Quake-damaged #cattery keen on new home

Quake-damaged cattery eyes $3m expansion


By TINA LAW

Last updated 09:07 15/01/2015

Kirk Hargreaves

 

CARING FOR CATS: Joyce Latham cuddles with Ruth at Cats Protection League Canterbury, which can currently accommodate up to 40 cats at a time.

An animal welfare group wants to increase the size of its cattery in residential Woolston to cater for up to 100 felines.
Cats Protection League Canterbury's $3 million development will be funded mostly through bequests, including a $1m donation in 2007 by cat-loving Cantabrian Hester Bernice Hewitt.
A cattery has operated from the Charlesworth St site since the 1990s, expanding over the years. It now accommodates up to 40 cats at a time.
The cattery was badly damaged in the earthquakes and was in desperate need of replacement, league chairwoman Robin Thomson said. It has no heating and its buildings are slowly sinking.
"In winter, our manager has to wear seven layers of clothing to get around."
The number of cats housed in the new facility would remain much the same as the current 40. Increased capacity was only needed to cater for "occasional peak events", including kitten season and natural disasters, when the number of cats brought in could increase significantly, Thomson said.
The league rehomes more than 500 cats and kittens annually and has an extensive desexing programme, with almost 9500 cats desexed in the past four years.
It has applied to the Christchurch City Council for a resource consent to build the new cattery.
The league has purchased the property next to the existing cattery and wants to build across the two sites.
The league's consent application said there was no noise or smell from the operation. "From beyond the boundaries, people would not know there is a cattery, other than from a small sign."
The expansion would not involve any change to the existing character of the activity. The public has until January 23 to make a submission on the proposal.

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