Rescue Journal

from maggie

Carol  ·  Feb. 12, 2012

Hi All
I have started a petition on http://www.change.org to ask both the Canadian and U.S. Federal governments to make it mandatory every dog and cat be sterilized and chipped for identity purposes.
Please go to the website to sign and then pass the word.
Maggie

Comments

Maggie

Joyce you will remember we pushed for that by-law through the Fraser Valley Humane Society many years ago.
Not perfect but was a step in the right direction. It did allow us to approach people who had 'kittens for sale' signs and give them a copy of the by-law.
We also used to offer to spay & neuter both the mother and all the kittens to stop futher breeding.

Joyce

Well done Maggie! I encourage everyone to sign this petition!! Mission actually has a Bylaw regarding spaying/neutering and identification of cats; but unfortuanately, it is a very hard Bylaw to enforce. I may be wrong, but I do not think there is a Bylaw in Mission regarding spaying/neutering/of dogs. Here is what the Mission ByLaw states:
CAT ByLaw:
6.1
No person shall suffer or permit a cat that is apparently over the age of 5 months, which is owned, possessed or harboured by him or her, to run at large, unless such cat, if female, is spayed or if a male, is neutered.
6.2
No person shall own, possess or harbour a cat that is apparently over the age of 5 months without it having a veterinarian identification tattoo, or an identification microchip implant.
6.3
Every person who owns, possesses or harbours a cat apparently over the age of 5months, shall upon request by the Poundkeeper, provide evidence to the Poundkeeper?s satisfaction, that such cat has been tattooed by a veterinarian or has an identification microchip implant in accordance with the provisions of section 6.2 of this bylaw

Carol

what gets me is why do vets even ask if folks want their cats tattoo'd?..it should automatically be included in the cost of the routine spay and neuter...like sutures! i am amazed at how often i am in the clinics and i hear the staff trying to convince someone that the extra $20 is well worth the safety factor..but some folks will try to save 20 bucks whenever they can cuz their cat will NEVER get lost like the other thousands upon thousands who do every year.

Maggie

There will always be animals in need of our care but if we can just stem the tide of animals born and then thrown away it will be amazing.
I have never understood why governments have not insisted on S & N if only because it makes economic sense.

Carol

oh and i read somewhere that it was suggested that feral TNR cats can be tattoo'd with an assigned color coded large dot readily visible from a distance high up inside the ear. so that when these cats are trapped and brought into shelters..the shelter can look in thru the trap at the inside of the ear without having to touch and a say..oh that is a purple dot..feral rescue group x... oh that is a green dot..feral cat rescue z..black dots, red dots, blue dots..each municipality can assign colored dots to specific cat rescues in their areas. when one of their feral cats comes in..the shelter calls the group and the group comes in and claims their cat to return to the managed colony.

eventually if EVERYONE is spayed and neutered and with some form of traceable ID's..chips, tattoo's for owned cats... dots or whatever for ferals managed by rescue groups..there won't be feral cats in 10 years or so to have to worry about anymore...the feral ones without homes will eventually die off and not be replaced and the lost ones will increasingly be able to be return to their missing owners and the truly dumped ones can hopefully with less stray homeless cat numbers in competition...find new responsible homes.
it is a win/win i think.

Lori Paul

There could be a provision that would protect feral cats. I think this is a bold endeavour Maggie and I support it 100%...I've shared with my Facebook friends!

Carol

i don't get why this would be an issue...they could easily be chipped to the rescue manageing the TNR and feeding colony and returned to the colony as needed plus...good luck scanning a feral cat anyway but if they can scan them and can identify the group responsible for caring for him or her..at least he or she has somewhere to return to so maybe it would no longer be an automatic euth'ing of feral "stray" cats.

as for the added cost..oh well...well worth the extra bucks if it keeps them alive and retrievable if they do end up in a "kill feral /no ID cats" shelter somewhere.

Maggie

My strong feeling is we have to start somewhere. We have to force people to act responsibly and not treat pets as disposable.
Right now there are no penalties for dumping unwanted pets. I understand your concern but the volunteers are not going to go away. My bet is they would fill that gap until we get the whole pet population under control.
Right now pretty well nothing is happening in North America. The U.K. is looking at instituting a mandatory chip by-law which will be worth watching.
Personally, after closing in on about 15 years of heavy involvement in the animal welfare world I see the situation getting worse not better. We cant go on just keeping our fingers crossed that things will improve. We have to stand up and scream bloody murder and that is exactly what Im doing!

Sheryl

I am concerned about what this would do to feral cats. In the states it has been suggested that this type of legislation would allow cities to exterminate any animal that wasn't chipped. That would put TNR cats (and just plain feral cats and stray dogs) at risk.

Maggie

To make signing the petition east...go to

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-us-canadian-federal-governments-make-it-mandatory-that-every-dog-cat-be-sterilized-and-chipped-for-id?share_id=lqTtyPjWAX&