Now Australia’s a nation of cat convicts.

In many parts of Australia, municipalities are instituting cat curfews or restricting free-range roaming altogether over fears that felines pose a threat to the country’s wildlife, including small creatures such as bilbies and numbats, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

And the towns are dishing out pricey fines to the owners of scofflaw kitties.

These restrictive rules have divided cat lovers, many of whom have been forced to be resourceful in order to keep their pets happy and thriving.

Teacher Alison Clifton, whose tuxedo cat, Moriarty, is so fond of the outdoors, he won’t even touch his breakfast without a stroll in the fresh air, has adopted a morning routine.

She straps Moriarty into a harness and walks him like a dog.

“A lot of people will think it’s quite eccentric to see someone walking a cat,” she told the paper. “People are curious and amused.”

But she really doesn’t have a choice. In her suburb outside of Adelaide, it’s illegal for pet cats to leave their owner’s property alone between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.

And municipalities aren’t afraid to enforce the rules. In Yarra Ranges, a town outside of Melbourne, authorities issued 22 tickets for these “Cat at Large or Not Securely Confined” violations last year.

The topic has become popular on social media where cat lovers swap ideas on turning their yards into cat pens with cat proof netting or other makeshift methods. Of course, some are shelling out the big bucks for their furry friends, and paying for professional-grade enclosures.

“Every time a council passes or proposes a curfew, the phone rings,” said Greg Cole of Custom Cat Runs.

Every year feral cats kill billions of mammals, birds and other creatures in Australia.

Roaming pets add hundreds of millions to that already staggering number, according to Australia’s Threatened Species Recovery Hub, a government- and university-backed program.

These measures are supported by the animal welfare organization RSPCA Australia.

They said keeping cats at home gives them better odds at a long life and has even produced a 24-page guide to keeping them happy indoors that includes tips such as playing them music, having lots of plants for them to sniff and playing hide-and-go-seek with their food.

While some have complied, others bristle under the stringent rules, calling them inhumane. Additionally, critics have noted that while canines have dog parks, cats have no such common play area.

After all, it’s not easy to teach a cat to walk on a leash. Even Clifton, whose cat Moriarty takes four walks a day, has gotten loose once when spooked by rain.

Still, she supports the bans because they also prevent the pets from getting lost, into fights or hit by a car.

“You can’t tell a cat to come home after dark,” Clifton, 41, said.

Pub manager Braden Anderson most definitely disagrees, calling the bans unfair because cats aren’t the only animals killing small creatures.

His municipality recently adopted a full-time roaming cat ban, and his 11-year-old Willow is so desperate to get out, she climbed the screen door.

“She sits at the door, and she is clearly annoyed. She’s been meowing at us to let her outside,” said Anderson, 40.

It’s not just Australian cat owners taking issue with the cat curfew.

A feline advocacy group in the United States has called them costly and “anti cat.”

“On this and other anti-cat policies, Australia is a true outlier,” said Coryn Julien, a rep from Alley Cat Allies. “The idea of cats living indoors is a human invention only made possible by the introduction of kitty litter about 70 years ago.”

Kelly Keen, whose fluffy white-and-gray cat Louie grew restless inside, opted to have an enclosure professionally installed.

Her town has a 24-hour ban on wandering felines, and she has mixed feelings on the policy. Of course, it may protect birds and other tiny animals, but it’s a burden on owners and the cats.

“It’s just what they are. They are cats. They just want to roam,” said Keen.