“If you love your cat, keep Fluffy indoors.”
These were environmentalist and former Scarborough city councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker’s words to Toronto City Council Wednesday as a city committee discussed a plan that could prohibit cat owners from allowing felines to roam freely outdoors.
The motion, moved by Councillor for Ward 17 – Don Valley North Shelley Carroll, is rooted in the belief outdoor cats can be a danger to local ecosystems, hunting bird and rodent populations, and are themselves at risk of being hit by vehicles or attacked by wildlife while roamingCats that roam freely in the open air .
Currently, city staff are proposing bylaws be changed to prohibit pet owners from allowed their pet to roam “at large” in the city, with the exception of cats and domesticated pigeons. Carroll wants to scrub cats from the exception with her motion, while still permitting pigeons to remain at large. Under the proposed bylaw, cats would still be allowed outdoors while on leash.
Members of council on the city’s economic and community development committee voted in favour of the motion by a show of hands.
“I’m moving [this motion] today because, truly I think people don’t want free-roaming cats,” Carroll said. “It is horrendously traumatic when you find a cat that has met with misfortune.”
