‘Put them on the exhaust pipes’: Alberta mayor appears to suggest killing of feral cats

September 19, 2024 Canuck

The mayor of an Alberta city appeared to suggest on Tuesday that residents could use inhumane tactics to deal with feral cats.

“When it comes to feral cats, it would be cruel to say, but it would be interesting if people could deal with them themselves. Like, I’m going to say, in the old days when you lived on the farm,” Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Gale Katchur said with a chuckle during a city committee meeting on Tuesday.

Katchur grew up on a farm, and said her daughter lives on a farm.

“When you lived on the farm, if there was (sic) cats, you threw them in a bag and threw them in the river or they just put them on the exhaust pipes,” she said, chuckling a second time.

The City of Fort Saskatchewan publishes a recording of city meetings to YouTube.

The city’s committee of the whole discussed animal licensing and feral cats on Tuesday afternoon.

Katchur’s comments were in regards to a proposal by city staff that feral cats be relocated to a rural outdoor residence or farm.

After the farm comments, she also remarked, “I hope that doesn’t get captured anywhere.”

A presentation to the committee by city staff showed in 2023, Fort Saskatchewan had 66 cat complaints, 33 reports of cats at large, and three feral cat reports.

The numbers were actually down from 2022, when there were 101 cat complaints, 92 cats at large reported, and three feral cat reports.

In the presentation, the city defined a feral cat as wild or born in a wild state and aggressive or difficult to catch and handle.

A cat at large is defined in the presentation as socialized to people, lost or abandoned.

The City of Fort Saskatchewan says a statement will be issued on Thursday about Katchur’s comments.

Fort Saskatchewan is about 30 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

View original article here Source