In relation to the letter “Cats Should be Licensed” Sooke news Mirror, June 2, 2015, I would like to say that I understand the writer’s frustration about her flowers and my suggestion is to surrender them with a piece of metal fence like we do with our vegetables. I know it is not ideal, but it is better than punishing an entire community with more rules and bylaws.
Regarding cats’ hunting, I, personally, would love to see the hunting instinct vanish from humans and animals.
Nevertheless, with the flower problem solved and with the hunting instinct being impossible to resolve we can now talk about pet owners. All sorts of people own dogs and cats, some of them beat them to death while others treat them as their children. Some pet owners prefer to protect them by keeping them inside and some others seem to believe they are safe outside. These are the individual preferences on a democratic society and without them we would not be who we are today as a country. Bylaws and rules are not fair to everybody and in this case, the less fortunate will pay the price.
Ninety per cent of the world’s population is seduced by the peaceful Zen style of cats and also by the enthusiastic and loyal companionship of dogs. However, the difference between dogs and cats is that dogs can bite and attack; especially, nowadays, with humans using them for personal profit such as dog fights or puppy mills.
Do you think that puppy mills and people who train dogs for fights do not exist here in Sooke? Unfortunately, they do and this is something that perhaps you would like to get involved to help the animals instead of blaming council for not being cruel against those who have little in life. A cat bylaw will only penalize the elders, the disabled and the low income families and will send more cats to the gas chamber.
We are in times of economic recession and in the majority of the cases an animal is the only family or friend a child and a person has. The pound is 50 km away from Sooke and the impounding fee asked was $100 just for the first day.
Please, madame, next time you write a letter to the public search for the pertinent facts and statistics on the subject before expressing your opinion.
Margarita
Dominguez
Sooke