Council to discuss growing feral cat issue
Dec 16, 2008 - 04:30 AM
By Jillian Follert
OSHAWA -- A colony of cats living at Lakeview Park will soon have shelter from the cold once again.
Council's finance and administration committee voted Monday afternoon to temporarily allow food bowls and shelters at the park, reversing a Dec. 5 decision by the City's Animal Services department to remove the cat necessities.
"This was all done a bit hastily," said chairman Councillor Brian Nicholson, who suggested City staff should have checked with politicians before yanking the items. "This is a very sensitive issue and this is not the message we want to be sending . . . especially so close to Christmas."
Animal Services manager Kathy Duncan said the items were taken away after a resident complained they looked unsightly and were attracting other wildlife.
She also pointed out that the shelter violated the City's parks bylaw that says structures, buildings and other items can't be placed in City parks without permission.
The decision outraged cat lovers, in particular the small group of volunteers who care for the Lakeview Park colony, putting out food several times a day, providing shelters when the weather gets cold, even trapping the cats so they can be spayed or neutered.
Denise Harkins, president of Action Volunteers for Animals (AVA), said she has worked tirelessly over the years to control the Lakeview Park cat population, bringing the size of the colony from about 60 cats three years ago down to just more than a dozen now -- nearly all of which have been fixed.
Action Volunteers for Animals is a charity that helps find homes for adoptable stray cats, and provides shelters and spay/neuter services for feral strays.
Ms. Harkins said the issue is much bigger than whether a shelter should be permitted in the park.
"Feral cats are a huge problem," she said. "This is just one colony. There are many more in Oshawa; there are an estimated 500,000 in Toronto. This problem exists because people don't spay and neuter their cats, and cities don't have spay and neuter programs available at a reasonable cost."
Ms. Harkins said the City of London, Ont., is spending up to $17,000 a year to trap and fix feral cats, and suggested the City of Oshawa should consider taking a more proactive approach to the situation.
Echoing those suggestions was Liz White of the Animal Alliance of Canada, a national group that works on municipal animal control issues.
Oshawa needs to ensure every dog and cat being released from a shelter is spayed or neutered, she said. She suggested the City look into a program to trap and sterilize feral cats before retuning them to their colonies.
"Feral cats are not something you're not going to be able to completely remove," she said. "So the question is how do you properly manage it?"
The City's Responsible Pet Owners bylaw is up for review this spring, and councillors plan to make the feral cat issue part of the discussion.
Until then, councillors voted to allow the shelters and food bowls to remain in Lakeview Park until April 30, 2009.
Recommend :