An Orillia resident is urging the city to put measures in place to deal with “nuisance cats.”
Bruce McRae wrote a letter to council, asking that the city’s animal control regulations be amended “to apply to domestic nuisance/aggressive cats,” or that something be put in place to deal with them on a case-by-case basis.
The Ward 4 resident’s concerns stem from a neighbour’s cat that frequents his property to hunt birds and small mammals.
The cat has been a “menace” to McRae’s 83-year-old mother-in-law, who has serious medical issues, when she’s trying to relax in the yard.
“She should not have the anxiety of continually searching for a predatory domestic cat while small wildlife visits our backyard or while our dogs access their pen,” McRae wrote.
It also poses a threat to the family’s small, blind dog.
The cat’s owner, he said, suggested spraying the cat with water to shoo it away.
“Although she has her walker and water pistols poised at her door ready for this senior citizen to make chase of a neighbour’s cat, my mother-in-law is no match for our neighbour’s wily feline hissing in our foliage,” McRae wrote.
His family has pleaded with the neighbour to do something about the cat. After McRae’s wife texted the neighbour, he said the cat’s owner called police, who told McRae further texts would be considered by the neighbour to be harassment.
McRae reached out to Coun. Tim Lauer last fall. Lauer informed him the city had no bylaws to address problems with domestic cats and that the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) couldn’t do anything, either.
“In order for SPCA to act, Orillia would need to bring in some kind of bylaw that would permit them to do so,” Lauer wrote to McRae. “Barrie has a bylaw, so it can be done. A letter addressed to mayor and council from you asking the city to explore the idea of a cat bylaw would be the best way to move the issue along.”
That’s what McRae did recently, but he wasn’t pleased with the response from Mayor Steve Clarke.
Clarke noted in his letter to McRae that staff asked the OSPCA in 2015 what it would cost the city if a bylaw prohibiting cats from running at large were enacted. The agency said it would cost $100,000 per year for enforcement, up to $10,000 for veterinary expenses, and $160 for every cat brought into the shelter in excess of 400.
“If the number of cats impounded doubled as a result of passing a bylaw for example, this would cost an additional $64,000,” Clarke wrote.
“It is staff's (belief) at this time that the above figures would be similar even if council passed a bylaw specifically stipulating that an at-large prohibition only applied to cats that are a nuisance.
“I can understand and appreciate where you are coming from in terms of seeking solutions to address the issues you are experiencing with the neighbour's cat trespassing onto your property. Unfortunately, however, the costs associated with implementing a bylaw regulating cats is cost prohibitive.”
Clarke suggested McRae consult with a lawyer.
“I’m disappointed,” McRae said of the response. “I had hoped for a more constructive resolution. I’m not usually one to question the budgeting, but it does seem like it’s a high price.”
He said he is “respectful of the quandary that mayor and council have,” but added he’s upset “there’s no way for my mother-in-law’s concerns to be addressed.”
“It’s disappointing that the mayor did not offer any solutions,” McRae said. “In a town that describes itself with the motto of ‘Progress,’ there should be some mechanism somewhere — be it bylaw or police or whatever — to say, ‘Take care of your cat.’”
