Residents of the MD of Bonnyville face a common problem; cats are being left on their doorsteps to fend for themselves.
For residents like Helen Kruger, seeing them out in the cold can be heartwrenching.
“When I look at that cat, its ears are frozen, it's skinnier than the dickens, and it's meowing,” Kruger described. “It's heartbreaking. You open the door and they're just standing there.”
Every year, residents in the MD face the same issue; cats no longer wanted by their owners are abandoned on their properties. For families like the Krugers, who simply don't want a cat in their home, it can be difficult to watch.
“All I know is we get this every year, and normally they're bigger,” she said.
One year in particular, she recalled six cats coming onto their property. At the time, they had a cow they fed dry cat food, so they weren't too concerned about the cats' survival.
Now, she has nothing to feed the cats coming onto her property, and taking them to the shelter isn't an option.
“It's sad,” Kruger expressed. “I don't know why they keep doing this… I don't know why they keep dropping them off. This year, they're not going to make it. I'm not going to bring them in the house. I give them some milk, and they can stay in the barn, but that's all I have.”
Kruger said she can't afford to take them to the Bonnyville SPCA, which charges a $40 fee for stray cats.
“It's a lot of money for people to take them in somewhere they can be safe,” she said. “That's a lot of money for some people, even us… We don't have that kind of money.”
The Bonnyville SPCA said even if Kruger would pay the fee, there is little to no room left at their shelter.
“They can always phone us. We're the place to phone, but the things is, we can only accept the cat if we have the available room. Unfortunately, with winter, we have been bombarded with 25 cats, and until some are adopted, we just don't have the room to take in anymore,” said Bonnyville SPCA shelter assistant Ashley Hebert.
The SPCA said depending on if residents mind having the cats on their property or not really impacts which direction they go.
If a property owner prefers not to have them around, Hebert says don't feed them.
“Once you put food out, they're going to stay,” she explained.
However, if a resident doesn't mind keeping them in a garage, shed, or barn until there is room at the SPCA, then that is also an option.
“I, myself, have purchased a bin and filled it full of straw, and now I take care of an outside cat. He lives in the makeshift shelter, and it's better than being outside in the cold,” Hebert said.
For those who do take the cats under their wing, the SPCA said they're still welcome to call and leave their name. That way, once a spot does become available, they can take it into the shelter.
They also suggest putting an ad out to find an owner.
But, Kruger's concern isn't holding onto the cats until there is room, it's the $40 cost that comes with taking the cat in.
Because the shelter relies solely on donations, the fee is required to drop off an animal.
The funds collected are used to cover the cost of running the shelter, such as vet bills, spay or neuter costs, operational expenses, and to pay for items that aren't always donated.
“Every animal that comes in gets vaccinated, de-wormed, and are eventually spayed or neutered. Then, you add the general cost of keeping two buildings open with heat, electricity, water, paying staff… and also the general costs of taking care of a pet,” Hebert explained. “We have lots of bills to pay for.”
In some cases, the start costs for a stray cat can be upwards of $100.
“Most of these cats, $40 basically covers the vaccines and de-worming, it doesn't even go into those other things,” Hebert continued.
Sharon Ducharme, SPCA board member, said if the shelter had more help from the public, there could be wiggle room when it comes to bringing in stray cats.
“We feel horrible when we have to tell people that we can't accept them. What are we supposed to do? We would eventually have to close our doors and then there would be no help for this area,” she explained.
For dogs it's a different story.
Currently, the SPCA has an agreement with the MD and Town of Bonnyville for dogs. In most cases, peace officers will pick-up a stray dog at no charge to the property owner.
“We have no such agreement with cats. The MD and the Town of Bonnyville in the winter months will not pay us for any cats,” Hebert said. “They consider cats not a big issue in the MD is what I've heard before. Other than that, I'm not quite sure what the reason is.”
This leaves the responsibility on the shoulders of the property owner, who is left to make the decision to take the cat in, find it a home, pay the $40 fee, or let them fend for themselves.
For Kruger, the latter is not an option.
“I don't know what to do with them, just feed them until they disperse I guess. It's just heartbreaking,” she expressed. “It's terrible to have to deal with this.”
Ducharme said it's really the irresponsibility of the pet owner that is to blame whether it's abandoning them in someone's yard, or not having them spayed or neutered.
The SPCA currently has 25 cats, but they could squeeze in four or five more they said, but what they really need is for residents to step up and adopt.
“The longer they're here, the bigger and bigger they get. That room gets really small really fast. I would say 30 would be our max,” noted Hebert.
Kyla Hunter of the Lakeland Humane Society said they have room for about 22 cats, and are currently housing over 95.
Residents living in the City of Cold Lake are considered lucky because the city has a contract with the humane society. All stray cats are taken in and the costs are covered through that agreement.
“They pay for every stray cat that is running at large in Cold Lake to be brought in to the shelter,” Hunter explained.
The MD of Bonnyville however, doesn't have a cat contract in place. If a resident from the MD or even the Town of Bonnyville, brings a cat to the Lakeland Humane Society, it will cost $100, if there's room.
“We haven't had any space to take in cats from the MD this year. We have run over capacity for the entire year. Whether or not they had the money, it wouldn't matter because we haven't had the space,” added Hunter.
The fact that the MD doesn't have an agreement with either the SPCA or humane society is odd, she explained.
“They're throwing that responsibility back onto the property owner. They have set-up nothing to look after all of those strays,” Hunter said. “Taking care of stray animals, it's a public safety issue because they can carry diseases, and people can be hurt. But, for whatever reason, in the MD of Bonnyville, public safety doesn't deal with cats.”
Kruger concluded, “It's heartbreaking for people to watch this animal. People drop them off and they have no idea what's going to happen to it. They just assume that they've done a great thing and someone else is going to look after it. That doesn't always happen.”
The Town declined to comment at this time, and MD of Bonnyville was unavailable for comment.
