The Côte Saint-Luc Cats Commmittee held its first meeting of 2012 recently. As the official liaison between the committee and city council, it was my pleasure to share an energized gathering of people who – like me – adore felines.
Alanna Devine of the SPCA, Johanne Tassé of the Companion Animal Adoption Centres of Quebec (CAACQ) and Côte Saint-Luc Associate General Counsel Cheri Bell were among our special guests. Cheri has already had a number of meetings with Alanna and she will serve as a big help for me in the coming months as I wish to bring forward some new measures pertaining to the cat population in our community.
Our Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) program resulted in almost 50 cats being sterilized in 2012. This would not have been possible without our devoted group of volunteers, headed by the dynamic Shelley Schecter.
Shelley said that there is no question this committee has made a difference. If we can get more volunteers in 2012, a lot more can be done. This includes trying to change the mindsets of landlords and condo board associations which prohibit cats to be on their premises. She also shared a sad story of people who were feeding cats that had already been sterilized at a condo on CSL Road. The condo board was against this and one gentleman went outside, took the food which was waiting for the cat and threw it away.
Shelley said she has noticed that TNR is gaining more credibility than before. The important issue is this: TNR is not just picking cats up and neutering and vaccinating them; it is also maintaining the colonies. No one likes to release a cat back outside, but at this point we do not always have a choice. It is important to get the tame ones and kittens off the street and maintain the wild ones.
Our committee extended thanks to Dr. Marlene Kalin and her team at the Côte Saint-Luc Hospital for Animals. They did a wonderful job treating the cats we brought in and even found homes for some of them. One member of our committee, in fact, wants to launch the TNA program – Trap, Neuter and Adopt.
Johanne Tassé provided us with an excellent recommendation: that we start using the term “community” cats instead of “feral” or “stray” and consider actually naming colonies to give them more identity and importance.
Just as a reminder, we do have a cat hotline at 514-485-6800 ext CATSa and a Facebook page. We encourage people to call the hotline if they are interested in adopting a cat.
In the coming months look for a promotional video to be produced and for us to announce some exciting fundraising initiatives and events.
Here is a feature on Shelley on CTV Montreal's Power of One:
This story appeared on the Postmedia wire. It has been picked up by newspapers across the country.
Citizens' groups trying to purrrge feral-cat problem
BY GRAHAM LANKTREE, FOR POSTMEDIA NEWS JANUARY 15, 2012
Feral cat populations have increased significantly across Canada.
The kitties gather around train yards, back-alley trash bins, under porches and other urban haunts, looking to score a meal.
In Toronto, it's estimated there are as many as 100,000 of the scrappy animals on the loose, and the numbers are similar in Montreal. Populations have bred to 44,000 in Edmonton, 25,000 in Windsor, Ont., and the cats are abound in Ottawa, as well.
Their rising numbers are cause for concern, experts say, since they can carry disease transferable to humans and household pets, such as rabies, cat scratch disease, tapeworm and hookworm infection and are a threat to local wildlife.
Last summer, a Winnipeg woman's hand was severely disfigured by bacterial infection after being bit by a feral cat she had attempted to take in.
"There's a serious problem in most municipalities," says Mike Cohen, a city councillor in Montreal's Cote SaintLuc borough, "but many cities have shut their eyes to it."
New citizen groups, however, are cropping up nationwide to tackle the problem.
Last March, Cohen and a small army of volunteers formed the Cote SaintLuc Cats Committee to trap, neuter and return (TNR) the thousands of feral cats that roam their community.
These TNR programs aim to curb the growth of feral colonies, which average roughly 10 cats each, by sterilizing, vaccinating and returning the animals to where they were found.
"Our program has trapped and neutered 50 cats in its first year," says Cohen. "That prevented hundreds of unwanted kittens being born."
Yet they continue to multiply. "We're making a small difference right now, but if you don't do anything, their numbers will be even larger," he says.
It's a hard-fought battle, says Dr. Esther Attard, a staff veterinarian with Toronto Animal Services. "If you can sterilize 80 per cent of a colony, that colony won't grow," she says. "It's a big job to do that, but it's better than just euthanizing them. Otherwise they breed and you get more cats to take their place."
A breeding pair of felines can, on average, produce 5.6 kittens a year.
Volunteers remove any cats that can be socialized and put them up for adoption. But cats more than one year old that have never known a human home are considered wild.
"By removing kittens and any friendly strays that have joined the colony, we immediately reduce not only present colony numbers, but future numbers, too," says Virginia Dobson, co-founder of the Little Cats Lost TNR effort in Edmonton.
