Cats 'overwhelm' local SPCA shelter

By Susan Quinn

The News Bulletin
Jul 28 2005

They're cute, they're cuddly and they're proliferating at an alarming rate.
Cats have taken over the Nanaimo and District SPCA shelter. More than 100 of them, filling three rooms plus the medical room. And there's no end in sight, says board chairman Norma LePage.
"Right now we're having a very bad time," LePage said. "This time of year is when we have the most cats, and we don't have any food."
The SPCA has been operating with a deficit and they're on a tight budget, she said. They depend on financial donations to get them through the year -and now they're appealing to the public for donations of dry cat food.
Any kind of food for kittens up to senior cats would be welcome. People can drop off food at the SPCA, 2200 Labieux Rd., during operating hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12 to 5 p.m.
Of course, people can always come and adopt a cat to help keep the numbers down: all adult cats at the SPCA are spayed or neutered before they are adopted out.
The SPCA also has a full kennel of dogs and most of the rabbit cages are full, too, LePage said.
The SPCA would also like more funding for its spay and neuter program, which would help alleviate the number of cats that are brought into their facility, LePage said.
Although the city has given the SPCA $25,000 and $15,000, respectively, over the past couple of years, LePage said it's not enough.
"This is not the SPCA's problem, it's the community's problem," she said. "The municipality should be paying for this problem."
The institute's provincial arm, the B.C. SPCA, is also chronically underfunded, LePage said.
"B.C. SPCA gets $71,000 from the provincial government to enforce the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Toronto gets a million dollars a year."