A clowder of cats on the College of the Rockies Cranbrook school is at the centre of debate.
The nest, which is home to 14 feral cats has actually been on the school for a years, handled by volunteers with the East Kootenay Community Animal Response and Education Society.
Now, the college is seeking to move the home, pointing out an increasing unfavorable effect on its school.
The society has actually given that begun a petition to get the college to rescind this action prior to the end-of-March due date.
The cats are “healthy, have names, individual personalities, and are strongly bonded to one another,” the online petition states.
“The cats are all spayed, neutered, vaccinated, microchipped. Their food, water and shelter that has been provided to them through the volunteer colony caretaker, at their own personal expense for the entire duration.”
The society argues that moving the cats “would be inhumane, cruel and not acceptable!”
As of March 23, the petition had actually gathered 20,213 signatures.
In a series of tweets on March 20, the college said that in the last 6 months “we’ve experienced increased impact on our operations and our ability to maintain a safe learning and working environment for students and employees.”
This, accoridng to the college, consists of reports “over the years” of contamination from feces and urine.
“Unintended repercussions of the nest have actually seen cats nestling in the lorries in our vehicle trades programs which have actually been polluted with cat nests, feces and in many cases departed animals. This has actually triggered us to cross out 2 lorries that had actually been utilized for training.
“Last fall, we asked the current caretaker of the feral cat colony to provide a humane plan to relocate the colony with College financial support. Sadly, no solution was provided.”
The college’s president, Paul Vogt, has actually met a regional animal support system who might be the response to discovering a brand-new place.