This month, the city is giving Dobson and her partner Lisa Paskar $30,000 to expand the operation they started three years ago and to monitor their success at four pilot sites. "The funds will also allow us to develop messaging and support to help community residents understand what we do," she says.
Already overburdened with high numbers of unwanted and abandoned animals, the Edmonton Humane Society and city-operated Animal Care & Control Center are unable to take on the work needed to make a TNR program successful, Dobson says.
Traditional animal welfare organizations are on the ropes in other cities, too. Donations to the Toronto Humane Society plunged 50 per cent last year, and Montreal faces its own challenges as it works to reform animal welfare services.
Yet, community groups seeking to fill the vacuum by stepping in with TNR programs are wasting their time, says Chris Hassall, a conservation ecologist at Ottawa's Carleton University.
"One of the main things you notice when you look at the research literature around trap-neuter-return is how poorly we understand these feral cat colonies," he says. "I'm skeptical of the role TNR could play. There are lots of emotional arguments and little intensive research to back it up."
That's not to say feral cats don't pose a significant concern to public health and local wildlife, Hassall says. "We know that, given the opportunity, they will eat reptiles, amphibians and that 20 per cent of their diet are birds."
"In an urban environment, we're already looking at an ecologically desolate place and that additional pressure can have a big impact." There's also the fact that 80 per cent of rabies shots are given in the U.S. because of contact with infected cats, he adds.
"Sometimes, people will approach these animals thinking they can help and end up getting bitten," notes Attard. "They can also start using people's porches as a litter box."
Two large-scale studies of TNR programs in California and Florida, Hassall says, showed no decline in the population of feral cats because gains were offset by people introducing new animals into the area.
To create an effective TNR program, he says, would require thorough monitoring and complimentary efforts, such as adoption and vigorous public education campaigns.
Dobson agrees and says these are exactly the efforts the expanded Little Cats Lost program is taking on. "There has to be a mix of initiatives to get overpopulation under control," she says. "We also need to push for lowincome spay and neuter services and a licensing for these animals."
Dobson and Cohen look to Calgary's innovative Animal and Bylaw Services, led by director Bill Bruce, as a model to aspire to. The program's annual operating budget of $5.3 million is all raised through its initiatives, rather than taxpayer money.
"We've seen the effectiveness of these programs ourselves," says Dobson, "now we just need to show others that it works."
I am very pleased to report that the Quebec government has made good on its promise to act on necessary changes to animal welfare. This has been something animal welfare activists such as myself have been calling for. It was a major focal point at an animal welfare conference I attended recently in Montreal and reported on here.
Minister Pierre Corbeil makes important announcements about animal welfare
QUÉBEC CITY, Dec. 6, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, Pierre Corbeil, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Minister responsible for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region and the Nord-du-Québec region, and MNA for Abitibi-Est, announced two major courses of action in response to the recommendations of the pet welfare task force: tabling of a bill in the National Assembly to amend the Animal Health Protection Act, primarily with regard to animal safety and welfare, and passing into law of the Regulation respecting the safety and welfare of cats and dogs.
Bill to amend the Animal Health Protection Act
The bill to amend the Animal Health Protection Act provides for stiffer fines and penalties. For example, the current fine ranging from $200 to $5000 for a first offence could go as high as $25,000 or even $75,000 in the case of certain repeat offences.
To better address citizens' concerns, new powers will be added to the Act to enable the Minister to:
Require permits for certain owners or custodians of cats and dogs and for operators of a location where dogs and cats are kept, i.e. shelters, pounds, and locations run by individuals or organizations dedicated to animal welfare;
Set standards for dog or cat euthanasia and for prescribing or prohibiting certain methods;
Determine the skills or qualifications required of permit holders or their employees;
Determine the maximum number of cats or dogs that can be kept at a single location or by any one individual.
The bill is slated for study by a parliamentary committee this winter.
Regulation respecting the safety and welfare of cats and dogs
The Regulation respecting the safety and welfare of cats and dogs has been passed into law and will be published in the Gazette officielle du Québec on December 14. It will come into force on June 14, 2012.
The regulation includes standards for keeping animals and will make the job of inspectors easier.
"I'm convinced that these new measures, combined with the efforts of all the partners, will make us even more effective in fighting abusive practices and strengthening pet protection. Better treatment of animals requires everybody's cooperation. It all starts with greater accountability by everyone who acquires a pet," said Minister Corbeil.
Minister Corbeil went on to say that as soon as the amendments to the Animal Health Protection Act are passed, he will table a new draft regulation with Cabinet making a permit with pre-conditions mandatory for keeping certain numbers of animals.
