The City of Halifax is looking for a few good men or women to help address its problematic wild cat population.
Officials are calling for two volunteers to add their voices to Halifax's domestic and feral cat advisory committee, to help the city come up with solutions to deal with a high number of feral cats in the community. Estimates vary widely, but some have suggested there may be as many as 10,000 of the wild felines in Halifax.
"People may laugh about this type of issue but they're just uninformed. They have no idea how significant this is," Coun. Steve Adams told CTV Atlantic on Tuesday.
The committee currently includes members from a variety of backgrounds, including animal advocates, veterinarians and a birder. The city wants to fill the last two spots on the committee with "citizens at large" who are not associated with conservation groups, rescue groups or veterinarians .
"We need arms-length residents who care about animals," Adams said.
"We're looking for those people that just have a general interest in assisting the committee," added Tiffany Chase, a spokesperson for the municipality.
Veterinarian Hugh Chisholm, who proposed the committee during Halifax's last election, says the wild cat population in the city is out of control and needs to be addressed. For instance, he said one veterinary clinic in Bedford, N.S. is currently dealing with 19 kittens, all born from feral cats. "It's a great example of how numbers can get out of control in literally no time," he said.
He pointed out that a large feral cat population can create a nuisance in the community. "As the numbers get big, then they start to get into trouble because they're hungry and they need to eat, so they're either begging at people's doorsteps or getting into garbage, or harming wildlife," he said.
The deadline for applications is at the end of the week.
With files from CTV Atlantic
