Time to Play a New Tune

From this morning's Herald
CBRM seeks stray solution
By TERA CAMUS Cape Breton BureauWed. Dec 3 - 4:47 AM
SYDNEY — Cape Breton Regional Municipality is stepping up efforts to tame its wild cat population.
A committee of council voted unanimously Tuesday to purchase more live traps to help the SPCA and other animal welfare groups trying to control the population of feral cats.
Six cages are currently available to SPCA officers or members of the public who want to capture wild cats to neuter or spay them and then return them to their colonies. Some unhealthy cats are also euthanized.
But several feral colonies are still growing fast, the cats either being fed by their human neighbours or fending for themselves by scavenging in garbage bins, along wharves or in other areas, according to a municipal official.
Rick Fraser, the municipality’s manager of bylaws, told council the cats can be a "nuisance."
He said they tend to mark territory with urine or dig in gardens, often make loud noises while fighting or mating and tend to live shorter, unhealthy lives.
"There are . . . seven such feral cat colonies being tended to in the CBRM by these animal welfare groups who have . . . spayed or neutered some 300 cats in our area," he said. "This is funded through their fund-raising efforts."
And low-income families bringing in a wild cat could be offered a discount on having the animal spayed or neutered, Mr. Fraser said.
Council will ask the SPCA how many more traps the group needs, according to the motion approved by the committee Tuesday.
( tcamus@herald.ca)
Is it a good thing that the CBRM is concerned about feral cats and trying to offer assistance for feral caregivers? Of course it is.
Is it going to be enough? Not even close. In a municipality housing the shelter with the highest kill rate in the province, it is scarce wonder that so many folks abandon cats rather than take them into the shelter.
These are tough times for Cape Breton. In the last few weeks there has been one closure and announcement of job cuts to come with another plant that will total over 300 jobs lost. That's a big number anywhere but almost insurmountable when there are no other local employment options available. In an already dwindling working population base, there will now be at least 300 more families that will be faced with the "do we stay or do we go" choice.
If there was ever a time to change how the CB branch shelter does business, this would be it. People faced with the dilemma of either being unable to afford to care for their cats if they stay, or not having the resources to bring their cats with them with the housing crisis out west.... well most of those people will opt for giving their cats a "fighting chance" by abandoning them. And... the cats that survive, being the brilliant creatures that they are, will adapt by adding to the feral population.
Creative talent has been one of the traditional exports from Cape Breton. Its time to put some of that to work by making the needed changes with the CB branch shelter:

• recognize that the use of the gas chamber to kill animals horrifies the animal loving community. It is penny wise and pound foolish to engage in any activity that so strongly inhibits support from the animal loving community,
• list all their adoptables on http://www.petfinder.com/,
• "tell it like it is" and stop trying to hide the problem by cooking the books. How can meaningful assistance be provided if all the cards aren't on the table?

What time is it? Its time to stop sweeping dirty little secrets under the carpet before Cape Breton finds itself famous for more than the fiddling.