Lastly, some aspects of the issue remain especially sensitive, including euthanasia, overpopulation, spaying, and dogs kept tied. To help him in his deliberations, Minister Corbeil will ask the Kelley task force on animal welfare, which is continuing its excellent work, to produce recommendations on the action to take, in collaboration with the partners.
Last week I shared with readers of my blog the story of three adorable abandoned kittens near my house in Côte Saint-Luc. As the liaison on city council to the Côte Saint-Luc Cats Committee and our Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) program I get a lot of calls from people reporting stray cats and baby kittens looking for a home. I generally report these to Shelley Schecter, who runs an organization called Educhat and essentially steers the ship of our TNR Program. There is nobody better than Shelley on this.
When my friend and constituent Steven Stein called to tell me that there were three kittens being fed by residents of an apartment building on Sir Walter Scott I met him to investigate. There they were, tucked behind the bushes: two orange ones and one grey and black striped one. Aldo Fernando of our committee had built a small styrofoam house for the cats to sleep in, insulated with the down jacket of an apartment dweller. Residents there had shared in the responsibility of feeding them and apparently there was a mother cat checking in on them.
My wife and I went back that day with our daughter and out ran the three kittens, which looked no more than three months old. They were a bit skittish, but came right up close to us and gobbled up the tuna we gave them. We brought a cat carrier, hoping to catch and bring them to the local vet. They were too quick. We tried again the next day when it happened to be quite warm.
On the Monday my wife met Shelley at the location. Temperatures had dipped below zero and we were worried. They caught two of the kittens and what we thought was the mom, but one of the orange ones eluded them. Shelley brought those three to the vet. We came back many hours later. The baby was sleeping in the Styrofoam hut, but jumped out when she heard us coming. You could see her looking around, wanting to know where her two siblings went. Shelley came very close to trapping her in a net, but she was too smart.
I called the vet the next morning. The two kittens were together in one cage, but the mom was not in fact the mom at all. “I think it is the dad actually,” office manager Margaret reported. “This was a boy and we have sterilized him.”
The residents insist how this very cat was caring for the kittens, an uncommon story if he was in fact the dad.
While I was on the phone with the vet, Shelley and my wife were back on Sir Walter Scott. Maureen, the main fairy godmother who has been caring for the cats, called it over for food. Familiar with her voice it came right away. Shelley swooped in from behind and trapped it. The family was to be reunited.
My wife declared that she wants to introduce a new program: TNA –Trap, Neuter and Adopt. We placed this beautiful photo my daughter took of the kittens and many people have stepped forward, wanting to adopt them. The dad, we are told, is adoptable as well. According to the vet, they need the next week to evaluate and socialize the cats before an exact timeline for adoption can be set.
Here is a funny anecdote. The three kittens were placed in one large cage. Apparently the bars were not too narrow and they plotted a scheme to escape, squeezing through the slots. They landed in the operating room and ran around wildly in circles before some of the technicians scooped them up and placed them in a more secure cage. I can just imagine the cat talk that went on: “Okay guys, we are together again. At the count of three stretch your body into a piece of paper, jump and let’s go back to our home in the bushes.”
I am convinced these four cats will make wonderful pets. As I have repeated many times, being a cat owner is one of the most wonderful things in the world. I only wish more people knew this. If that were to be the case, a TNA Program could be much more viable.
We will be heading to the vet next week to assist in the socialization. The Côte Saint-Luc Cats Committee is covering the costs of their shots, the sterilization of the dad and the same process for the kittens when they are old enough. We have prevented the dad from bringing more unwanted babies into the world and we will save the lives of three kittens who would not have e survived the winter.
Sadly there are so many more cases like this. I wish we could intervene in all of them. Email me if you want to get involved: mcohen@cotesaintluc.org.
These three beautiful homeless kittens (approximately three months old) are living outdoors next to an apartment building in Côte Saint-Luc. We need to find people to adopt them as soon as possible. They will not survive the harsh winter.
Some of the residents have built a small styrofoam hut and put blankets in there. The cats are being fed. They are absolutely adorable and sociable. Today my family and I went to feed them. They ate right out of our hands.
The Côte Saint-Luc Cat Commitee wishes to trap these cats, bring them to the vet to get sterilized and receive all of the necessary shots. We cannot really do so unless we find homes for them.
Please advise me (mcohen@cotesaintluc.org) if you or someone else will adopt any of them. I can tell that these cats will make wonderful pets.
