A person who runs a rescue organisation, Melina Csontos, said that it is important to shed light on the fact that, particularly in rural British Columbia, Canada, people aren’t spaying and neutering cats but letting them breed and then strangling, drowning or poisoning them.
Her comments came in response to a story that comes from rural British Columbia, in which 20 cats were saved from possible death or injury after somebody reported a man to the authorities who was strangling cats in his home.
It is alleged that the man had strangled two kittens and one cat before the police intervened. He was taken to jail and the matter was then taken up by a host of local rescue organisations, namely, the Victoria Humane Society, Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association, Cat Therapy and Rescue Society and the Nicola Valley Animal Rescue. While the unnamed man was in prison they worked together to take the cats from this dangerous situation in the interior of British Columbia to Chilliwack and thence to Vancouver and finally to Victoria where they are being looked after by Penny Stone working for the Victoria Humane Society.
The man concerned is being investigated for the possible crime of animal cruelty. We are told that the cats are scared but they don’t look particularly neglected or harmed. It is possible that the man concerned has mental health problems but, as mentioned above, it seems that what he was allegedly doing is commonplace which would support the idea that he isn’t suffering from mental health issues.
It’s very important to shed light on the fact that this is not a one-time occurrence. Something needs to change….People need to understand the importance of spay and neuter because that’s what it comes down to….People aren’t spaying and neutering [so] there’s too many animals, people don’t want them and their poisoning them, drowning them or strangling them.” – Melina Csontos
A spokesperson for Nicola Valley Forgotten Feline Society, Angie Koczkur, said that nobody spays and neutered cats in her area.
Comment: this seems to be an example where education could achieve a lot. If this comment is correct the fix is education. A method to enlighten people that cats are sentient beings with emotions. They appear to have missed that point.
Source: Coastal Mountain News
