Katie’s Place is having to find a new facility to shelter approximately 100 small animals within the next year. That won’t be easy. The volunteers appealed to Maple Ridge City Hall for the use of City property at the Nov 8 council meeting. The response was encouraging but City Hall needs to do some research before they can give any answers.

Speaking for myself, I wonder if Maple Ridge council will want to know what Katie’s Place can do for them in exchange for the use of property. The volunteers explained what they’re doing to address the problem of free-roaming feral cats. But is that enough for City Hall? Taking on any official duties for the municipality is something the Katie’s Place volunteers would want to think long and hard about.

Maybe there will always need to be both official facilities and the independent so there is oversight for both. The official tend always toward the inhumane because of budgets and the need to control animals, and the independent tend to hoarding. Having both must ensure a degree of balance that is missing if there is only one. Proof is that before the independents became so prominent, animal control was a hard hearted business. And if there were no laws about hoarding there’d probably be hoarders on every block. Everything in society has to have checks and balances.

But I hope I’m not naive in thinking that there could be a harmonious blending of the two with the right kind of leadership. I take to heart what that wonderful article “In the Name of Mercy” by Ed Duvin said. To me, the most important paragraph in that article is, “Sound management programs alone could significantly reduce the incidence of euthanasia. Unfortunately, there's no incentive for creative evolution and solution when killing is perceived as an acceptable and merciful act.”

Maybe with the right focus, there could be a blending of the official and independent functions that meets official needs while valuing and protecting individual lives.