Kitty conundrum
Winnipeg Humane Society public relations intern Laina Hughes holds 18-month-old male cat Murmol at the organization's headquarters on Thurs., Nov. 29, 2012, in Winnipeg, Man. The Winnipeg Humane Society will be hosting Paws For The Season on Dec. 2, 2012. The event will include a public open house, bake and craft sale, entertainment and a tree lighting. Jason Halstead/Winnipeg Sun/QMI Agency
Winnipeg Humane Society public relations intern Laina Hughes holds 18-month-old male cat Murmol at the organization's headquarters on Thurs., Nov. 29, 2012, in Winnipeg, Man. The Winnipeg Humane Society will be hosting Paws For The Season on Dec. 2, 2012. The event will include a public open house, bake and craft sale, entertainment and a tree lighting. Jason Halstead/Winnipeg Sun/QMI Agency
Winnipeg Humane Society public relations intern Laina Hughes holds 18-month-old male cat Murmol at the organization's headquarters on Thurs., Nov. 29, 2012, in Winnipeg, Man. The Winnipeg Humane Society will be hosting Paws For The Season on Dec. 2, 2012. The event will include a public open house, bake and craft sale, entertainment and a tree lighting. Jason Halstead/Winnipeg Sun/QMI Agency
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It?s a problem the Winnipeg Humane Society has been tackling for years and yet it?s only getting worse.
The shelter typically takes in about 6,000 unwanted cats annually, but this isn?t an average year.
?Everybody thinks we?re going to take in a higher number of cats this year over last year,? the WHS?s CEO Bill McDonald said.
Despite all of its efforts, including awareness campaigns and one-day events when it waives cat adoption fees, the shelter?s conundrum persists.
?There?s not enough cats getting spayed and neutered,? McDonald said. ?A lot of cities have subsidized spay and neuter clinics, where it?s a standalone operation ? privately funded or donated to ? that does nothing but spay or neuter cats.?
The model city in Canada is Calgary, McDonald said. Since 2006, in Calgary all cats over three months of age must have a licence. Those who don?t licence their cats face a $250 fine.
Winnipeg has a similar law for dogs, but the cat licence issue remains a debatable topic at City Hall. The WHS is in support of it.
?The City (of Calgary) also put in some capital dollars and built a standalone spay and neuter clinic,? McDonald said. ?They are fortunate because they also opened a veterinary college at the University of Calgary, so the city helped build the clinic and they fund it with the cat licencing ... it gives the students at the college an opportunity for hands-on training with real animals.
?If (Winnipeg) brings in cat licencing, we think the money should go to subsidizing more spay and neuters. Keep money for your administrative costs ... but it can?t just go into general revenues to fix potholes.?
Of the 6,000 cats the WHS receives each year, 4,000 are strays and 2,000 are given up by their owners for various reasons.
?But of those 4,000, the vast majority we know are not true wandering stray cats, they?re owned cats that have got out, got lost and can?t find their way home,? he said. ?We?re only returning about 9% of those 4,000 cats to their owners.
?By comparison, of the 2,000 dogs we get, we?re returning over 20% because dogs are more easily identified. If more people were willing to microchip or tattoo their cat, we could get them home that much faster.?
There are two annual periods when the shelter receives cats in large numbers ? both are weather related. The first occurs in mid-July, about 60 days after non-neutered or spayed stray cats do what they do. Consequently, that?s when the shelter has its first of two days each year where it waives cat adoption fees.
The second increase happens as soon as the colder weather hits. The shelter had its second free cat day Nov. 16 when all 129 adoptable felines found new homes.
Some people argue giving cats away devalues the pet, McDonald said. Others claim it welcomes ?deadbeats? who can?t afford to keep a pet. But McDonald counters all prospective owners must go though the same adoption process.
?We adopt out over 100 cats each time (fees are waived) and the return rate is no different than a typical week, so it is working in my opinion,? he said.
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WHS poised for sad record
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- From Jan. 1 to Nov. 27, the WHS has received 5,130 cats.
- Since Oct. 1 the shelter has received more than 1,000 cats and kittens, 220 dogs and puppies, 19 rabbits and 11 guinea pigs.
- As of Nov. 28, the WHS had 358 animals in its care, either in the building or at foster homes. More than 230 animals were at the shelter, with another 56 kittens, 18 cats, 25 dogs, and eight puppies in foster homes.
- In the past seven weeks, the WHS has received more than 1,300 animals.
- The WHS?s record for most cats received over a seven-day period was in 2009, when it took in 192 felines.
- The WHS receives more than 8,000 animals per year.
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Should cat licences be required in Winnipeg?
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