4 minute read
A whale of a feral cat problem on Texada
BY ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT
When most people think of the Wild Ocean Whale Society, they think about sea life, not cats.
But the society’s volunteers launched MEOWS last fall, to respond to a feral cat colony on Texada Island. In the past year, MEOWS has grown far beyond that first colony.
Susan MacKay, founder and CEO of both WOWs and MEOWS, says the new initiative was born of a similar need as WOWs.
“We pride ourselves on never turning down any rescue or response, marine or terrestrial,” she said.
The Wild Ocean Whale Society’s official charity mandate states “saving, supporting, protecting or assisting stressed or endangered forms of life,” covering wild or domestic animals.
In September of 2022, WOWs was called in to help with the feral cat population explosion on Texada, which was producing many additional kittens, which, in turn, would produce even more cats. They even heard that some people were threatening to poison the cats, since there seemed to be no hands-on help available.
“So we stepped in to help out,” said Susan, who has rescued cats and dogs as well as marine life over the years. “WOWs is for the preservation of all life. We won’t turn down a rescue.”
The SPCA was maxed out at the time. WOWs started with the rescue of 12 kittens pulled from the colony. Homes were found for the kittens, and the new owners became responsible for their own vet bills to spay/neuter when old enough.
As soon as WOWs got involved, the scope of the problem became clear; the volunteers faced it head-on. Dozens of feral adult cats, frustrated citizens, and more and more kittens found their way to MEOWS. So did stories of what can happen when humane measures aren’t available.
While volunteers were trapping the feral cats, they came across 17 dead cats dumped in five different locations in the Priest Lake watershed area. Volunteers removed them for proper disposition.
They believe these cats were poisoned – although the SPCA noted that the bodies were too badly decomposed to confirm the type of poison used.
So far, WOWs has helped 63 feral adult cats – and counting. All the adult cats were spayed or neutered, vaccinated and dewormed, and some needed medicine. The older feral cats all had a small clip done on the tip of one ear before they were returned to Texada so people could tell that they had been spayed or neutered, said Susan.
“We wanted to give the cats on Texada the best possible chance at life while reducing the feral cat population in a humane manner,” said Susan.
“We have volunteers on Texada who help care for the cats and monitor them,” said Susan. One of those volunteers is Brenda Currie, the organization’s lead volunteer on Texada.
“She starts her day at 5 am when she takes cats to the vets (the Comox Valley Animal Hospital) on Vancouver Island. She loads her car with cats, goes to Powell River and then to Comox,” said Susan. “It makes for a long day.”
Brenda, Susan explained, returns on the last ferry from Comox and then the last one to Texada, where she then has to settle the cats who must be held overnight.
“The local vets didn’t have the capacity to deal with them,” said Susan.
“We do what we can,” said Susan. “I know the need is great. We have been called in to help out with yet another colony in the regional district while we continue our work on Texada.”
So far, WOWs MEOWS has found homes for 26 kittens – one who ended up staying with Susan as it had been injured and she wanted to keep an eye on it and in the meantime ended up falling in love with it.
“I named him Tug,” she said. “He certainly tugged at my heart strings.”
Will you help feral cats?
Rescuing and caring for Texada’s feral cats is expensive, says Susan MacKay, noting that the qathet Regional District has provided $3,000 in funding and the SPCA has provided $5,000 plus some food for the cats. Although the money from the SPCA and the qRD was much appreciated, it isn’t enough.
“We do bottle drives to raise money – we have an account at the bottle depot under WOWs / MEOWS.”
If you are able to give money, tax receipts are available for amounts over $20.
Cat food donations are also welcome as well as cash donations. For more info or to help, email susan@wows.org or visit their website at wildoceanwhale.org.
|| isabelle@prliving.ca