And as a cat owner myself, I can attest to what fabulous pets cats can be.
On October 28 I represented Côte Saint-Luc at a one day conference at the Novotel Dorval presented by the CaacQ and attended by some 100 people from more than 60 municipalities in the province. The focus was on improving the state of animal welfare in our communities and very much in line with the CaacQ’s mission of reducing the number of companion pets killed in the province of Québec.
Here is the CTV Montreal report:
A year and a half ago, when cat lovers began lobbying Côte Saint-Luc to adopt a Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) program, I decided to step forward. I did so with the support of the mayor and council and after the first public meeting I called attracted an overwhelming crowd and significant media attention, I knew we were on to something.
City council agreed to provide some financial support for the program and the CSLCC was born. While TNR, which humanely traps, sterilizes and then releases feral cats back into their original territory, has been the main focus of the CSLCC, efforts have also been made to educate the public about the importance of this exercise. In the coming months we hope to arrange visits to local schools, set up information booths within the community and continue, via our Facebook page and a new hotline (514-485-6800 ext. CATS), to provide the tools for people to report feral cats in their neighbourhood.
We have a small group of volunteers, including expert Shelley Schecter who had lobbied us for so long to get on board. Both the SPCA and the Côte Saint-Luc Hospital for Animals have been solid partners. We have trapped close to 40 cats. A female cat can reproduce four times a year, beginning from six months old, and can give birth to from one to eight kittens each time. By sterilizing the cats, their numbers are brought down through attrition.
The CaacQ Conference
At the CaacQ conference it was encouraging to see 10 representatives from the City of Montreal in attendance. The borough of Verdun, which has taken a leadership role on the island for its aggressive TNR program. It is one I can proudly say Côte Saint-Luc has tried to emulate in our CSLCC’s first year in operation.
Greg McBain was there from the City of Westmount. As the assistant director of Public Security, he is aware of issues that come about related to companion pets. I am anxious to see other members of the Association of Suburban Municipalities move into the TNR business. Westmount Mayor Peter Trent heads that body and I am confident Greg will give him a good report. Carl Mainville, head of Public Works in Dorval, sat next to me and took studious notes.
I take my hat off to Johanne Tassé and her team from the CaacQ for taking such an important leadership role in this area. This was a marvelous conference, with a number of outstanding guest speakers. Last spring Johanne had invited me to a much smaller gathering at St. Laurent Borough Hall to meet Bill Bruce, the director of Animal Services for the City of Calgary. Thanks to Bill, Calgary is on the cutting edge when it comes to animal welfare and on this day we not only had the occasion to hear three presentations from him, but he was also available in between talks to chat with us personally. Jane Hoffman, the founder of the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City’s Animals, was another keynote speaker and shared with us some inspiring words.
The Quebec government takes notice
Perhaps most encouraging was the partial sponsorship of the Quebec Ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Products (Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation) and of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Territories (Ministère des Affairs municipals, des Régions et de l’Occupation du territoire). Guy Auclair (pictured with me below), a representative of Quebec Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Products Pierre Corbeil told me that the present-day government is very much committed to adhering to the laws governing animal welfare. Last summer his Ministry accepted submissions from the public in regard to proposed animal welfare regulations.
The creation of regulations, which establish standards for the keeping of dogs and cats under The Animal Health Protection Act Division IV.1., (R.S.Q. P-42), is an opportunity for the province to become a leader in animal welfare in Canada. One of the many recommendations that came their way was to enforce a requirement for mandatory the spaying or neutering for animals adopted from shelters, pounds or purchased at pet stores. Penalties must include jail time and increased fines in order to have a deterrent effect. Mr. Auclair told the conference that more than 1,900 submissions were received. “This is being taken very seriously,” he told me later. “We are going through each submission one-by-one and this takes time. Every single recommendation will be looked at. I can assure you that Minister Corbeil, Municipal Affairs Minister Laurent Lessard and Premier Jean Charest are very committed to the issue of animal welfare.”
Calgary program is the ultimate model for animal welfare
For animal lovers, Bill Bruce is the ultimate hero. If only we could clone him in Quebec. I am glad that Mr. Auclair was on hand to take in his wonderful presentations.
