Strathmore will support cat rescue with $50K per year

The town of Strathmore will be funding the local Happy Cat Sanctuary to the tune of $50,000 per year

Council approved the Memorandum of Funding Agreement between the town and the Happy Cat Sanctuary Society at the last town council meeting. The agreement will be for a term ending on January 31, 2024.

There was a debate at the council meeting about the amount of support the town is able to give to the organization.

Mayor Fule said, “One way or another Strathmore is going to have to pay for the cat situation that develops.” He explained that the town does not know how much it would cost for municipal enforcement to undertake a similar program.

He noted that the funding is a polarizing topic in the community.

“We don't really know the cost of how it would be for our enforcement officers to have to manage that situation and the time spent. I know when I first got on council in 2010. one of the past heads of enforcement did a lot of work with impounded cats and dogs,” he said.

“That took a great deal of staff time. I would much rather have our enforcement officers in town doing their jobs as opposed to having to drive to the city and transporting some cats who need to be looked after in another place,” said Fule.

“People have to realize there's a cost to this situation and one way or another we pay as a community,” he said.

He explained that Strathmore at one point had a feral cat problem which has been controlled by the Happy Cat Sanctuary Society.

The previous agreement between Happy Cat Sanctuary Society and the Town of Strathmore expired at the end of 2021.