A Nova Scotia SPCA program that has helped the province’s feral cat population for a decade no longer has the funds to operate.
The trap, neuter, return program’s mandate was to spay and neuter outdoor cat colonies, mitigating the problem of overpopulation.
On Thursday, the SPCA announced they no longer have adequate funding to continue the program, which began in 2016.
“The cost of the program annually was in excess of $180,000 a year, so there was a significant change in the dedicated funding but also when we’re looking at the rising costs, it was taking more and more of that funding to accomplish the same amount of work,” said Heather Woodin, Nova Scotia SPCA’s animal operations chief.
The program used a truck, which travelled from town to town, to bait, trap and perform surgeries on feral cats free of charge. The animals would be homed or released after their procedures.
It was one of the only services stopping cat colonies from reproducing at uncontrollable rates.
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Smaller animal shelters are now worried they’ll be inundated by cats without the program.
“My motto is — with trap, neuter return — we prevent future generations of kittens from suffering the same fate,” said Sonya Higgins, founder of Healing Animal Scars, an animal rescue organization.
“To stop something so suddenly, its going to cause a ripple effect.”
Healing Animal Scars used to use the Nova Scotia SPCA’s program to spay and neuter the approximately 30 cats in their care.
Higgins said they’re able to fundraise to continue this work, but she worries what the change will mean for other groups.
“It’s very upsetting to organizations who were relying on it,” she said.
Meanwhile the president of Spay Day HRM, an animal shelter, is concerned how this will disproportionately affect rural rescues.
“It’s important to address the spay, neuter issue as a province, as a whole, not just our region,” said Linda Felix.
For now, the SPCA says the program may not end entirely. Woodin says the association is reassessing the program and trying to figure out how they can offer the service in a more sustainable way.
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