News

PAWS' Position on Creston's 10th Avenue North Feral Cat Problem

With all the controversy over the feral cat problem that currently exists in Creston, the Directors of Creston Pet Adoption and Welfare Society (PAWS) felt it was time to provide the community with the information that has been repeatedly presented to Creston Town Council.  Even though PAWS main focus is animal welfare, we approached this issue with a view to finding the best, most effective solution for both the animals and the people in our community.  We applaud the town of Creston for passing a new Bylaw requiring the licensing of pet cats.  It is an excellent first step to resolving the stray cat problem in our community. However, the ‘feral’ cat issue is one that cannot be fixed with a simple licensing and adoption plan.

First: Creston is not the only community that ever experienced, or will experience, a problem with feral cats.  This is a world-wide problem that people have created.

PAWS Directors have spent hundreds of hours over the past year researching feral cat information from communities all over North America, Europe and Australia.  The unanimous conclusion from all of these communities, after trying many alternatives including the one currently proposed by Creston Town Council, is that the only effective long-term solution is Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

The 10th Avenue residents want to believe that by trapping and removing (killing?) the cats in the neighbourhood, their problems will be over.  It would be nice and easy if this was true, but it is not.  This neighbourhood does not exist in a bubble.  Eradication does not work!  Removing the cats that are there will create what is called a “vacuum effect” which will result in feral cats from other parts of the community moving in. It will also create a never-ending cycle of trapping and killing, or it will clear the way for other animals such as mice, rats, skunks, and/or raccoons to move in.  As long as there is any kind of food source at all – garbage, seeds, even mice themselves - some kind of animal will move in to take advantage.  And some studies have indicated that when food is scarce, the “pests” move closer to habitation, not farther away, to find whatever they can to survive.  With mice can come Hanta Virus, and all of them can bring a variety of other diseases, including rabies.

Second:  The trapping of feral cats is challenging.  Feral cats are generally nocturnal so to trap all feral cats effectively it must be done at night.  This means that taxpayers would have to pay overtime wages to send Animal Control employees out at night.  Right now, Animal Control officers will not respond to dog issues after hours because of the cost, and as one officer was heard to say, they “have to have a life too!”  And once trapped, where will the cats be housed?  The Town does not have a holding facility.

Third:  Who is going to euthanize these cats and how is it going to be done?  After the killing, what will be done with all the dead bodies?  Using gas as a means of euthanizing is considered inhumane by the BCSPCA. Euthanizing by lethal injection is legal only under the supervision of a veterinarian and the local vets have declared that they will have no part in a plan of mass killing neighborhood cats.  They, like people doctors, work to save lives not to wantonly destroy them.

There is a psychological toll as well.  Studies have shown that people involved in mass killing of animals, in slaughterhouses for example, soon develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms.  Very few employees of such establishments remain in their jobs for very long.  The residents in the 10th Ave. neighbourhood must ask themselves: “How would killing cat, after cat, after cat affect my state of mind?”

Fourth:  Relocation of feral cat colonies is possible as a last resort, but it is very difficult, and expensive.  Because these cats are not adoptable, they will need to be cared for in an appropriate setting, for the rest of their lives.   The BCSPCA advocates TNR.  When the killing of the 10th Ave. cats was first proposed by the previous Town Council, an SPCA Provincial Constable for Cruelty Investigations warned them that euthanizing must be done humanely or they could face investigation and possible charges.

Lastly:  PAWS has pages and pages of information and documentation about TNR and how hundreds of other communities, often after trying many other methods and wasting thousands of dollars, have found it to be the only effective, long-term solution.  

With Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR):

• Trapping can be done by volunteers unrestricted by the time and payroll constraints of a contractual work day. 
• With the help of volunteers there is no drain on municipal manpower and much less use of municipal dollars as the only cost would be for neutering and vaccinating.  This is an economical alternative to the new Cat Bylaw which stipulates that trapping can only be done by an Animal Control Officer or his/her appointee -  potentially a large drain on community tax dollars.    
• The yowling and fighting and other mating noises stop.
• The breeding stops.
• The territorial marking and related foul odours stop.
• The soiling in peoples’ gardens and flowerbeds stops when feeding and litter stations are set up away from such areas.
• Destruction of property stops if alternate, minimal shelter is provided.
• The colony maintains its territory, keeping out other feral cats.
• The rodent population is controlled.
• Food and other maintenance of the colony is managed with volunteers and donations.

PAWS sympathizes with those who are trying to cope with the feral cats close up but the euthanizing of these animals as a means of control is completely against our policies.  It has been proven inhumane and ineffective.  Therefore, PAWS cannot condone or assist with this method of "control" of feral cats.

PAWS had previously agreed to support a temporary, short-term relocation of the 10th Ave. cats in an effort to help the residents and Town Council out of a difficult predicament.  With the implementation of the new Cat Bylaw, relocation is no longer an option. A feral cat is a wild animal.  It is not adoptable.  It cannot live in isolation in “an enclosed outdoor shelter” i.e. a cage in a family’s backyard.  If, in the future, the community would like to address the feral cat problem with a TNR (Trap Neuter Return) approach, PAWS will be happy to assist with the implementation of such an endeavour.