Animal control services in Moncton could exclusively apply to dogs if a by-law amendment goes through.
A first-reading that changes the law’s wording to exclusively apply to dogs went through at a council meeting on Aug. 16, with only councilor Shawn Crossman opposing it.
The current by-law permits enforcement officers to respond to cat-related calls.
That has cat rescue organizations worried, as they’re already overwhelmed with stray cats.
Kathy Prosser has been fostering cats in her Moncton home for over six years through Carma, a volunteer organization that takes care of stray cats.
“Our phone rings off the hook,” she said in an interview on Thursday.
“As of Wednesday there were six calls to one member of our group to come and rescue cats.”
Moncton Fire Chief Conrad Landry said that the by-law was never intended to include cats when he presented the amendment at the council meeting.
“We don’t have a lot of demand for stray cats,” he said. “But if we see there is a demand we can definitely bring some amendments to the by-law or a separate by-law.”
Landry was unavailable for comment on Thursday.
PAW, the organization contracted by the city to handle animal control, released a statement on Wednesday saying the amendment could “majorly impact” their organization, as over half the animals “either received at the shelter or dealt with by animal control were cat related.”
If the amendment goes through, the care of cats at the shelter would solely be paid for through donations.
Carma has already had to close their intake because they’re so overwhelmed.
“When the pandemic hit, vets were closed except for emergency services which means that most people did not get their pets spayed or neutered.
So the population exploded so we’re still dealing with the repercussions of that, we’re still playing catchup,” Prosser said, adding that as far as she was aware, other cat rescue groups in the city had also had to close their intake.
“When we see a by-law like the one that’s coming right now, it puts an undue stress on our situation that we have now,” she said.
She added that inflation had also impacted their operating costs, as the cost of food and vet bills have risen in the past few years.
She said they just had their first in person fundraising event in years and while it went well, she said they didn’t raise as much money as in prior years.
“We normally have a bigger turnout. Right now it’s hard to get people because people are struggling with the amount of money they have coming in,”
The second reading of the proposed by-law amendment is scheduled for September 6.
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