This was in todays edition of the Oliver Chronicle.

Council sets cat count at two and introduces licensing

By Wendy Johnson

Kitties caught catting around Oliver’s neighbourhoods next year could cost their owners cash. In response to a growing concern regarding the rapidly increasing number of roaming felines within the town’s boundaries, Council passed a cat control by-law at their regular meeting July 8.
By-law No. 1029, 2002 deals specifically with the regulation and control of cats and will be implemented as of January 1, 2003. And it could go down in hiss-tory as the first by-law of its kind in the Okanagan.
While not purr-fect, it limits the number of cats per household to two, sets out rules and fees regarding the licencing and tagging of all feline pets, puts teeth into the seizure and impound practices of by-law enforcement officers dealing with cats running at large, and establishes a fine of up to $2,000 for anyone caught violating any of the provisions of the by-law.
Annual licencing fees for each spayed or neutered cat is pegged at $5, while pets that have not been altered will cost their owners $40 apiece.
“We really want to get owners to spay or neuter their animals,” said Janette Van Vianen, director of corporate services at the Town office.
And if “Tom” or “Kitty” decide to stretch their paws and scout territory farther afield to the point where they trigger their nuisance factor, well the by-law has provisions for that too. Before an owner is permitted to spring his aggrieved feline from the impound, he will have to fork over $20 for the first offence and $50 for all subsequent offences, as well as pay for other charges such as storage fees. If an unlicensed cat is impounded, an owner will have to pay the appropriate license fee in addition to the other charges, before he is permitted to reclaim it.
Mayor Linda Larson says the by-law was necessary due to the proliferation of cats in the Oliver area. While the situation had surfaced occasionally in the past, the matter really came to a head during the renovation of the Bellflower Motel, when the owner complained the property had been inundated by both stray and feral cats. Numbering close to 30 strays at one point, many were mangy, malnourished and sick and could have posed a threat to domestic pets in the area.
Bolstered by statistics from the SPCA regarding the number of cats and kittens from this area that occupy space in the shelter in Penticton, the Town office knew it had to act.
After researching other jurisdictions that had included cats in their pet control by-laws, the Town developed its own separate by-law, which will allow officials to respond to a situation that warrants intervention.
Saying the by-law will be implemented on a complaint-driven basis, Larson was quick to point out that those complaints will be prioritized.
“It has to be based on more than an, ‘I don’t like my neighbour’s cat,’ situation. And a biting dog will get priority over a cat digging in someone’s garden.”
Penticton SPCA shelter manager, Dianne McKeown, is 100 per cent behind the Oliver by-law, and she sees the day when other municipalities will have to adopt similar by-laws.
“Between January and June this year, 791 animals have been surrendered to us. In June alone people dropped off 131 cats and kittens. They say to us, ‘I have a lovely litter of cute intelligent kittens that I can’t keep,’ but what they don’t realize is that the shelter already has over 100 equally cute and intelligent kittens, with more coming in every day.”
The SPCA is so backlogged that kittens are turning into young adults before they can be adopted. And every new box of kittens that appears at their doorstep lessens the possibility of cats finding new homes, which are already at the shelter.
McKeown has no time for pet owners who claim they couldn’t possibly spay or neuter their cat or dog, or who insist that cats should be free to roam.
“Anyone who has any objections to Oliver’s by-law should volunteer for one day at the shelter. It will change their minds in a hurry.”
The Oliver Veterinary Hospital charges $65 to neuter a male cat and $103 to do the procedure on a female cat. Mature females cost $21 extra.