Local animal rescue organizations are concerned enforcement of the local animal control bylaw could hinder their operations.
The Big Fix Grassroots Cat Rescue and CK Animal Rescue volunteers say they received registered letters from the municipality recently informing them they were in violation of the responsible pet owners’ bylaw.
The bylaw, enacted in 2015, limits the number of cats and dogs per residence to five and three respectively. But the problem for the rescue operations is there is no provision in the bylaw for their organizations.
The founders of each group were stunned to receive the notices.
“It was upsetting. We’ve had no complaints,” Kate Staley, founder of Big Fix, said.
For Nancy Ball, founder of CK Animal Rescue, it was an insult to her labour of love.
“I don’t have a life anymore. There’s always something, and to receive this letter was frustrating,” she said. “Because we’re rescues, there is nothing in the bylaw. We just want to get them (the animals) into good homes.”
Nancy Havens, municipal manager of licensing services, said the bylaw came into effect in July of 2015, and the limit on the number of cats dropped to five from 10 a year later.
In November of 2013, the dog limit was increased to three from two, she added. More than three dogs are permitted if a kennel licence is obtained.
Havens confirmed the rescue organizations have to comply with the bylaw.
“Rescues are not exempt from the municipality’s bylaws. When we are made aware of bylaw infractions regarding the number of animals on a premise, we ask for compliance with the bylaw and provide a timeframe for those in contravention to reduce the numbers to comply,” she said in an e-mail to The Voice.
As of late last week, the shelter volunteers said they were both in compliance in terms of number of animals in their control. Staley said it’s not making things easy, however.
“Today, I turned a cat away and it broke my heart,” Staley said, adding her shelter is at the five-cat limit. “I felt horrible.”
She said the cat was healthy.
“If someone shows up with an injured or sick cat, I’m going to take it in.”
While Big Fix has only five cats on site, it does have 27 available for adoption in total, but Toulouse said most are out at foster homes.
Ball said CK Animal Rescue has 72 dogs fostered out, with more than 50 of those being long-term fosters.
“I don’t keep hordes of them (dogs), but we keep them long enough so they can go into a foster home,” she said.
The rescue is also part of the Purple Leash program, offering shelter to animals that were part of a domestic violence situation. Ball said they will take such animals in for up to a month.
Lisa Toulouse of Big Fix said the effort now is to get an amendment to the bylaw to allow for not-for-profit or charity rescues. The rescue groups hope to lobby councillors for support, and are preparing to circulate a petition as well to obtain community support.
“We’re now trying to see what we can do to get an amendment,” Toulouse said.
Toulouse said Big Fix, which came into being in 2014, is a registered non-profit organization and is in the process of getting charitable status.
CK Animal Rescue, around since 2010, received charitable status in 2015, Ball said.
Both groups understand the need for an animal control bylaw. Staley said she once set foot inside a home with 30 cats. But they believe rescue organizations should be under different parameters.
The current system, they say, hinders their ability to help animals in need, and in particular Big Fix’s TNR – trap, neuter and release – program that has targeted feral cats.
Toulouse said they’ve neutered 4,500 cats over the past three years. They have also adopted out more than 800 cats since 2014.
