Editor:
Re: 34,000 cats ‘given free rein’ in Surrey, March 5.
“Free rein.” The way it sounds is that those 34,000 homeless cats and kittens may have it too good in Surrey, with all that freedom.
Why is such freedom even “given” to such stupid, burdensome animals?
Back to reality, these tens of thousands of stray, homeless and feral cats roaming Surrey parks and streets actually have it quite miserable. Many were abandoned by their owners, left to fend for themselves against the wild; and even with the plethora of deforestation due to relatively massive development, Surrey is still filled with forested hideouts for hungry coyotes salivating for such easy prey as wandering docile-natured, domesticated cats and kittens.
In my opinion, humanity’s overall apathetic, if not callous, inhumane streak is to blame for this totally avoidable suffering of fellow sentient mammals.
As for truly sufficient large-scale spay and neutering initiative programs, the last I heard, Surrey council refused to add any further funding for such a desperately needed humane cause, claiming that taxpayers already give enough to the local SPCA. Unbelievable!
These animals experience great suffering, be it at the biting sharp-toothed jaws of a large predator or left without shelter in the biting cold.
What really burns me, however, is that the same council, while refusing to allocate any additional funding towards a desperately needed universal source of emergency spaying and neutering of these suffering felines, also refuses to outlaw all pet-cat owners from allowing their felines to wander outdoors unattended, nor to strictly enforce the spaying and neutering of all adopted cats and kittens unless specifically licensed to breed their felines through humane means.
Frank Sterle Jr., White Rock