In Calgary, Animal & Bylaw Services provides important animal-related services, such as licensing cats and dogs, sheltering cats and dogs impounded under the Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw and adoptions to find new homes for impounded cats and dogs that have not been claimed by their owners. All animal-related services result from the mandate provided by the Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw, which allows Animal & Bylaw Services to work with Calgarians to ensure that cats, dogs, their owners and neighbours live together in safety and harmony. Under the Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw, at three months of age all cats and dogs residing in the City of Calgary must have a City of Calgary licence. Licensing fees, not tax dollars, fund the following programs and services: reuniting lost cats and dogs with their owners; licensing cats and dogs residing in Calgary; enforcing the Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw (23M2006); investigating citizen complaints regarding animals including cats, dogs, coyotes and other wildlife; helping neighbours resolve animal-related issues; sheltering and caring for cats and dogs impounded under the Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw in their vet-operated facility; providing adoption services to find new homes for cats and dogs impounded under the bylaw that have not been claimed by their owners; and providing funding to veterinary clinics to cover emergency medical care for injured stray cats and dogs.
Bruce’s service provides school and public education programs to teach children and adults about responsible pet ownership and responsible citizenship. They coordinate a volunteer animal socialization program – PAWS Pal – to help socialize the cats and dogs awaiting adoption at the Animal Services Centre and they operate a No Cost Spay/Neuter program for the cats and dogs of financially eligible Calgarians. The “I Heart My Pet” rewards program offers pet owners discounts from various partnering vendors.
As Bruce explained, Animal & Bylaw Services does not advocate breed specific legislation, nor limiting the number of pets in one household. This is because they believe that poor animal behaviour results from a failed relationship between pet and owner. Therefore, Animal & Bylaw Services advocates responsible pet ownership for cats and dogs based on the following four principles: license and provide permanent identification for cats and dogs; spay or neuter pets; provide training, physical care, socialization and medical attention for pets; and do not allow pets to become a threat or nuisance in the community.
In Calgary, the census even provides statistics on how many dogs and cats exist. The most recent figures list 123,000 dogs and 91,000 cats.
Permanent identification of your pet
The importance and value of microchipping your pet dog or cat was underlined by Dany Ménard and Isabelle Robitaille, owners of a black Labrador-cross named Pollux. If the name sounds familiar, this is the dog that went missing from Ménard and Robitaille in June 2010 and miraculously surfaced 4,500 km away in Kamloops, BC a year later. Because of the chip, Pollux was returned home. We all got to meet Pollux. My cat had a chip implanted when we adopted her. She is a house cat and we never ever let her outside. Heaven forbid though if she did escape and someone found her, such a chip would be essential. Representatives from a company called M4S ID (www.microchipsolutions.com) took us through and exercise and gave people at each table scanners to try them out.
Sterilization of Dogs and Cats
Veterinarian Dr. Joel Bergeron took us through the process of sterilization, emphasizing the importance of spaying or neutering dogs and cats (specifically the latter).
From the standpoint of effectively controlling pet populations, the best time for sterilizing dogs and cats is prior to puberty, which eliminates any possibility of the animal producing offspring. Animal shelters and humane organizations which adopt young animals have long had policies that call for the adopting owners agree to have the animal neutered as soon as possible, but rates of compliance are typically low and, though a majority of such animals eventually are sterilized, many first have the opportunity to reproduce. Acceptances of early spay-neuter programs allow such organizations to effectively implement "neuter at adoption" programs. The traditional approach to surgical sterilization of dogs and cats is to wait until the animal is at least six months of age before castration of spaying, but problems such as those described above have led many to advocate performing these procedures at a much earlier age.
The Verdun Model
Pascale Tremblay from the Borough of Verdun was joined by urbanist Dany Tremblay to showcase a program that really works. Verdun, Pascale told us, allocates $40,000 a year to animal welfare.
Verdun has become proactive and progressive in the way that they look at animal services. They became the first borough in Montreal to truly take all the necessary steps to reduce overpopulation, encourage responsible pet ownership and proactively work with citizens to better the community for people and animals. Verdun revised their animal services contract and now works in partnership with the SPCA. They have a bylaw that requires citizens to be responsible about their animals and includes mandatory sterilization for all animals sold, adopted or given, limitation on the number of unsterilized animals per household; differential licensing for unsterilized animals; and the prohibition of owners to permit unsterilized/non-vaccinated cats to roam outside and a charter of good behavior for pet owners.
Verdun has spay/neuter initiatives to counter overpopulation including a borough funded Trap-Neuter-Release-Maintain program for feral cats. The borough partakes in citizen education by having public information sessions, door-to-door handouts with flyers including information about the by-law project and responsible pet ownership.
