Forwarded by Edna on 09/19/2006 09:16 AM -----

"Kevin Deveaux" 09/19/2006 10:07 AM
To Edna
Subject Re: Stray cat population

Thanks for the e-mail. I appreciate your concern with regard to the need to have a better system for dealing with stray cats. As a "cat person" I have always been concerned with the need for a cat bylaw, but your description of how difficult it is to deal with stray cats may change my mind. As for a short-term solution, I would suggest asking some of the service clubs in the community (Lions, Buffaslo, Legion, KoC) if they would help fund a program through Dr. Steele so she has the funds to address this problem. In the longer term, as noted above, a bylaw may allow animal control to deal with such animals. Also, there may be a role for the Province in passing a law dealing with irresponsible owners and the need to spayed or neuter. I would be glad to discuss this in more detail with you, but I wanted to send you some early thoughts to see which direction you would like to proceed. Kevin Deveaux, MLA Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage

----- Original Message ----- From: edna. To: info@kevindeveaux.com ; kentb@halifax.ca Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 3:38 PM
Subject: Stray cat population Hi, My name is Edna, I live on 15 Serop Cres., Heritage Hills. I have talked to Becky earlier this summer about the over population of stray cats. I wanted to drop you a quick line now, before I formally write to you and others. Late in July, I discovered that a stray cat had made a home under my deck and had a litter of kittens. The first week of August, I found another stray cat on my property and she too had a litter of kittens. I was basically stuck with these 2 mother cats and 9 kittens. I started making phone calls to various agencies to see what could be done, this is what I found:
The SPCA was full - and if they aren't you need to "trap" and bring in the cats yourselves - there is no assistance for this. (rent trap from MacFarlands and try and trap the cats). Liz from the SPCA actually recognized my voice I called day after day.
BideAwhile will not take feral cats,
Animal Control will not come and take cats as they do not fall under the ByLaw,
Of the approx. 30 vets I called only about 4 have cat shelters and they were full,
I called the SPCA in Truro also, although they were full they don't service our area,
Then I began calling the few cat shelters that I could find, Sonya - Healing Animal Scars was full at the time but very supportive and provided alot of information to educate and help me. She is a very energetic, caring, wonderful person who has helped so many people in the past, as I have found out from talking to people in the community. She couldn't take the kittens and cats in from my yard at the time, but offered help in calling people, to assist in trapping etc. Sonya is the only person that I found that is willing to deal with feral cats, to put the time into them that they need so they can be adopted.
I called Dr. Steele (Eastern Passage Vet) who has been so supportive through this whole process, before I called Becky to see what the cost would be if worse case I had to have the Stray cats and kitten euthanized. Most vets have a "no kill" policy so this is not even an option. Dr. Steele is very educated and has experience in the past with stray cats, she has some ideas that should be considered. They are cost efficient and provide easy ways to follow up on offenders.When I called Becky, the first thing she recommended was to contact Sonya, I updated her on all of the avenues I had already done as stated above as I had already called Sonya. At that point there was nothing that she could do for me. She did say to write her a letter. There has been an obviously high population of stray cats in Heritage Hills for several years and it would seem that it is continuing to grow. Everyone knows as you can see the cats running at large when you walk down any street. I don't have many answers or suggestions at this point, which is why I will write to you again soon but want to bring to your attention that there is a problem and something needs to be done. I would not like to see any harm done to the cats; if they can be tamed and adopted that would be great, seeing a greater level of responsibility on the part of the owners in having their animals spayed or neutered. There isn't enough help presently to deal with the number of stray cats. I called the SPCA and some other places again today just before I emailed this to you and currently no one has any space to take any cats or kittens. At the very least, I feel, funding and support should be given to our vet Dr. Steele, as she is a registered Vet and has the skills to make sure that money is spent the best and most efficient way it can be. She is in contact with all of the general public in Eastern Passage and the connections with the "cat shelters". She has years of experience. More support has to be given to shelters - who from my experience are truly caring people who seem to put huge effort into humanely taking care of the cat population, using their personal time and money in response to other peoples carelessness. Owners need to be held more accountable for their animals. I think people should have a choice if they have there cats loose but they should be spayed or neutered. People need to be educated about this. So many people that I have been talking to had no idea how little help there is out there when you find yourself in a predicament like I did this summer. Some are not surprised but something that I found very disheartening is that Becky never called to follow up to see how I made out. I have lived on Serop for nine years, we've had stabbings, murders, the increased number of RCMP calls to my street, 6 or 7 a weekend (and now more even during the week), the vandalism of my personal property with windows being smashed in my car, a boy being beat up and robbed right in front of the house next to me yesterday in the middle of the afternoon, I'm not asking for your help with those things. My request should be easier to address. Please help our Vet Dr. Steele and cat shelters with the stray cats, give them the support they need. Thank you for your consideration, Edna