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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Dogs may be protected from abuse in Yellowknife, but city cat lovers say felines aren't so lucky.

Missie Topelikion, left, Dawson Chwelos and Saidee Gosselin hold three of the kittens they rescued on Lamoureux Road earlier this month. - Sarah Ferguson/NNSL photo

In March, the territory made national headlines when it updated the NWT Dog Act. The improved act increased fines for dog abuse and neglect but Shawna McBride, a receptionist with the Great Slave Animal Hospital, said that protective spirit does not apply to northern cats and their owners.

"From what I have seen around here, cats have very few rights compared to dogs - it's sad," she said.

Longtime resident Marlee Currie agrees. Two weeks ago her ten-year-old daughter Dawson found seven kittens abandoned under a neighbour's porch. One of them was dead. Currie said her neighbours - who owned the cats - left town, and left the two-week-old kittens and their mother to fend for themselves, with no food or water.

Currie said Dawson and two of her friends cared for the cats after the neighbours left, but eventually, the mother moved the kittens to another location and she was unable to find them.

According to Currie, when the kittens were finally discovered, their mother was nowhere to be found.

"The girls took it upon themselves to rescue the kittens. They buried the dead one, and kept the rest of them overnight, but they were absolutely devastated and I was disgusted," she said.

"I couldn't believe that someone would just take off and leave their pets to fend for themselves - it's completely unacceptable," she said.

When the incident occurred, Currie said she attempted to contact the SPCA, but was told no one was available to deal with the animals on weekends.

"I also called city bylaw, but they told me there was nothing they could do because they only deal with dogs," she said. In the end, Currie and her daughter took the kittens to the Great Slave Animal Hospital.

"They were the only ones willing to take care of the cats for us," she said.

"I realize this is a small town, but it's completely unfair - cats in this city deserve the same protection from cruelty that dogs do."

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city doesn't deal with cats for a number of reasons.

"The city doesn't have a cat problem to our knowledge; back in 2002-2003 we were working to establish a cat bylaw along the same lines (as the dog bylaw) but there wasn't much interest, so its been on the back burner ever since," he said.

"If there was evidence that there was a cat problem in the city, we would do something about it."

Van Tighem said the main problem with legislating animal cruelty comes down to defining what that really is.

"Some people in the North hunt for a living and feel that these animals aren't a huge concern and others feel there is cruelty involved," he said.

"Either way, when you start drawing boundaries on what's important you run the risk of opening a big can of worms. The bottom line when it comes to this matter is that you can't legislate common sense."

McBride said the issue of stray cats in the community has been overlooked "for years."

She said because the city's municipal enforcement will not pick up abandoned or unwanted cats, the responsibility to care for them has fallen on the shoulders of animal hospital staff.

"We usually take in anywhere from 75 -100 cats per year," she said. "We are a no-kill shelter and are always out of space," she said.

The lack of space in the shelter has forced staff to charge a $200 surrender fee for each cat that comes through its doors, said Jenna McCrindle, a receptionist at the animal hospital who also sits on the board with the SPCA.

"Sometimes the doctor has to pay the $200 out of their own pocket to do the job," she said.

McCrindle said the fee covers the cost of spaying or neutering of the animal.

"I cannot stress it enough - spaying and neutering means less heartbreak for everyone," she said.

McCrindle said she has heard a number of disturbing accounts of abuse toward cats in the community, but residents seldom talk about it.

"The SPCA has heard reports from the RCMP of people drowning kittens in puddles, or kicking or beating them - they are seen as small and people treat them like nothing or a nuisance," she said.

Last week hospital staff have managed to catch the mother and father of the kittens, and two more strays, but McCrindle said hospital staff are still catching cats living underneath the abandoned house on Lamoureux Road where the kittens were discovered.

"We have heard through neighbourhood residents that the former cat owners are now staying in Edmonton, and we have no idea when or if they will come back," McCrindle said.

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