A woman has spent more than $ 20,000 to help cats

Photo Catherine Montambeault
Nathalie Fournier will try soon to find a home for Loulou, a kitten wandering of two months found in a back alley.

Catherine Montambeault

Sunday, 3 September 2017 21:57

UPDATE
Sunday, 3 September 2017 21:57

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An animal lover of Châteauguay is said to have paid over $ 20,000 out of his pocket a 16-year-old to sterilize and treatment of some 200 stray cats found near her home.

“For me, they are not even spending. If it can save a small life, I do, ” explains Nathalie Fournier in cajolant Loulou, a kitten of two months that she was found abandoned in an alley a few weeks ago.

As soon as she arrived in Chateauguay in 2001, Ms. Fournier has noticed the presence of many stray cats in his neighborhood, and this created discontent in its vicinity.

“Most people see it as a nuisance because cats that are not neutered tend to mark their territory,” she says.

The woman, 48-year-old has decided to get three cage-traps, which she uses to catch the cats without owners.

Ms. Fournier takes them to the veterinarian to have them sterilized, and thus prevent them from happening again. She is treated against fleas and worms, and occasionally other illnesses. The woman then attempts to find an adoptive family or she releases them into the wild.

In total, all this care cost him more than $ 100 per cat.

Petition

“There is more neighbors to dedicate themselves to the stray cats. But it is not normal that it is the citizens who pay for it “, complains one who suffers from fibromyalgia, a disease that does not allow him to work part-time at the cafeteria of an elementary school.

Nathalie Fournier and her neighbor Linda Bourque have also launched a petition on the website change.org to claim that a sterilization program TRAP (capture, neuter, release and maintain) is implemented in Chateauguay.

Already implemented in several cities, including Brossard, Longueuil and Prévost, this program is to capture stray cats to be sterilized before releasing them. Municipalities that have adopted typically work with an organization or a shelter, but all expenses are paid by the cities.

Pierre Bourbonnais, director general of the Refuge A. M. R., which is responsible for animal control in 27 municipalities indicated that such a program costs approximately $ 15,000 per year to the City of Brossard.

Investment

“But in reality, for cities, there is no increase in cost : it’s just an investment that will save money later, he says. It costs a lot less to sterilize a cat than caring for the six, 12 or 36 babies that it is going to lead to if we don’t. “

In Brossard, the calls from citizens about stray cats have dropped 10 % each year since the introduction of the program CSRM, four years ago.

“In the sterilant, the cat remains on its territory and prevents other cats to take her space,” said Mr. Bourbonnais. If there are five stray cats in an alley and that it eliminates them, it won’t be long that there will be five newcomers who will take their place and reproduce. “

The mayor of Châteauguay, Nathalie Simon, for its part argues that it is “not all closed” to the idea of a sterilization program. “We are looking at this possibility, analyze it,” she said.