Some cat owners in the southeast Calgary community of Deer Run are upset over what they say are threats aimed at their pets.
This week someone put up signs on community mailboxes which featured photos of two cats and an alarming warning:
“Are these you cats? Please keep them on your property or these bird killers will not be coming home!” the posters read.
One of the cats in the pictures is Karen Megert’s cat Tucker.
She admits he gets out of the house sometimes, but now she’s worried for his safety.
“It’s just scary that if my cats get out, is something going to happen to them?” Megert said. “That’s my concern right now.”
“I don’t want to feel that if my cat gets out or any of my animals get out, that they’re going to have that threat of them disappearing or [someone] doing something to them.”
Megert said similar posters went up in August and she tore them down.
Then they reappeared this month.
Calgary Animal Services has seen the signs but can’t prove it’s a physical threat to the cats.
Inspector Kevin Leitch with Calgary’s community standards department said it could be a warning to the owners that the pets will be turned over to the city for being at large and violating the cat bylaw.
“That person might just be saying, ‘If your cats are off your property, you’re not getting them back unless you go down and pay some fees or fines,’” Leitch said.
“If there was a clear threat to an animal, the humane society and the police would conduct an investigation. At this point in time there’s no clear threat to the animal.”
Neither the Calgary police or the Calgary Humane Society are investigating the posters.
Megert said if Tucker is in someone’s yard, rather than put up posters, she would appreciate a call or a knock on the door, but said she’ll be more careful about letting him out.
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