Another clueless pet owner

[Poindexter]

I agree with you Mexi.

It's best if cats are kept indoors, we have one that is strictly indoor but I've also had one that was an escape artist and was impossible to keep inside. I don't know if the owner of the trap was after rats but if so, it would explain why the neighbourhood cat was there prowling.

We have a friendly neighbourhood cat that controls our rat population and I know this because we've gotten to know each other over the years and he leaves them as gifts for my on my stoop. The first time I met him it was summer and I'm in my driveway, windows down, had just started the car and this massive orange cat lept through the passenger window. He looked at my startled face, continued into the back seat then perched himself with his front paws on my center console with a look that said, "let's roll". He's a total character who loves to make eyes at our indoor cat who watches his every move from our livingroom window.

We back onto forest with coyotes howling all night and somehow Pumpkin, our name for him, survived the 5 years we've lived here. His paw prints in the snow each morning tell me survived another night and was on duty controlling the rodents. I doubt, and hope, the person who killed this cat meant to because it's important to remember that even if they are a pain from time to time, neighbourhood cats serve a purpose and more importantly, are a member someone's family.

[mexi cali]

That's a good post PD however, thankfully, the cat in question was killed.

I love the story of your "stray". He sounds like a real character.

[JLives]

With the amount of rats proliferating, the area needs more cats and less traps. It is becoming an epidemic.

[GordonH]

Deleted by Poster

[GordonH]

In B.C., leg-hold traps can be placed within city limits by a licensed trapper, as long are they are not within 200 metres of a home. These traps are generally used to catch “nuisance animals,” like raccoons or rats.

“They can be put on private property, Crown land, public land, as long as it's a licensed trapper, who holds a valid licence,” said Nelson. “As well, land owners can place traps on their own property for so-called nuisance wildlife.”

Once every home in & around the downtown core has 2 hundred meter radius placed around it (homes would include apartments, condo's). This would limit legally were a licensed trapper could place traps.
Since I believe there are still some rental apartments above stores along Bernard Ave (I could be wrong, since I don't go downtown).

Here is quick view of what I was saying in my above post each of of those circles is .2 Km or 200m (I may have missed some homes, since I don't know which stores still have rental apartments above them. I did not place radius along Bernard)
https://www.freemaptools.com/radius-aro ... 0|1|FFFFFF

[OldIslander]

The OP quite correctly identifies the pet owner as the problem in the linked Castanet story. If the owner had properly cared for their pet (not letting it roam...), there would have been no story. Allowing a cat to roam exposes it to a host of potentially lethal dangers; cars, dogs, feral animals, and humans who place traps, poisons, etc.

I'll add two points.

Cats should not be allowed to freely roam, because of their predation of the bird population. In this study, http://catsandbirds.ca/research/estimated-number-of-birds-killed-by-house-cats/, Environment Canada estimates that Canadian house cats kill between 100 to 350 million birds annually. This is instinct for the cat -- unless it is feral, it doesn't need the food, presumably being well fed at home. A similar study in the US, estimates that their cats kill over a billion birds per year.

Cats should not be allowed to roam because by instinct, they are looking for a place away from home to 'do their business'. We have areas in our gardens where I'm sure cats crap every night, to the point that I've considered setting humane traps and taking the cats to the local shelter.

Any cat owner who whines about some issue or injury to their cat, ought to be immediately fined, if the incident occurred off their property.

[Fancy]

Other cities have regulations regarding cats - maybe time to take a look at options.

http://www.vacs.ca/bylaw-regulations/cats

[normaM]

er just to back up a bit RATS???? We have rats???? As in those things larger than a mouse?
oh dear, now I can worry about rats
And sing M Jackson's love song to one
Remember when ppl were just worked up about geese and feral bunnies?
Take a bunny over a rat

[gman313]

er just to back up a bit RATS???? We have rats???? As in those things larger than a mouse?
oh dear, now I can worry about rats
And sing M Jackson's love song to one
Remember when ppl were just worked up about geese and feral bunnies?
Take a bunny over a rat

yep plenty of rats in Kelowna now and the population is growing

[Fancy]

We've caught a few dozen and they are up and down the valley. If the neighbours want to let their cats take their chance on living outside I'll not complain if they catch the rats.

[JLives]

We have tons of rats. I've seen several hundred in the last year alone.

[mexi cali]

In my entire life, I have seen one rat in the outdoors. Last summer by the SL GC. It looked like a chinchilla too me (that makes no sense, I know but that's what came to mind when I saw it. It turned out to be a wood rat I think and I had never even heard of that species before.

The only reason I mention this is that I hear quite a lot about the rat population on the Westside.

[Fancy]

Rats had to go somewhere once the dump was cleaned up.

[ferri]

In my entire life, I have seen one rat in the outdoors. Last summer by the SL GC. It looked like a chinchilla too me (that makes no sense, I know but that's what came to mind when I saw it. It turned out to be a wood rat I think and I had never even heard of that species before.

The only reason I mention this is that I hear quite a lot about the rat population on the Westside.

Just so you know, that made perfect sense to me. Wood rats do look like chinchillas.

I'm surprised the coyotes aren't helping out with the rat problem. But then if the rats have sheds etc. to hide in...

[Fancy]

Rat traps are in the shed and garage. We make sure the neighbours cats don't get into them (unlike some others).