Introducing Beverley Dowling, our cat expert! 😻
Beverley is an Animal Compliance Education Officer who works through Armourguard to help people get their cats desexed, microchipped and saved on the New Zealand Companion Animal Register.
🐈 In Whangārei, all cats must be desexed and microchipped by six months of age. This change was introduced on 1 July 2022, and Beverley's job is to help achieve that vision.
“Our dog pound cannot hold cats, so my job is not about trapping and re-homing cats, or about punishing people whose cats are not microchipped or neutered." she says. "It’s about working with cat owners to help them get the benefits of snipping (neutering) and chipping (microchipping) for their furry friends."
“I also help people get the services they need when they report stray, feral or injured cats to us. It usually means connecting people to local SPCA, vets, and cat protection groups."
Beverley has been very busy since starting last year!
More about caring for your cat:
www.wdc.govt.nz...
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
Loading…
