Calgary Sun
Fri, June 22, 2007
Cat-astrophe looms
UPDATED: 2007-06-22 03:06:53 MST

Death row time may get clawed back

By SHANNON WOODWARD, SUN MEDIA

The SPCA is having a kitty crisis.

And that has humane society officials thinking of cutting down the number of days the felines are allowed to spend on death row.

Hedy Hope, communications co-ordinator for the humane society, said yesterday their building has reached its capacity for cats and the situation is dire.

"We're basically full of cats right now," she said.

Hope said if more people don't adopt the felines, they may have to limit the length of time they can stay at the shelter.

Any cat brought in spends about 10 days in a holding area where their health and temperament are assessed. They are then moved into the adoptions area where they have just seven days to charm their way into the arms of a potential adopter.

If not, it is euthanized to make room for hundreds of others.

"The reason that we do have that for the cats is because there is such an over-population of cats and we can't provide homes to that many animals," said Hope.

Last year, 7,000 cats were taken in, with nearly 5,000 finding homes. Currently, the Humane Society has about 390 cats.

"We're seeing a lot of mothers with kittens because people aren't spaying or neutering their animals," said Hope.

"In addition, there are a lot more strays this time of year as people let their cats outside because of the nice weather."

Hope emphasized the importance of licensing, tattooing or micro-chipping pets, as well as having them fixed.

Sun Media Corporation