The solution to the feral cat problem is simple: spay and neuter. There is a plethora of cat rescue groups out there already, working on tiny budgets, spaying and neutering feral cats, managing colonies, and rehoming the rehomable. All the SPCA has to do is ask these groups how it can help. From Alley Cat Friends in Prince George to Vernon and District Animal Care and the Okanagan Humane Society in the Interior to Pacific Animal Foundation and many, many others in the Lower Mainland - countless honest little animal welfare groups have been working tirelessly for years doing the hands - on job for homeless cats while the SPCA continues to talk, and revise strategic plans, and talk, and research, and talk, and ponder....

Why is it so hard for the SPCA to just say to all the little guys "Hey, you're doing a great job. How can we help? We have all this money. Can we help you to pay for some spays and neuters so that you can get this whole colony trapped and altered before the next batch of litters?"

Consulting with three cat groups for ideas is not a good enough start. Getting into the trenches with established feral cat rescue groups, getting its hands dirty and sharing a bit of its wealth would be more helpful, and definitely be more convincing to the rest of us that the SPCA is sincere in its claim to give a hoot about feral cats.

Choosing to "offer greater encouragement for relinquishment of cats to shelters" is NOT the way to convince any of us that the SPCA really has the cats' best interests in mind. Just two weeks ago the Kamloops SPCA killed sixty cats at its facility because of disease. Just five months before that the same facility killed ninety cats because of disease. I fail to see how encouraging more pet dumping and cramming more cats into its warehouses construes animal welfare.

Come on SPCA. Work with us. Help us to do more of what we are already doing. We already know how to humanely manage feral cat colonies and reduce pet overpopulation. The time has come to stop talking and start working