Fewer cats will be euthanized under new bylaw: alderman

Calgary city council voted narrowly to approve a controversial bylaw that will require cat owners to license their pets.

Starting next January, cat owners will have to pay $10 for a spayed or neutered cat and $30 to license an unspayed cat. Council voted 8-7 in favour of the bylaw.

City officials hope the new bylaw will reduce the euthanization of thousands of stray cats that end up in shelters because they have no identification. More than 80 per cent are put down.

"I think it's very important," said Ward 6 Alderman Craig Burrows. "We've been struggling with the issue of stray cats. We say politely that we've euthanized 7,000 cats. Euthanize is when you put them out of their misery because they're in pain. We exterminate, so there's a difference.

"I could not hear any better option than what council has come forward with – looking at identification and taking that money we raise and putting it towards a spay-neuter program," said Burrows, the owner of two indoor cats.

The cat licence is part of a larger bylaw that prohibits livestock in residential areas and stiffens fines for vicious dogs.

• FROM MARCH 1, 2006: City to debate cat licensing
  

The city of Edmonton brought in a cat bylaw six years ago but officials there say it hasn't really lowered the number of strays.

Burrows says the bylaw could be revisited if the stray cat situation hasn't improved.