The Oshawa Express - Cat colony
     
Cat colony a threat
An employee at the Oshawa Museum points out where the feral cat colony have burrowed through the porch at the maintenance shed behind Guy House.


By Cynthia McQueen
The Oshawa Express

As a lakeshore resident, Jennifer Laffier has always dealt with the feral cat colony by finding
homes for the litters in the spring. But, since starting a family, health and safety concerns have come to Laffier’s attention that have motivated her to try to relocate some of the
cats from the colony that have taken up residence on her property. Since Laffier began trying to catch the cats, she has received threatening telephone calls accusing her of treating the wild cats inhumanely. Laffier described how people have trespassed onto her property,
left food, and smashed the cat cages she set to catch the animals. For Laffier, it’s come to a point where “we had to get the police involved.” Under the recommendation of the Durham Health Department, Laffier is in the process of having her well water tested for a parasite called toxoplasmosis, which is primarily contracted through ingesting feline fecal matter.“With a newborn baby, this is concerning,” said Laffier. The feral cat colony was set up at the
lakeshore in Oshawa as a volunteer effort to keep the animals from scavenging in the city.

Councillor Brian Nicholson explained the cats are drawn to the lake because of the streams, ready sources of food in the seagull and geese populations and a forested and overgrown environment. “There are 3,000 to 4,000 cats in the city everyday because people are irresponsible pet owners and don’t spay or neuter their cats,” offered Nicholson. “We’ve never found a way to control the feral cat colony.
 

All the experts say, it’s pretty hard to catch a cat that doesn’t want to get caught.” Laura Suchan, Executive Director of the Oshawa Community Museum, told council that the problem with the cat colony is that the people who come to feed the animals leave the garbage of the food containers behind which then attracts other animals.“We try to remove as much as possible, but we do get harassed,” said Suchan. “We tried to trap them, but the traps were dismantled and then pest control had to be called.”

Now, the museum has constructed a fence with the help of a pest control company that cost the museum approximately $500. Jill Thurn who has worked at museum for the last six year pointed out the area of the expensive fence the cats have chewed through to gain access to a maintenance shed.“Sometimes they don’t make it through the winter because they get stuck inside, and I have to clean them out,” said Thurn. Thurn considers herself a animal lover and has pets of her own, but has been harassed by some people who come to Lakeview Park to feed the cats.“As long as I’ve worked here there have been cats,” said Thurn who cleans up the garbage left behind by the people who feed the cats.

Councillor Louise Parkes suggested a meeting be held between the volunteers who feed the cat colony and various experts on the subject in order to best determine a course to mitigate the direction of the colony.

  
     
     

 
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