Ottawa man takes neighbours’ pet to Humane Society in ongoing cat feud.
OTTAWA MAN TAKES NEIGHBOURS’ PET TO HUMANE SOCIETY IN SPAT OVER CAT’S WANDERING WAYS
Li l yanna — or Lily, for short — is only two and t hus l i kely unable to fully comprehend the rift cleaving about her in what is an otherwise quiet residential neighbourhood in Ottawa’s west end.
Yet the mostly white cat with a disarmingly friendly disposition is at the centre of what is quickly becoming a modern- day version of the Hatfield- McCoy feud of the late 1800s — minus, thankfully, the gunplay.
On one side of the property line are Wayne Burke and Kristine Tilbrook and their 11-year-old daughter, Abigail, with whom Lily lives in their Nepean home. In the household hierarchy, Lily is Alice’s pet. Tellingly, perhaps, Tilbrook describes Lilyanna as “the sweetest, most curious cat.”
“This cat is not a cat,” says a neighbour who asked not to be identified. “It plays soccer with the kids. It chases the ball. It’s super friendly. All the kids who walk home from school know this cat. The cat doesn’t really bother anybody except this one guy.”
Joseph Ladouceur lives next door to Lily, et al. He keeps a nice lawn and flower beds, while on the step beside his front door is a decorative wooden cut- out of a cat.
“For the past year and a month that we’ve been here,” says Wayne, “( Ladouceur) and his roommate would call Lily over and pet her and all that stuff — they were good friends.”
Additionally, when the family returned home from a March break trip to find their driveway shovelled for them, their security camera footage revealed that Ladouceur was the Good Samaritan.
Ladouceur has no pets himself, but he says he loves animals. “I have birdfeeders in my yard. I have rabbits in my yard, chipmunks, sparrows and other birds. And that cat sits and hunts all these things.”
Lily also, he notes, does her business in his yard and garden.
The final straw came at the end of March, when Ladouceur took his seasonal car — a BMW — out of the garage for a wash. The next day he noticed muddy paw prints, white hairs and scratches on the vehicle. A neighbour, he says, informed him he’d seen Lily on the car.
A few days later, he mustered the wherewithal to confront his neighbours about their cat.
According to Burke a nd Tilbrook, they subsequently talked about what they could do to allay Ladouceur’s concerns. They considered buying him a cover for his car but decided instead to put together a package containing a water bottle, cayenne pepper and rue seeds — items the city of Ottawa recommends to keep cats away. But before they had a chance to assemble the kit, the feud escalated.
On April 7, they received a call from the Humane Society, informing them that Lily had been dropped off there. They could come and pick her up after paying a $ 40 fee. A neighbour told them it was Ladouceur who had taken Lily there.
Nearly t hree weeks l ater, Ladouceur again took Lily to the Humane Society, requiring another $40 to get her back.
“I’m going to keep doing it until they learn to keep the cat indoors,” he says.
Tilbrook’s online complaint to police accuses Ladouceur of luring Lily onto his property in order to capture her. Ladouceur denies the charge.
Abigail, meanwhile, is anxious about Lily’s fate. The other day, she says, she broke down and began crying at school.
Burke believes Ladouceur’s actions qualify under the Criminal Code as theft of private property. Ladouceur says municipal bylaws allow him to remove a nuisance pet from his property and take it to an animal shelter.
If they share anything in common, it’s the feeling that officials are doing little to help solve the matter.
According to Tilbrook, when she asked Humane Society officials whom she could speak to about the matter, she was told to call the city. When she did, she was told to contact the police. There, she was told it was a city matter.
Ladouceur experienced the same indifference.
Ottawa police admit that the matter falls in a grey area where city bylaws and the Criminal Code overlap.
The Hatfield- McCoy feud saw numerous murders, nine incarcerations and one public execution. We can only hope for more civility here.
I’M GOING TO KEEP DOING IT UNTIL THEY LEARN TO KEEP THE CAT INDOORS.