencies such as the Department of Conservation and Otago Regional Council, which had broader pest control responsibilities, she suggested.
That prompted Cr Jinty MacTavish to propose resolutions, backed by other councillors, asking council staff to explore a "cross-agency approach'' to pest management in Dunedin.
Staff should also review the focus, and adequacy, of pest management inside council parks and reserves, councillors decided.
The update of the bylaws presented an "ideal'' time to look again at pest management in Dunedin, but the focus should be on more than one species, she said, without mentioning cats specifically.
"It needs an integrated approach.''
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull agreed, pointing to a recent study which found feral cats were killing 75 million native animals in Australia every day.
"If that's happening in Australia, I imagine something similar is happening here.
"It's a problem,'' he said.