New York City’s Story
Jane Hoffman (pictured with Bill Bruce and I) told us all about another great program which I would love to see our Montreal Agglomeration Council emulate: The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, Inc. Founded in 2002 and powered by Maddie's Fund, The Pet Rescue Foundation, with support from the ASPCA, this is a coalition of more than 150 animal rescue groups and shelters working with Animal Care & Control of NYC (AC&C) to end the killing of healthy and treatable cats and dogs at AC&C shelters. To achieve that goal, the Alliance, a not-for-profit corporation, helps its Alliance Participating Organizations (APOs) work to their highest potential to increase pet adoptions and spay/neuter rates, with the goal of transforming New York City into a no-kill community by 2015.
Take the New York City Feral Cat Initiative. This is a joint program of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals and Neighborhood Cats. Its mission is to solve the feral cat overpopulation crisis in New York City through the humane, non-lethal method of Trap-Neuter-Return . Tens of thousands of street cats live in the alleyways, backyards, and outdoor spaces of New York City. They are the offspring of lost or abandoned pet cats and, unneutered, they go on to spawn new generations. The cats group themselves together in packs called colonies. Many of their nuisance behaviors can be attributed to mating behaviors that would likely cease if they were sterilized. These behaviors include noise from fighting and mating, and the smell from the spraying of pheromone-laced urine.
Because these cats are not socialized to humans, they are not candidates for adoption. The breeding of these street cats results in more kittens entering the shelters — taking away homes that would otherwise go to the adult cats already there. Most adult feral cats taken in at city shelters are euthanized (killed) because they are not adoptable as house pets. As a result, the city must shoulder higher costs for municipal animal control. The New York City Feral Cat Database shows that in neighborhoods throughout New York City, TNR is proving effective in humanely managing feral cat colonies and reducing their numbers over time.
Hoffman told us that a staggering 2.7 million cats roam free in New York City and 87 million in the USA.
This conference was an unqualified success and I believe it is a major step in the right direction to ensure that our province, cities and towns take the matter of animal welfare very seriously!
Almost a year after I held my first public meeting on the subject of the cat overpopulation in our community, I can happily report that progress is being made on the issue.
With the support of the mayor and members of city council I was able to establish the Côte Saint-Luc Cats Committee (CSLCC). Funds were allocated for this purpose in the 2011 budget and we also received a donation from Canadian Pacific Railway. A number of planning meetings were held last fall and winter. Enough people stepped forward to allow us to form a committee. Shelley Schecter, who has been a leader on the island with the Trap, Neuter and Release Program agreed to be our facilitator. She has worked specifically close with Dr. Renee Karp, Ursula O’Rourke and the Côte Saint-Luc Hospital for Animals (Dr. Marlene Kalin) in the trapping aspect of our mandate. This is vital to controlling the cat population in our community. They wisely started off in the spring focusing on specific colonies where large groups of feral cats can be found. It is essential that we trap as many of these animals as possible, bring them to the vet and have them spayed or neutered. This is no easy task, but our small team has already trapped an impressive number of cats and picked up some kittens as well.
Don and Barbara Adeles (pictured at the left with myself and Shelley Schecter next to our new rollup banner) are two more key members of the CSLCC. They attended my public meeting last August and made a commitment to help. They have more than lived up to that pledge. Their garage has been a necessary sanctuary for the cats to stay after they have been treated at the vet and until they are released back into their familiar surroundings. If we can domesticate a feral cat, we will make every effort to have them adopted. But in most cases this is impossible.
Melanie Menscik, a familiar face to many who shop at the IGA at the Cavendish Mall and the CSL Shopping Centre, runs our Facebook page (Cote St. Luc Cat Committee –TBR) and now handles our new cat information line at 514-485-6800 ext. CATS (2287). Roberta Levine will be assisting her with this task as we are already getting many calls from people interested in serving on the committee or reporting feral cats in their area. Roberta’s daughter Alison has been volunteering as well. Melanie’s mom, quite appropriately named Kitty, has also been involved.
Dr. Ingrid Hings, although a resident of NDG, has been working with us as well, doing a lot of paper work and bringing new ideas to the table. She hopes to form such a committee in her borough. Rachel Alkallay, who resides in Snowdon, is working with us and has some fresh new ideas she plans to share with Alanna Devine at the SPCA. Alanna too has played a critical role in our development.
Our committee met again this week and we all agreed that there is a lot of education still required. Cats are such wonderful animals. There are so many of these precious little things looking for a good home. The CSL Hospital for Animals has four adorable kittens right now. As Roberta noted, “the Trap, Neuter and Release program is also about cleaning up our neighbourhood. So you do not necessarily have to be a cat lover to appreciate that.”
Lydia Ghazal and Tania Alfonsi were first time attendees to our meeting. Both have stepped forward, ready to help with the trapping. Tania even volunteered to foster baby kittens.
