Rescuers probe cat mystery

By GORDON DELANEY Valley Bureau
Wed. Apr 15 - 5:40 AM

HARBOURVILLE — Members of the Homeless Animal Rescue Team want answers to the mystery of the missing cats.

"They didn’t just walk away," said HART President Laurie Wheeler. "Cats don’t do that."

She was referring to a colony of feral cats that the group was planning to trap, test, vaccinate, spay and neuter before returning them.

Some people here don’t mind the cats and have been feeding them.

But the fishermen have been complaining about the estimated 12 to 30 cats for the past two years, saying the animals were defecating on their boats and getting into fish waste and other garbage around the wharf.

Last week, Kings County halted an order to destroy the cats, at the request of HART, to allow the group to do its work.

But the cats mysteriously disappeared on the weekend.

"There’s not one cat left," Ms. Wheeler said in an interview Tuesday. "I just can’t believe it. I was just devastated."

The group had been collecting donations to pay for the TNR — trap, neuter and return — project, which has worked to successfully reduce and control feral cat populations in other areas.

"Whatever we had collected we were going to put it toward that, no matter how many cats there were," said Ms. Wheeler.

Ms. Wheeler said there are rumours about what happened to the cats, but no evidence.

"It makes me really sick... You can’t take the law into your own hands," she said.

Kings County Warden Fred Whalen said Tuesday that he, too, was surprised the cats had disappeared.

"We halted the destroy order and told the TNR people to go ahead and do what they can do," said Mr. Whalen, who represents Harbourville on council.

"I have no idea what happened. If they were destroyed, it was without our knowledge."

The county has arranged a meeting for later this week with HART, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and residents of the community. They have asked the Wolfville group Peacemakers to mediate the meeting.

"I don’t have any answers as to what actually happened to the cats, but we are trying," Mr. Whalen said. "We’re going to have this meeting and try and find solutions."

Sean Kelly of the SPCA said Monday that an investigation will be undertaken to determine what happened to the feral felines and if charges are warranted.

(gdelaney@herald.ca)

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