Cat crisis: Hundreds of feral cats given another lease on life

Feral cats are shy and unpredictable making finding homes for them very difficult.

However, one local group has been caring for hundreds of lost and abandoned felines by making them part of the neighbourhood.

“The goal is to help stem the crisis and overpopulation and get cats off the streets,” said Sandra Klarer with People For Animals. “Get them into homes. And if they’re not adoptable, get them into safe situations.”

Counting the number of cats that roam the streets of Regina is nearly impossible.

“My guess is anywhere from a few thousand to I’ve heard as high as 25,000,” said Klarer.

Volunteers with People For Animals feed and provide shelter for about 150 feral and stray cats at 30 feeding stations, mostly in North Central.

The cats that are cared for have all been tattooed and sterilized and are exempt from City of Regina licensing requirements.

“Basically that means that if the Humane Society were to take that cat into custody it would be released back to People For Animals to be returned to the colony, the first time without a fine or penalty,” said Kelly Scherr, director of construction and compliance with the city.

The city only received one complaint about cat colonies last year: “That was dealt with as an untidy property issue and cleaned up and resolved,” said Scherr.

The Regina Humane Society says it receives hundreds of complaints per year regarding street cats and takes in about two ferals per month.

Previously, these unadoptable cats were immediately euthanized but now there is a market for them, thanks to the society’s Barn Buddies program.

“A feral cat, semi-feral cat or one that’s not using the litter box, doesn’t work very well in somebody’s house,” said Don Simons with the Humane Society. “But they work on farms or warehouses and someplace where they have some shelter that they can go into.”