Our committee has also received a lot of help from former CSL Mayor Bernard Lang and his wife Miriam. Bernard attended one of our recent meetings and told us about the colony of cats right next to his home. Our trappers responded and they have successfully trapped and either spayed or neutered more than a dozen felines there. Thanks Mayor Lang!
Now we hope to get out into the community and the schools. We need to educate students and perhaps even encourage them to do some fundraisers so we can increase our activities. We wish to setup information kiosks as well. But mostly we require more volunteers. Whatever one can do, be it trapping, monitoring our phone line, education or working at an information booth, please give us a call.
If there are any cat lovers out there who would like to send us a donation or help setup a fundraiser call our Cats hotline.
Nearly a year after a high profile meeting in Côte Saint-Luc brought the issue of feral cats into the public eye, more volunteers are being sought for a committee which is off to an excellent start.
I am very proud of the new Côte Saint-Luc Cat Committee (CSLCC). Its main focus has been a Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) program. For 2011 this initiative has been supported financially by the City of Côte Saint-Luc and Canadian Pacific Railway.
An information booth will be set up at Trudeau Park in Côte Saint-Luc from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. during Canada Day festivities on Friday, July 1. At this time anyone interested in volunteering can stop by the kiosk, meet committee members and find out the different roles available. A new CSLCC hotline has been set up at 514-485-6800 extension CATS (2287) where people can leave messages about any stray cats in their area.
There is a small and dedicated committee which has been working in specific areas of town where there are known to be colonies of cats. TNR humanely traps, sterilizes and then releases feral cats back into their original territories. The trappers bring the cats to the Côte Saint-Luc Hospital for Animals, where they are spayed or neutered. Two members of the committee are allowing their home to be used as a place for the cats to recuperate before they are returned to the area in which they are found.
A female cat can reproduce four times a year, beginning from six months old, and can give birth to from one to eight kittens each time. By sterilizing the cats, their numbers are brought down through attrition. TNR programs have been proven worldwide, throughout Europe, the United States, parts of Canada, as the most humane and cost-efficient way of controlling and decreasing the numbers of homeless cats.
Most recently I was among a select few elected officials invited to an exclusive two hour briefing by Bill Bruce, the highly respected director of Animal and Bylaw Services and Chief Bylaw Enforcement Officer/Protective Services, for the City of Calgary. When I began organizing meetings last summer to launch the City of Côte Saint-Luc’s first formal Trap Neuter Release (TNR) Program to try and control our cat population, Bill Bruce’s name came up often as the top authority in Canada in this area.
While a Côte Saint-Luc Cat Committee has been established, we are still in the infancy stages. Volunteers are being assigned different tasks and as soon as the weather gets nicer a team of trappers will head in search of feral cats.
I was delighted when the Companion Animal Adoption Centres of Quebec (CAACQ) invited me to meet Mr. Bruce (pictured with me above). This was a small and intimate gathering at St. Laurent Borough Hall. In attendance were community representatives interested in the topic of animal control. Liberal Senator Francis Fox was the highest ranking politician in the room. The CAACQ is headed by Johanne Tassé. The boroughs of St. Laurent and Verdun have cat bylaws and they were both represented. So were the cities of Longueuil, Ste. Agathe, Val David, Morin Heights, St. Marguerite and Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough of Montreal Councillor Piper Huggins (Projét Montréal). Montreal, in my opinion, remains a key player to getting the TNR issue higher on the public agenda. Last summer Pierrefonds-Roxboro Councillor Catherine Talbot attended my meeting. She is a member of Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s party.
In Calgary, the mission of Animal & Bylaw Services, is to "Encourage a safe, healthy, vibrant community for people and their pets, through the development, education and compliance of bylaws that reflect community values.” Their service includes: responding to Calgarians' concerns regarding municipal bylaws and provincial statutes; developing bylaws and educating the public; adopting cats and dogs; and partnering with citizens to create clean and healthy communities.
The City of Calgary encourages responsible pet ownership through licensing, public education and enforcement. Licensing fees, not tax dollars, fund the following programs and services:
• Reunite lost cats and dogs with their owners. • Operate the Pet Drive Home program. • Educate cats and dogs owners about responsible pet ownership. • Enforce the Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw. • Shelter and feed lost cats and dogs in our vet-operated facility. • Manage our animal adoption program. • Offer school programs at no charge. • Deliver public education programs. • Run our volunteer animal socialization programs. • Help neighbours resolve their animal related conflicts. • Provide funding to veterinary clinics for emergency medical care for injured stray cats and dogs. • Operate the no-cost spay and neuter program for the cats and dogs of eligible Calgarians. • Provide medical care to adoptable cats and dogs in our state of the art clinic. Calgary’s Animal & Bylaw Services advocates Responsible Pet Ownership based on the following four principles: License and provide permanent identification for pets; Spay or neuter pets.; Provide training, physical care, socialization and medical attention for companion pets; and Do not allow pets to become a threat or nuisance in the community.
