Cat overpopulation a problem in Windsor

by Chandesha Thompson

The Humane Society of Windsor-Essex County is trying to raise awareness regarding the overpopulation of cats.

According to Melanie Coulter, coordinator of the Humane Society of Windsor-Essex County, Windsor had an increase in the cat population last year. More than 800 phone calls came in last year about cat complaints, stray cats and abused cats, said Coulter.  In 2009, more than a 2,000 calls came in to the humane society for cat complaints, said Coulter. Often time’s stray cats carry diseases and many are not neutered or have been given the right medical shots. Some cats carry diseases which could spread to people quickly.

“Cats who do not have the right shots or have not been neutered are not authorized to go outside by the Windsor- Essex County Humane Society,” said Coulter

She said there is an overpopulation of cats in Windsor but the numbers have gone down drastically since the start of this year.

“Windsor may never fix their cat problem,” said Coulter. “Cats have been here for years, but what we can do is try to get cats off the street into safe homes and bring awareness to letting people know they are not safe outside if they do not have the right shots.”

Some landlords in Windsor are concerned about the amount of animals coming in and out of their apartment buildings. Dan McConarchy is a landlord at 450 Victoria Ave. He said he is okay with cats but he knows some residents are strongly against them. Apartment value will go down if the property is surrounded by cats and other felines and the building will not look as appealing, he said.

“Only in the last few months we started getting cat complaints from a few of our residences,” said McConarchy.

Tonyann Clarke is a resident of the downtown area who has lived at the Victoria building for almost a year. She said she is one of the residences against cats.

“I personally am not a fan of cats they could spread diseases and all type of other viruses,” Clarke said. She said she feels people should not feed stray cats, but adopt them instead— an opinion which is seconded by Coulter from the humane society.

To help resolve the cat overpopulation in Windsor, people can take part in Pet Valu’s Adoption Day on March 2 at the Roundhouse Centre location. For more information, call the Humane Society of Windsor-Essex County at 519-966-5751.