City charged after feral cats die
Posted October 25, 2018 4:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The City of Edmonton and four employees have been charged after three cats died earlier this year as part of a pilot project designed to save them.
This marks the second time this year that an Edmonton animal care agency has been charged under the Animal Protection Act.
On May 18, 2018, the animals were moved from the City’s Animal Care & Control Centre (ACCC) to another facility.
The transport was part of a pilot project created to provide homes for feral cats that had been in place since March of this year.
The cats died within one day of being moved from the ACCC.
The four employees and the City have been charged with regulatory offences under the Animal Protection Act. The charges were laid by the Alberta SPCA.
This incident took place about one month after three cats were discovered abandoned inside an Edmonton Humane Society Van. The animals were being transported to the shelter but had been overlooked.
The three felines spent three weeks inside the vehicle without food or water. They suffered from dehydration, malnourishment and had minor urine burns on their paws. They have since been adopted out.
In that case, one EHS employee was charged with causing or permitting an animal to be in distress and failing to provide food and water to animals.
A spokesperson for the City said in a release that this latest incident was a tragic case that affected staff members quite hard.
“The staff at the Animal Care & Control Centre care profoundly about animals and their welfare,” said David Aitken, Branch Manager of Community Standards.
“Our staff had the best of intentions in looking for a new way to help unadoptable feral cats and provide them with a safe place to live. There was no intent to harm these animals. This incident has been devastating to our employees and we are doing everything we can to support them while taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
The pilot project has since been suspended and an investigation was launched to find out what went wrong, although it’s unclear what the results found or if it was completed.
Read more about the pilot project here.
The City said it is doing everything it can to support the staff members who are devastated by the deaths, and said it is taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
This incident has been devastating to our employees and we are doing everything we can to support them while taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.
It’s believed there are about 65,000 feral cats in the city, most of which live outdoors and have little human contact.
