Cat Rescue volunteers and supporters in Lambton County are stretched beyond all reasonable limits helping abandoned and homeless cats. The extreme number of homeless cats is heartbreaking. Some cats might become lost through no human fault, but a great number turn up where it’s obvious they have been purposefully ‘dumped’ by people who no longer want them.
It’s evident that these cats did not wander for miles to remote locations on their own, and that people abandoned them there. This is cruel to the cats, and adds to the stress the volunteers' experience. Those volunteers struggle to provide veterinary care, spay/neuter, and daily food for the cats, and must engage in constant fundraising too. These situations are emotionally distressing for volunteers who see cats suffering in terrible condition; often with frostbite, illnesses, injuries, and malnutrition.
Cat abandonment is a social ill that demeans the communities where it occurs, and degrades the sensitivities of those who come to see it as normal. It's way past time for people to stop believing that ‘dropping off’ cats is socially acceptable. It’s an insult to the community. Cat abandonment is a regional problem because cats are moved around by the people who abandon them. A cat from any Lambton County community might be abandoned outside of those community limits. This regional problem needs regional support to address.
I’ve been involved in cat rescue for more than twenty years, starting in Sarnia, and I still support cat rescue in Lambton County. I now reside in London where we are fortunate to have a subsidized spay/neuter program provided by our city. This municipal support has made a tremendous difference and the numbers of stray and feral cats is now far less extreme. London started with a modest subsidy program for spay/neuter surgeries which allowed the volunteer community to achieve so much more.
Crawling under cars to rescue a kitten, and standing in the cold by a trap for hours to get a frightened cat into care are essential community services provided by unpaid volunteers. I hope the various governments in Lambton County will see the benefit to the region provided by volunteers who work so hard to humanely address the over-population of homeless cats. Spay/neuter subsidy programs, even modest ones, throughout the county would make an enormous difference and need not be a significant drain on community budgets.
Most of all, people need to stop abandoning cats. No matter how hard one’s life might be, there is no justification for such cruel behaviour. No more excuses.
Vicki Van Linden