Attention feline lovers, the Whitehorse animal shelter is at cat-pacity
The Humane Society of Yukon is dealing with a relatively new problem — too many cats and kittens, looking for homes.
Staff at the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter in Whitehorse say they're at capacity, with cats of various breeds and four new litters of kittens.
Workers say it's unusual to see so many cats in the shelter.
"When I started here two or three years ago, we were bringing cats in from down south — because people were asking for cats," said the Humane Society's executive director, Dan Moore.
"We would send dogs down to Edmonton at the time, and Edmonton SPCA were sending us cats or kittens, you know, a few at a time. But now it's the opposite."
The Humane Society says since January, almost 130 cats have come through the shelter.
Moore says they have had to ship some cats out to animal rescue facilties in B.C. Sometime they'll send 15 cats out in a week, but then get 20 more that have been surrendered.
Moore says one woman has been an amazing foster owner, taking in 130 kittens this year with most ultimately being adopted out.
Moore says it's important for people to get their cats spayed or neutered.
"You can see it on 'Trader Time,' or in the newspaper — people are giving away kittens, and people will get those cats and what happens is, there is a large percentage of them that come here after six months or a year," Moore said.
"People are surrendering them and we always ask why ... and they say, 'oh, we got this cat and now it's spraying, or it's just not fitting in with our household, so we have to get rid of it.'"
Moore says some cats are surrendered to shelter because owners can't afford to pay the vet bills or take care of it anymore.
Other cats arrive at the shelter in bad shape — such as Willow, whose leg had to be amputated because it was attacked by a fox. Willow has since been adopted out.
Moore says when owners let their cats out to roam at night, or in the day, the chances of them being attacked by wildlife is high. He says those situations are definitely preventable
Moore hopes to find lots more people to foster and adopt kittens and cats so the animals can escape the boredom of life in a crowded shelter.
