More than a dozen kittens were roaming along Albert Street on Sunday evening, and a local animal shelter manager suspects they came from a home in the neighbourhood that is home to many kittens and cats.
Matt Wimpory, who manages the Comfie Cat Shelter, said he caught wind of the kittens via social media on Sunday and he decided to go assess the situation for himself.
“I immediately realized who we were dealing with, so I took a drive over there and, indeed, there are black and white, little tuxedo kittens all over the place, and I went around the backyard and there are about six or seven all-black kittens back there,” he told OrilliaMatters.
“(This) is somebody we’ve been dealing with for the last couple of years," he said.
Though he heard of a few Good Samaritans rescuing some of the kittens, Wimpory believes the majority of them are still living at the Albert Street property.
He highlighted an overpopulation problem with cats in Orillia, saying what is happening on Albert Street is a symptom of a broader issue, stemming from a lack of spaying and neutering and from numerous animals being brought into the shelter system from various locations.
At the shelter, Wimpory said, all cats that are adopted are spayed or neutered to help combat the issue, and he encouraged local residents to do the same with their own pets.
“When we adopt animals out of here, nothing leaves that hasn’t been spayed or neutered. We stop the cycle. That’s our primary mandate here,” he said. “We’re a no-kill shelter and we just simply do not let them go if they’re not spayed or neutered.”
Due to these issues, the Comfie Cat Shelter had to stop new intakes in recent weeks, but Wimpory said the organization would find space for the kittens if need be.
“Will those animals eventually wind up here in our quarantine trailer? There’s a high likelihood of that,” he said. “We are closed to intake in general right now, but we are reserving some space for high-priority things, especially when it comes to kittens.”
