More spay-and-neuter vouchers needed in Windsor, animal advocate says

Windsor may be taking steps to shrink the population of feral cats on its streets, but an animal advocate says the city could be doing more to combat the problem.

The city provides vouchers for hundreds of people to get cats spayed and neutered each year.

The latest phase of this program will unfold on Wednesday, when the city will let people register for 300 such vouchers — half of which are earmarked for use on feral cats, the other for owned cats.

The vouchers, which must be claimed within 90 days of issue, allow a person to be reimbursed by up to $75.

Kathy Patterson, who is part of a trap-neuter-and-release program in Windsor, said the vouchers are useful but the city isn't providing enough of them.

"I don't want to necessarily say that I'm critical, I guess, it's just [I'm] frustrated that there's not enough vouchers," she told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning in an interview.

Patterson said it is hard to estimate the number of feral cats in Windsor today, but she believes the overall number is declining.

"In 2010, back then, they estimated that there was 30,000 free-roaming cats. Who can really judge how many there are now?" she said.

But Patterson said the local humane society has reported that it has fewer feral cats coming into its offices.

"I would like to say a lot of that is thanks to the TNR groups that are out there every day helping," she said, referring to groups that trap and neuter feral cats, before returning them to their original environment.