Feral and Abandoned Cat Society wants artists to paint 76cm cats

​A fundraiser for feral cats in Cape Breton is putting 30 more felines out on the streets — only these ones will be fiberglass, not flesh. 

"We want to bring a large visual appearance to this campaign and hopefully get these cats on the streets in 2016," said Deana Lloy, vice-president of the the Feral and Abandoned Cat Society in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. 

The cats will be transformed by artists before they head outside for the Catwalk Show of Art next summer. After that outdoor prance, they'll be auctioned off.

The society traps, neuters and spays real homeless cats before returning them to their colonies. The work can can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Over 2,000 cats have gone through the program in the last few years, and the society want to grow that number, Lloy told Mainstreet Cape Breton.  

They are over 20,000 homeless cats in the CBRM, and Lloy says they're misunderstood. Not all of the felines live in colonies, and dropping a cat off at one doesn't always work. 

"People really don't understand that if they just drop a cat off it's not going to be accepted in a colony."

The 30 fiberglass cats will stand in different parts of the CBRM. Lloy says there will be a map so people can track them down. 

Artists have until Oct. 1 to submit drawings on how they'd transform these cats. The artists behind the chosen designs will get $50 for supplies and 25 per cent back from the auction sale. 

Artists are invited to drop by the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design to check out a sample of the cat statue and pick up and artist packet.