Korey Hamm and his sons Sam and Noah with Sidney the cat. The Hamms have another cat who has been missing for close to a week.
Photograph by: Richard Marjan, Starphoenix , The Leader-Post
Pet
owners in Caswell Hill are raising the alarm about a man who claims to
be trapping neighbourhood cats who wander into his backyard. On social media, Lloyd Burchill says he is using humane cat traps to capture and relocate "at large" cats in the neighbourhood.
Burchill's post on the Caswell Hill community Facebook page said he was "tired of the damage to my property caused by wandering cats" and he warned area residents that he would trap any feline that comes onto his property. The two-week old post has caused an uproar on the page.
Area pet owners like Korey Hamm are concerned about Burchill's alleged trapping. His cat, Henry, has been missing for nearly a week. He has no proof that Burchill captured the orange cat, but he is appalled at the idea. "What are these cats doing that are so terrible that he is having to do this?" Hamm said. "I understand that cats are a nuisance if they are strays or they are spraying on people's property, but people's pets? They get out."
Hamm said Henry is a house cat who, from time to time, manages to sneak out of the house. Most often he returns home within a few hours, he said. This time he did not. Hamm said he contacted the SPCA to no avail. Burchill declined to provide any details about the practice and would not provide any information on how many cats he may have captured. He would not confirm whether he has baited any traps.
In a written statement, Burchill did say he has received threats from concerned pet owners after messages were posted on social media and on online classified sites. "My family, home and property have been threatened, info has been posted on Kijiji lost and found aimed at inflaming the situation," Burchill said in a written statement.
In a Facebook post, he said he placed the cats on farms outside the city. He declined to provide any more details about where the cats are being dropped off.
A spokesperson from the SPCA says Burchill is acting within the confines of the bylaw if he captured the cats on his property and if he has permission to relocate them on a farm, but what he is doing is "unethical." "He is clearly acting out what is essentially vigilant pet justice. Whether it's legal or not, it's kind of an unreasonable thing to do," said Kevin Hovdestad, the chair of the SPCA board.
Hovdestad said if people like Burchill see "at large" cats on their property they should phone animal control. Burchill has no way to determine whether or not the cats he is supposedly capturing are house cats or strays, Hovdestad said.
Ruth Savage, who volunteers with Street Cat Rescue, says the issue of stray cats and pets at large in the community is too big for one person to deal with.
source
Burchill's post on the Caswell Hill community Facebook page said he was "tired of the damage to my property caused by wandering cats" and he warned area residents that he would trap any feline that comes onto his property. The two-week old post has caused an uproar on the page.
Area pet owners like Korey Hamm are concerned about Burchill's alleged trapping. His cat, Henry, has been missing for nearly a week. He has no proof that Burchill captured the orange cat, but he is appalled at the idea. "What are these cats doing that are so terrible that he is having to do this?" Hamm said. "I understand that cats are a nuisance if they are strays or they are spraying on people's property, but people's pets? They get out."
Hamm said Henry is a house cat who, from time to time, manages to sneak out of the house. Most often he returns home within a few hours, he said. This time he did not. Hamm said he contacted the SPCA to no avail. Burchill declined to provide any details about the practice and would not provide any information on how many cats he may have captured. He would not confirm whether he has baited any traps.
In a written statement, Burchill did say he has received threats from concerned pet owners after messages were posted on social media and on online classified sites. "My family, home and property have been threatened, info has been posted on Kijiji lost and found aimed at inflaming the situation," Burchill said in a written statement.
In a Facebook post, he said he placed the cats on farms outside the city. He declined to provide any more details about where the cats are being dropped off.
A spokesperson from the SPCA says Burchill is acting within the confines of the bylaw if he captured the cats on his property and if he has permission to relocate them on a farm, but what he is doing is "unethical." "He is clearly acting out what is essentially vigilant pet justice. Whether it's legal or not, it's kind of an unreasonable thing to do," said Kevin Hovdestad, the chair of the SPCA board.
Hovdestad said if people like Burchill see "at large" cats on their property they should phone animal control. Burchill has no way to determine whether or not the cats he is supposedly capturing are house cats or strays, Hovdestad said.
Ruth Savage, who volunteers with Street Cat Rescue, says the issue of stray cats and pets at large in the community is too big for one person to deal with.
source
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