Cat owners in Bonnyville should be wary, after a number of feline friends have gone missing from residences in town.
Over the past few weeks, Bonnyville and District SPCA manager Heather Mutch said there has been a noticeable increase in the number of cats missing in a certain area in Bonnyville. That area is around Dr. Brosseau School and out towards École des Beaux-Lacs.
However their disappearance is suspicious, as Mutch added that there hasn't been an influx in the number of cats at the shelter.
“With comparison to the number of cats reported missing, we aren't getting those numbers...I know there have been a lot of reported missing cats and the numbers just aren't adding up.”
One woman who lives in that area is Ademine Graham. Her cat Gilbert has been missing since the night of May 22.
“My neighbour's cat disappeared, my cat disappeared and a cat two houses away from us disappeared on exactly the same night,” said Graham.
She added, “We're all pretty upset because our cats disappeared, but there's nothing we can do about it.”
Graham, like many, let her cat enjoy the outdoors in the summertime. Madison Verbisky is another resident in that area who had her cat suddenly go missing.
After her cat disappeared, Verbisky made phone calls and searched for her family pet around fields in the area to no avail. While coping with the loss of her cat, Verbisky doesn't even feel comfortable enough to even consider getting another cat.
“I kind of seems like foul play was involved. I don't know what happened but I do know whatever happened wasn't a good thing,” said Verbisky.
“We suspect someone made the cats disappear, because a coyote would come and grab one cat the one night and another cat the next night, not all three at the same time,” said Graham.
While the exact reason for the cats' disappearance will remain unknown, Mutch said there's a good chance cat traps have something to do with it.
“If you're a cat owner it's unfortunate that there are people that rent cat traps because we do have a contract with the town to rent them out to people to catch stray cats, then they bring them in here.”
Mutch noted that people can also buy there own cat traps and not everyone decides to take the animal to the humane society.
“We do get a lot of people from the MD calling about people dumping cats out in the country.”
This isn't the first time pets have gone missing from residences within the Town of Bonnyville. Last year, several cats went missing from a different area of town. Other years have seen people's labs or small dogs going missing.
Most recently, three weeks ago, in an area along Lakeshore Drive people were going around to fenced yards and letting dogs out.
“For a couple weeks there were a lot of loose dogs,” explained Mutch. “It's very upsetting because you're taking the responsibility of fencing in your yard for your animals and then people are coming and letting them out.”
Mutch said the best thing dog owners can do is make sure their gates have locks on them. For cat owners, she expressed that even if your cat is in your yard, you need to take measures to ensure it stays there.
“I just tell people if you really want your cat to be an inside/outside cat, buy a cat harness and a lead and put them on a corkscrew anchor in your yard,” said Mutch, who added that cats are good climbers and won't always stay in your yard.
As far as Graham is concerned, she knows her Gilbert isn't coming home. Graham said herself and her neighbours are just hoping to make everyone, both cat owners and those doing the trapping, aware of the situation.
“Drop them off at the SPCA, don't go and kill someone's cat. That's our big thing, because that cat was loved by someone. Don't take matters into your own hands, don't think ‘well I'm going to get rid of these cats.'”
Verbisky added, “I would just like to say to the person who's doing it that there has to be better solution if you don't like cats.”
