Cornwall eyes feline leash law
Proposals would require leashes outside, forced ownership for feeding feral cats
Herding cats might be easier than getting a proposed cat control bylaw accepted by at least one city councillor.
But with Cornwall accounting for 30 per cent of all strays taken in provincewide by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, something has to be done, says Coun. Bernadette Clement.
“This issue keeps coming back, so clearly the community and the OSPCA wants us to deal with this,” she says.
And so city staff has come up with proposals for a bylaw under which cats would be allowed outside only if on a leash or tether and anyone who feeds feral cats would be deemed to own them.
Not so fast, hissed Coun. Justin Towndale.
“My neighbour feeds some feral cats, but they are not his responsibility and I don’t think it’s right that he would be responsible for neutering those cats,” Towndale said. “My mother feeds birds. Should she responsible for the birds?
“Putting cats on leashes? Just no. That doesn’t make sense to me. Sometimes cats get out and explore. That’s just what they do.”
The proposals are the result of months of research and consultations between the city and the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry chapter of the OSPCA. Most of the policies were lifted from the cat control bylaws of other municipalities.
The policies are similar to provisions in Peterborough’s 2017 animal bylaw, which makes anyone who permits stray animals to live on their property responsible for cleaning up after them. The Cornwall proposal adds the feeding provision.
Peterborough animal control officer Dan Pazder said the OSPCA Act already considers people who provide care to strays to be their caretakers. He also said most Peterborough residents obey that city’s no-outdoor-cats rule.
Cornwall residents Mary Jane Hill and Melissa Alepins, who both run operations where they trap strays, get them spayed and then release them, say the best way the city can deal with the cat population is to fund more catchand-return programs.
Chief building official Christopher Rodgers told council it currently costs the local OSPCA about $500 to spay or neuter a cat. However, the organization’s head office is willing to send its mobile spay and neuter clinic to Cornwall, which can do 40 operations in a day, but would need financial assistance from the city to do so.