From this morning's Herald
Rescuers probe cat mystery
By GORDON DELANEY Valley BureauWed. Apr 15 - 5:40 AM
HARBOURVILLE — Members of the Homeless Animal Rescue Team want answers to the mystery of the missing cats.
"They didn’t just walk away," said HART President Laurie Wheeler. "Cats don’t do that."
She was referring to a colony of feral cats that the group was planning to trap, test, vaccinate, spay and neuter before returning them.
Some people here don’t mind the cats and have been feeding them.
But the fishermen have been complaining about the estimated 12 to 30 cats for the past two years, saying the animals were defecating on their boats and getting into fish waste and other garbage around the wharf.
Last week, Kings County halted an order to destroy the cats, at the request of HART, to allow the group to do its work.
But the cats mysteriously disappeared on the weekend.
"There’s not one cat left," Ms. Wheeler said in an interview Tuesday. "I just can’t believe it. I was just devastated."
The group had been collecting donations to pay for the TNR — trap, neuter and return — project, which has worked to successfully reduce and control feral cat populations in other areas.
"Whatever we had collected we were going to put it toward that, no matter how many cats there were," said Ms. Wheeler.
Ms. Wheeler said there are rumours about what happened to the cats, but no evidence.
"It makes me really sick. . . . You can’t take the law into your own hands," she said.
Kings County Warden Fred Whalen said Tuesday that he, too, was surprised the cats had disappeared.
"We halted the destroy order and told the TNR people to go ahead and do what they can do," said Mr. Whalen, who represents Harbourville on council.
"I have no idea what happened. If they were destroyed, it was without our knowledge."
The county has arranged a meeting for later this week with HART, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and residents of the community. They have asked the Wolfville group Peacemakers to mediate the meeting.
"I don’t have any answers as to what actually happened to the cats, but we are trying," Mr. Whalen said. "We’re going to have this meeting and try and find solutions."
Sean Kelly of the SPCA said Monday that an investigation will be undertaken to determine what happened to the feral felines and if charges are warranted.
( gdelaney@herald.ca)
I've lived here in the Valley for twenty two years this spring and this is the first time I've heard about the Peacemaker folks.... you can find more info abou them on their site at http://www.go.ednet.ns.ca/peacemakers/indexp.html
Any meaningful dialogue will at some point have to include the fishermen and the residents of Harbourville, so it is to be hoped that this weeks meeting will find some of them in at the table.
This morning when I was talking to my daughter about this whole story, she reminded me that most folks are simply unawakened to TNR and how it works. She used as an example the fact that she and her husband, who have owned one cat for five years and adopted a second from a No Kill Rescue in Arnprior, would never have even heard about TNR if it wasn't a topic I often bring up.
My bearded and burly flannel coated buddies out here have heard of TNR too ... and not just from me. CBC radio interviews and CTV newspots about Halifax's own Cat Man brought the issue to their attention as well.
In this day and age, most people are quick to understand the benefits of TNR.... once they know about it. And of course, that is the ticket ... how to get the word out on a broader canvas?
It is wonderful for SPCANS to have come out with an official position of support for TNR. It is groundbreaking for them to have acted in such a timely fashion by sending an official message to all the members of the Kings County Council about the Harbourville Cats. Without the support of the official voice for the animals, its pretty clear that the Kings County Council would neither have needed to be aware of the issue nor react to it in a timely fashion.
One of the biggest bits of feedback that I get about the site is from folks who had no idea there were so many great groups, including the SPCA, working so hard on behalf of the animals. Its not that they don't love animals, but generally the animal welfare sites are already "preaching to the choir"
There is one way that would get the word out to more .... even if it wouldn't be to everyone. Every year when we get our tax bills in the mail from the county, there is a little county newsletter included to let residents know about local programs. Wouldn't that be a splendid place to include an article that explains the hows and whys of TNR? If the newsletter's already been printed, perhaps the county could insert a one page addition in the mail out.
Wouldn't it be lovely if all the counties and municipalities could do that? Just imagine the possibilities if every homeowner in the province had the chance to find out about TNR? Its enough to make one dizzy indeed.
What time is it? Its time to understand that its not realistic to expect people to do the right stuff if nobody paints them a picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment