Cat bylaw needed

When I went out to water my flowers this morning, that are in my flower planter at the top of my front steps by the front door, my flowers were torn apart and the planter had obviously been used as a cat toilet. 

The cost of plants is not cheap. 

So much for responsible cat owners.

I have been told by Mayor and Council, and told by Regional District, that all cats purchased in either a pet shop or from the SPCA must be spayed or neutered! Spaying and neutering a cat, all that does is stop it from breeding. That is only a very small part  of being a responsible cat owner. How about all those people who already have cats that are not spayed or neutered. What about them? What does that actually mean? Am I therefore to assume that City Hall and Regional District believe that by spaying and neutering a cat that will solve all the on going cat issues in this town?

A cat owner can boast that he has had his feline spayed or neutered, then opens his door so his cat or cats can run at large in the neighbourhood, reeking havoc (as only a cat can do) to other people’s property, such as the disgusting awful mess I found this morning. And the cat owner nonchalantly wipes his hand of any other responsibility with a smirk on his face because he knows too well there is no cat bylaw in Kelowna, heaven forbid, and nothing anyone can do about it.

Regional District and City Hall are burying their head on this one, reluctant to even address the issue, burying their heads in the sand and decline to actually say why they are shying away from a cat bylaw.

About two weeks ago, I sent a letter to to Regional District telling them that a neighbour of mine had a stinking, reeking, community cat toilet under his deck. It was my neighbour, not the cat owner, who had to rake up all the disgusting mess under his deck and it was my neighbour, not the cat owner, who was forced to fork out money from his own pocket to fix that issue by having to buy a truck load of gravel and rock to cover under the deck.

The City of Calgary has a very successful cat bylaw and a tightly monitored cat trap program in place as part of the cat bylaw. Had there been a cat bylaw in place and a legal trap available to my neighbour that he could have placed on his own property, this problem would have been solved long before it got way out of hand. The same goes for myself and others, also having to deal with the issue of cats continuously running at large in this town. Cats are responsible for the major depletion of song birds and other species of birds, not only in Kelowna but all over.

Is it going to take a cat bylaw to enforce the required responsibility to cat owners that is desperately needed this town?

Why is it that dog owners are made to be held responsible for their dogs under the existing dog bylaw and cat owners get off scot free?

That is discrimination!

Julie Sutherland