To say that Bill Bruce is inspiring, well that is an understatement. “Every animal that ends up in a shelter or on the street is there because a human relationship failed them,” he began. “Our goal is compliance: getting people to do it because it is the right thing to do. We encourage responsible pet ownership through licensing, public education and enforcement.”
Bruce stressed the importance of “engaging the stakeholders” by educating the public. “ Education is the most powerful tool to change behavior,” he stated.
Bruce told us about the four principles of pet ownership:
1. License and provide permanent identification form pets; 2. Spay or neuter pets; 3. Provide training, physical care, socialization and medical attention for companion pets; 4. Do not allow pets to become a threat or nuisance in the community.
Today, Calgary has 49,500 licensed cats, which equates to 50 percent compliance according to an annual pet census Bruce conducts. Cat licenses cost $10 if the feline was spayed or neutered and $30 if not. The resulting revenue funds the state-of-the art Animal Services Centre Clinic, which, in turn, not only increases business efficiencies (for treating adoptable animals), but also subsidizes a no-cost spay-and-neuter policy for low-income Calgarians.
Calgary Animal Services has an annual budget of $5.4 million, generated not through tax dollars but through licence and penalty revenues.
The CAACQ
The CAACQ is an alliance of animal welfare organizations whose members have joined together in order reduce the number of companion animals killed in the Province of Quebec. Its goals are to provide support in establishing new policies and improve existing practices for members of the CAACQ; educate the public on the importance of spaying and neutering; facilitate and promote the adoption option and responsible animal guardianship; and encourage municipal, provincial and federal governments to establish and enforce stricter animal welfare laws.
Tassé established the CAACQ in 2008. After working for 10 years as a volunteer marketing and adoption-promotion manager for Animatch, she realized that despite all the efforts made by similar organizations, the number of animals in shelters was consistently high. She created the CAACQ in order to get to the source of the problem of animal overpopulation, and to implement cost-effective solutions for the well-being of animals. The CAACQ also wants to change the Quebec general population’s mind-set to make a better ethical choice and adopt animals in need of a home. A large number of healthy animals are killed every day and adoption is the solution.
Here is a video of Bill encouraging Calgarians to adopt cats:
The Côte Saint-Luc Cat Committee (CSLCC) has officially launched a Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) program. Following a well attended public meeting last summer and a series of meetings with individuals willing to volunteer for this cause, activities are commencing with the financial support of the City of Côte Saint-Luc and Canadian Pacific Railway .
Left to right at a recent committee meeting: Shelley Schecter, myself, Dr. Monica Cybulski of the Côte Saint-Luc Hospital for Animals, Alanna Devine of the SPCA and former Mayor Bernard Lang.
I am spearheading the initiative and I wish to expresse my appreciation to Mayor Anthony Housefather and other members of council for their financial support. The Canadian Pacific Railway has also given a donation towards the project. While TNR, which humanely traps, sterilizes and then releases feral cats back into their original territory, will be the main focus of the CSLCC, efforts will also be made to educate the public about the importance of sterilizing cats. This will be done by arranging visits to local schools, setting up information booths within the community and establishing a Facebook page. A special hotline will be introduced for people to report feral cats in their neighbourhood. From our initial meeting, which attracted well more than 100 people, we have a dedicated group of cat lovers whom I believe will make a difference in our community. I am also grateful for the fact that both the SPCA and the Côte Saint-Luc Hospital for Animals are aboard.” Shelley Schecter, considered to be one of the city’s foremost experts in TNR, has agreed to serve as the CSLCC’s special advisor. She will train committee members on trapping. A female cat can reproduce four times a year, beginning from six months old, and can give birth to from one to eight kittens each time. By sterilizing the cats, their numbers are brought down through attrition. TNR programs have been proven worldwide, throughout Europe, the United States, parts of Canada, as the most humane and cost-efficient way of controlling and decreasing the numbers of homeless cats. I hope that other communities will follow the lead of Cote Saint-Luc and launch such committees as well. Among the committee members is former Côte Saint-Luc Mayor Bernard Lang, who has been a cat owner for years.
