The founder of a new cat rescue society here is not surprised rural property owner Bruce Richmond ended up as the unintended host to hundreds of cats and kittens.
“His heart was in the right place but he was overcome by people dumping off cats,” said Sara Ofner from Rowan’s Rescue, a non-profit group registered just this year.
Richmond’s collection of cats grew to the point he phoned the SPCA last month, asking it to take them off his hands so they could be provided with the care they needed.
“There are a lot of people in rural areas like Buck Flats who just keep calling me because cats keep showing up. There’s just a huge problem in all kinds of rural areas of Houston. I know there’s a big population out on the Equity Mine Road as well. And by the dump,” Ofner continued of known cat colonies.
“People like to just bring them out to a farm road and hope that they’ll be a good mouser, but often they’re not neutered.”
But there are also large colonies within Houston with Ofner mentioning the Hagman Crescent area as one such location.
It is the number of cats within Houston that convinced Ofner to begin rescuing cats with the goals of neutering, spaying and vaccination.
Although she is now working out of her own property, she has hopes of acquiring a separate piece of property and placing an Atco trailer on it for a base of operations.
Ofner’s been speaking with the District of Houston in hopes it would find property and provide other support.
“Anytime I speak with someone involved with the District they have a new grant or something that they’re saying to check out. So it’s good to know they’re supporting the ways they can recognize there’s an issue,” she said.
“Now with the seizure and bringing up Houston every time it would be really nice to have a facility and show people the town is still supporting a rescue to try and help with this problem instead of just using the BC SPCA,” Ofner said of the media coverage following Richmond’s phone call for help.
The BC SPCA has already removed more than 200 cats from Richmond’s property and has set up a care facility in a Prince George warehouse.
A robust Rowan’s Rescue service could even include using students volunteering as part of their educational programming, said Ofner.
As for Ofner herself, she’s taking courses offered by the International Association of Animal Behavioural Consultants to hone skills in handling specific circumstances such as aggressive dogs and recognizing pain in animals.
“A big part of the stray and feral issue is that we don’t just take them off the streets. We also have to create responsible owners as well and tackle the issue from both sides to really lower the number,” Offner continued.