Feral cats contribute to 'crisis' for Alberta animal rescue agencies

A feral kitten brought to the Central Alberta Humane Society with a large piece of flesh ripped from its mouth exemplifies an escalating cat care crisis in Alberta, says the shelter's executive director.

The stray was recently found motherless and starving in a Sylvan Lake parking lot. It will cost thousands of dollars to nurse it back to health, said Tara Hellewell, the Red Deer-based shelter's executive director.

"Braveheart is like the poster child for kittens and cats that are suffering on the street," Hellewell said in an interview with CBC News.

"When we experience cold spells, they will do anything they can to survive."

Braveheart, who was likely injured as he sought out the warmth of an idling vehicle, is expected to make a full recovery. But the animal rescue system will remain strapped long after he finds a new home.

Stray and feral cats — often malnourished, injured and difficult to rehabilitate — are putting an added strain on Alberta's strapped animal-rescue networks.

Shelters across the province are dealing with a chronic cat overpopulation problem.

"It's cats that are the issue because we believe they are wild animals that can fend for themselves when that's not the case," Hellewell said.

"It doesn't really stop. Kitten season is very long."

With the early winter weather, more strays are being brought in off the streets and Alberta shelters have been inundated, Hellewell said.

"Just in the last couple of months, we've probably done three amputations on cats with limbs that have been caught in a vehicle," she said.

"We're all desperately underfunded. Many of us of have received no or little government funding but we're carrying the burden of this problem."

The Central Alberta Humane Society is currently at capacity with 150 cats in care.

Klassic Kennels, a small shelter based in Red Deer, took in a record 27 strays on Monday. In the past three weeks, the rural volunteer organization has incurred $19,000 in veterinary bills, just for cats. The shelter is on track for its third record-breaking year for cat surrenders.

"People, they contact us, and I'm incapable of helping," said Mackenzie Deboon, the shelter's adoption and surrender coordinator. "I always try to give people other options and there aren't any right now."

Deboon said shelters across the province are in the midst of a "cat crisis."

"Everybody is drowning right now," Deboon said. "All of the rescues that I know of are either overflowing with cats or they're overflowing with bills."

Deboon would like to see communities adopt more proactive measures such as trap-neuter-release programs, but most municipal bylaws prohibit them, she said.

"It's a very, very frustrating situation," Deboon said.

"We're doing as much as we can, we're doing more than we ever have and honestly most days it feels like the problem isn't getting any better."

Edmonton rescue agencies are also feeling overwhelmed.

"This year has been a particularly bad for cats," said Tracy Bauder, supervisor of customer service and administration in animal care and pest management with the city. She oversees operations at Edmonton's animal care and control centre.

"Everybody is full to the rafters and so are we, and it's been like this all summer."

Sterilizing Edmonton's feral colonies

Edmonton has an estimated 63,000 feral cats. More than 600 of them are brought to the animal care and control centre each year, Bauder said.

Feral populations tend to congregate in the river valley and unpopulated industrial areas where people are sparse, but residential neighbourhoods are not immune.

The city has been working to map the city's colonies and plans to launch a trap neuter and release program next summer. The pilot would target a handful of neighbourhoods where active colonies have been identified, Bauder said.

The city also relies on initiatives such as the Barn Buddies program, which spays and neuters feral cats brought to the city animal shelter and places them on rural properties.

The city's cat strategy is in its infancy, Bauder said, and Edmontonians are encouraged to provide feedback through an online questionnaire and a public engagement session on Oct. 30.

"It's hard to keep up and it's not only the feral cats, it's the friendly adoptable cats too that we're struggling to find spaces for.

"There are so many unwanted litters of kittens every year, there is just a lot more than the animal industry can handle."

While street kittens are accepted at the Edmonton Humane Society, most adult feral cats are considered too wild for the shelter.

Instead, they are cared for by groups like Little Cats Lost, which began its work in a southeast industrial park.

The volunteer agency has helped shrink several feral cat colonies across the city through spay and neuter programs —and works with the animal care and control centre to rehabilitate street cats considered unadoptable.

Virginia Mirando, president of the volunteer society, said feral cats are a symptom of a much larger problem. More attention needs to be paid to educating the public around responsible pet ownership, she said.

"They're a result of a much bigger social issue," she said. "It's sad."

"If everyone was responsible for their animals and they spayed and neutered them and they didn't leave them as unfixed strays on the street, we wouldn't be talking about feral cats."