Winnipeg pet owners have to license their cats come 2015

Cat owners of Winnipeg will have to license their feline friends come 2015.

As of Jan. 1, the city will implement new rules mandating owners register their cats.

The city has maintained the licensing rules are being enacted to protect cats and to reunite them with their owners in the event they go missing.

But one Winnipeg shelter worries some cat owners won’t be able to foot the bill, which could lead them to give up their pets altogether. 

People still aren't going to do it.- Margaret Lukianchuk

“We've already been getting phone calls from people saying that with the licensing they won't be able to keep all their cats, can we take them,” said Faye Demedash, the manager at Craig St. Cats.

Craig St. Cats is currently sheltering more than 200 cats. Demedash is concerned that the $15 per-cat-licensing fee will be felt most by low-income earners.

She also thinks the registration process is redundant. 

“Most places offer microchips and that reunites the owner just as fast as a licence does,” said Demedash.

Licence will reunite cats with owners, says city

Leland Gordon with the city’s animal services said with the licensing and the help of 3-1-1, the city will better equipped to reunite missing cats with their owners sooner.

The city is forecasting 10,000 licences in the first year. Fifty per cent of the revenue received from the program will eventually go toward a spay and neuter program.

“It's something to protect cats but it also, in this situation, is something to help get more cats fixed,” said Gordon.

The Winnipeg Humane Society, which receives and holds strays picked up by the city, supports the licensing program.

Opinions over cat licensing vary among its visitors.

"I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing,” said Carolyn Cameron. “Dogs have to be licensed and I think that way, too. If you're a cat owner and you lose your cat, it's also another opportunity to find your cat easier.”

But Margaret Lukianchuk said inside pets shouldn’t need to be licensed.

“If they're staying inside I'm not going to license mine,” said Lukianchuk. “We're outside of the city so we're off the hook for that … we're off the hook, but you know, people still aren't going to do it."

The city said it won't be handing out tickets right away. It first plans to educate cat owners on the benefits of licensing their pets.