Huge victory for Georgina feral cat committee as pilot program adopted

YorkRegion.com
Aug. 15, 2017
Heidi Riedner

A volunteer-based group doesn’t think killing cats is the answer to feral cat colonies in Georgina and it got the town to agree with it after council endorsed a two-year trap-neuter-release pilot program on Aug. 9.

“We don't like killing and we don't think killing feral cats is the answer,” says the Georgina feral cat committee (GFCC), who, along with PAWS of Georgina, asked council last September to adopt the trap-neuter-release (TNR) program as a means to manage feral cat colonies by reducing reproduction, disease and suffering.

Feral cats, as opposed to strays who have had some human contact, are essentially wild and undomesticated.

Generally speaking, they are not adoptable and therefore are killed if brought to pounds or shelters.

In a TNR program, feral cats are humanely trapped (with box traps), brought to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, eartipped (the universal sign that a cat has been neutered and vaccinated) and then returned to their outdoor home.

The GFCC has been doing the program on its own time and dime but requested the town formally adopt the methodology to humanely deal with the issue of feral cats.

“These volunteer caretakers play a huge role in feral cat management,” the town’s manager of municipal law enforcement, Ryan Cronsberry, said.

“They are taking drastic steps to break the cycle that, at times, almost feels like trying to stop a leak with a strainer,” Cronsberry added.

The GFCC and PAWS will work with town staff during the two-year pilot, which will track locations, the amount of cats trapped, surgery and release dates to benchmark the extent of the feral cat problem in Georgina.

Town staff will utilize the current budget for PAWS to assist with the facilitation of any costs specific to the spay or neutering of feral cats in the community.

Mayor Margaret Quirk thanked the volunteers of the GFCC for the "commendable" but often "thankless" work they do unseen in the community.

Ward 3 Coun. Dave Neeson agreed, congratulating members on what should be considered a "big victory" in their efforts to bring TNR to Georgina.