Halifax has new bylaw for cats!!!

My meomy asked me to post this. Halifax- where we live - has a new bylaw for kitties. It does not affect us too much because I have a leash and a backyard that is already made just for me but so many cats do not. Their people let them roam and unfortunately, there are bad peple who do not like cats and do terrible things to them. This new law would allow neighbours to bring kitties to the pound (It makes my paws shake to think of it!) and does not help feral cats at all.

My meomy says this is a law that does not help kitties with no home. It only hurts them . She likes what one woman wrote in a local newspaper and I am reposting that here. Thanks to her!!!

This picture is of a feral kitten that managed to get out of the tree and will hopefully get a new home. If you know of any, call the people in the article.

Readers can see the actual bylaw
here

Tabby tally not popular

By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter | 5:22 AM



REGISTERING HALIFAX’S estimated 225,000 cats is not the right route for the city to take, says a volunteer with a cat rescue organization.

"Leave the cats the way they are. It’s not practical, it’s not enforceable and frankly, from a taxpayer’s point of view . . . it doesn’t work," Allison Chubbs said in a recent interview.

The member of Pierre’s Alley Cats Society plans to speak out against cat registration at a public hearing Tuesday night at city hall.

The hearing is on the proposed Bylaw A-300, Respecting Animals, but most people refer to it as "the cat bylaw."

That’s because regional councillors have debated for years a plan to introduce controls on cats, and tomorrow night’s public hearing marks the first time that council has moved past the planning stages.

It all started in the spring of 2004, when Coun. Jim Smith received several complaints about a property full of cats in his Albro Lake-Harbourview district.

Since then, councillors have chewed over issues like trying to restrict the number of cats and dogs allowed in one home or banning the feeding of ducks and other birds all over the municipality.

While neither of those made it into the proposed bylaw, a few other contentious ideas did.

And councillors expect to get an earful when members of the public get their five minutes at the mike.

"It’s going to be a long evening," Coun. Gloria McCluskey (Dartmouth Centre) predicted in an interview.

She’s guessing the biggest issue will be a proposed shelter to care for the stray and unregistered cats "because the SPCA couldn’t care for them all."

The shelter is necessary because the bylaw — as it’s written — permits homeowners to trap cats who cross over onto their property.

Cat owners have three days to claim their pets — and hand over a pocketful of fees.

But stray, and unregistered, unclaimed cats won’t be as lucky.

They’ll be housed at the shelter and adopted out — if a home can be found.

That’s the same outdated thinking that saw the SPCA plan a wide-scale program to destroy stray cats in the Myrtle Street area of Dartmouth, says Ms. Chubbs. While that program was canned after public outcry, Ms. Chubbs says it’s time for city officials to start charting another course for stray cats.

"The quick fix, which satisfies the neighbour or deals with the nuisance complaint, is going to be to take all of them and put them all down," she said in an interview.

"But expect the same number to be back next year."

Instead, she would like to see the city introduce a trap, neuter and release program for colonies of strays.

"Instead of animal control going out and killing all of these animals, maybe they could have a vet clinic instead. Those are more viable options and they actually are long-term options," she said.

That’s where Pierre’s Alley Cats Society comes in. Named for a petty officer who has been successfully carrying out such a program at Halifax’s naval dockyards, the group has been trying to help control the population of the Myrtle Street cats.

"We’re here to give them some quality of life and make a difference, hopefully," she said.

Undertaking a trap-neuter-release program "makes a tonne of sense," says another regional councillor.

"It would minimize us having to do anything else," Coun. Steve Adams (Spryfield-Herring Cove) said in an interview.

Ms. McCluskey agrees killing the animals is not the answer.

"I’m not in favour of euthanizing cats, but sometimes they’re ill and have to be," she said.

Part of the problem is that stray cat colonies can harm the neighbourhoods they adopt.

"There’s a little playground there on Pine Street, and I’ve had (city crews) go in twice to clean it up because of the cats from Myrtle Street," she said.

"They’ve been in there using the sand and the pebbles for a litter box," she said.

Another councillor says the only way to effect change is to ensure that funds are in place.

"Cat licensing actually makes sense," Coun. Andrew Younger (East Dartmouth-The Lakes) said in an interview. "People are asking us for spay and neuter programs and adoption programs, and you have to have the revenue source to do it."

Although he acknowledges that council receives a lot of ribbing over its handling of cat-related issues, he says changes are necessary.

"I don’t think cats are the No.1 issue facing the municipality at the moment, but we are dealing with the bylaw on Tuesday night, so let’s deal with it in the appropriate way."

He also points to an oversight in the proposed bylaw, which proposes every lawbreaker pay a $222 fine.

He would like to see tiered fines.

"Obviously, the fine for a dog biting somebody has got to be different than a dog running at large in a park."


’Leave the cats the way they are. It’s not practical, it’s not enforceable and frankly, from a taxpayer’s point of view . . . it doesn’t work.’
allison chubbsPierre’s Alley Cats Society volunteer