By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
Anna Skurikhina, cats and birds project lead at the Stewardship Centre for BC, and Theresa Nolet, president of the AlleyCATS Alliance presented to Oliver town council and asked for support for their efforts.
Skurikhina explained that “this issue is not new”. There has been an overpopulation of cats in Canada since 2017 with five to nine million cats roaming throughout the country. Of these cats one to four million of them are feral or unowned.
Last year, the Okanagan Cat Study 2023 placed trail cameras between Okanagan Falls and Osoyoos. This study found that roaming cats were recorded in 74 per cent of all sites observed. In peri-urban (the urban peripheral area) and urban places 97-100 per cent of these areas saw roaming cats observed.
Over half of all agricultural sites observed, 64.5 per cent, observed roaming cats, and 42 per cent of protected areas observed cats.
A crucial point in support of dealing with this nuisance is the impact that cats can have on local wildlife, particularly when it comes to a place with unique biodiversity such as the Okanagan.
They explained that cats kill around 100-350 million birds annually across the country. Skurikhina noted that this can present a threat to certain endangered birds in the region along with the fact that cats kill bats as well.
Councillor Petra Veintimilla expressed her interest in this angle on the problem, noting that “I had never really thought in terms of conservation. Cats killing bats and birds, and all of these species we have around”.
Nolet explained that this problem is often overlooked by the public. “We need support, so many people are not even aware that there are feral cats in the Okanagan, they are totally oblivious to that fact, and they don’t understand the impact not just for wildlife in general, but on people.”
They provided three recommendations on how the town could help deal with this problem. The first recommendation was for the town to sign a Statement of Collaboration promoting responsible cat ownership and open the door to work together on the roaming cat issue.
They also suggested helping increase the impact of humane organizations and animal shelters on local cat welfare.
Lastly, they recommended that the town adopt policies & bylaws to prevent cats from roaming at large and address cat predation of species at risk and cat overpopulation.
When it comes to specific bylaws that will address the last recommendation, council was a bit unsure of what that would look like. Veintimilla noted that she is not sure if the town has anything that addresses this issue.
The organization will be in contact with town staff to pin down specific policies and bylaws, or wording updates to current ones, that may help address the problem locally.
AlleyCATS is a small 100 per cent volunteer-run organization which was formed in 2012 with a dedicated focus on feral and abandoned cats of the Okanagan. The organization operates primarily in Oliver, Cawston and Keremeos.
Nolet noted that because of the size of the organization they have not been able to provide as much service to Osoyoos.
For more information visit alleycatsalliance.org
