On Sunday, August 27, 2017, Craig Street Cats experienced a tidal wave of intake requests the likes of which we had never before seen. Between noon and 2 pm we received calls about 60 cats and kittens needing rescue. Before the end of the day, that number rose to 81. There was also a call from one of our colony managers about a single kitten at her managed colony site.
None of the calls were for 'owner surrenders'.
All of the callers were desperate to find placement for the cats and kittens they had found. All of them had called other organizations and been told to call us. Most had gotten our number from the Winnipeg Humane Society.
We were able to accept the single kitten from our managed colony -- she took the last cage space we had available. The other 81 were turned away with callers advised to contact the Winnipeg Humane Society, because they have contracted with the City to be pound keeper for cats, and have a contractual obligation to provide service for all stray cats in the city. All but 2 of the callers stated that they had already been in touch with the WHS, and been turned away with instruction to call us.
Our post to Facebook about the events of the day, and updates with suggestions on how to help (adoption and donation) brought a strange reaction. Although none of the cats were owner surrenders, and the vast majority were unowned cats (some may have been lost or abandoned), people started blaming irresponsible pet owners, with calls of "spay your pets".
So, where are all these cats and kittens coming from?
Only 2% of unowned cats are sterilized. Each unsterilized cat produces 3 kittens every year. In Winnipeg this means that over 100,000 unowned cats are producing over 300,000 kittens every year.
Now, let's be really clear about this: if every owner of an unaltered cat in Winnipeg went out and got those cats fixed tomorrow, IT WOULD MAKE ALMOST NO DIFFERENCE TO THE NUMBER OF KITTENS BORN ON WINNIPEG STREETS.
What does this mean?
Spay and neuter programs intended to reduce 'pet overpopulation' by targeting only owned cats are doomed to failure. They cannot make any difference to the number of kittens born every year, because they do nothing to address the fact that unowned cats are continuing to reproduce.
Once again, let's be very clear: every cat spay and neuter initiative sponsored by the City of Winnipeg, and supposedly intended to address cat overpopulation, is targeted to owned cats. While they certainly do get cats fixed, they do not get unowned cats fixed. Therefore, they do not do what they are intended to do. They allow the city to claim that they are working on the problem, when it is actually doing nothing at all. In fact, the number of cats living on our streets is growing every year.
Low cost spay and neuter is absolutely a necessary service, and helps many low income pet owners, but saying the programs currently on offer from the city and the Winnipeg Humane Society are helping with cat overpopulation is simply not true.
What needs to happen so that the number of cats living on our streets can start going down?
The answer to that is quite simple: the city must remove the offence of harbouring from the Animal Control bylaw, thereby making it legal for concerned people to manage community cats on their own property. The City must, then, recognize trap neuter return as the preferred method of cat population management, on private, public, and commercial property.
For those who do not know what harbouring is, the concept is simple: if you allow an animal to remain on your property, whether you own it or not, you are harbouring it. So, if a mother cat and her 6 kittens take up residence under your deck, and you allow them to stay, you are guilty of harbouring. If a neighbour sees them and reports you to the city, you may receive a summons, and be required to appear in court.
Remember that you have provided neither care nor shelter for this little family. You have simply not shooed them out from under your deck. Heck, you might not even know that they are there. You are still guilty of harbouring.
Strangely, you are allowed to feed those cats without running afoul of the bylaw. Where you may run into trouble is if you allow them to stay, or provide any sort of shelter or veterinary care (including spay or neuter and vaccinations). Even more ridiculous, if you do anything intended to make the number of cats in your neighbourhood go down, such as trap neuter return,
you will be considered the owner of the cats, and required to meet all the provisions of the "Responsible Pet Ownership By-Law".
All of which brings us back to August 27th, and the 81 cats and kittens we were forced to turn away.
Why are we receiving so many calls about community cats?
Again, the answer is simple: the City of Winnipeg's antiquated Animal Control by-law and punitive policies are directly responsible for the continued growth of our community cat population.
How can you make a difference?
1. write to your elected officials and respectfully demand constructive changes to municipal animal control by-laws as well as provincial and federal animal care legislation. Specifically request recognition of trap neuter return as the preferred method of cat population management.
2. give
financial support to organizations dedicated to proven, effective methods of cat population control. The longer we take to get on top of this issue, the more expensive it will be
.
3.
adopt from the organizations dedicated to proven, effective methods of cat population control. Kittens taken from managed colonies are just as cuddly as kittens from anywhere else. They need homes just as badly as any other kittens. Right now, CSC has over 60 kittens ready for their forever homes. We have another 200 adult cats waiting for theirs.
4. participate in the
humane management of cats in your community. It will cost you some time and money, but it will make a dramatic difference in your neighbourhood.
