Did you really think I would stay quiet over this one? For those of you who don't know, I was a stray cat in the city of Toronto who was picked up & rescued by Toronto Animal Services (TAS) south region in 2005.
Life on the street wouldn't have been good for me. It isn't good for any cat, that you can be assured of.
I won't go into the details of what could have been the tragic fate to befall such a wonderful feline such as myself, instead I will tell you why as a cat I support the wonderful lifesaving services of TAS.
For those of you who haven't read my earlier post on my story here is a quick recap: stray in the city with a disability or ability (really depends how you look at it) gets picked up & taken to animal shelter. Cat gets the obvious shelter, food, medical care, a great bunch of humans to look after me as well as volunteers to cuddle, love & keep me content until my new pet parents come along.
The staff, rather brilliantly, decides to enter me in the CNE cat show for publicity. They win by getting the word out that there are animals in need & I literally win, taking home 11 ribbons as best household pet...then I get a new mom, brother & sister - Happily ever after.
The staff, rather brilliantly, decides to enter me in the CNE cat show for publicity. They win by getting the word out that there are animals in need & I literally win, taking home 11 ribbons as best household pet...then I get a new mom, brother & sister - Happily ever after.
The city currently has TAS under review to cut, privatize & dismantle all the hard work done over the years, and it is still to address what could be done to make it even better for animals & people.
You take away TAS you take away chances like mine (ok not all cats will win ribbons) for wonderful loving, feeling, deserving creatures to find a permanent home. You take away a chance for them to be saved from the street, an unpleasant fate, or to be saved/rescued from abuse or neglect.
You also remove their chances to find temporary shelter, medical attention, food & love while they wait to go to a forever home. Strays not entering the shelter system greatly increase their chances of making more babies & when I say greatly I mean exponentially! We all love a cute kitten, I was one once, but can agree there are to many strays & simply not enough good homes for all.
By not having some sort of identification system like a license or micro-chip you take away any chance for them to be reunited with family. You also remove accountability on their humans part.
A little birdie told me that Calgary has used licensing very well & it works to help animals while bringing revenue to fund a whole list of things - maybe we, or you humans, need to give that a good look??
Trust me we do not want to be on the streets we want to be on your laps, with full bellies, in your homes to welcome you after a long day, to make you smile, laugh, show you unconditionally that you are loved no matter what.
How do we get to that? Through a place like TAS!
I know how lucky I am believe me, everyday my mom tells me she loves me as I purr non-stop or sit on her papers while she works, follow her around, run to her when she comes in......
I want other cats to be as lucky as me & I think TAS is a great place to start. On behalf of my feline & canine friends I ask you all to support this service to make Toronto a great place to be for us four legged & feathered creatures.
You can support the Save Toronto Animal Services Facebook page & sign the petition here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savetas/
Meow!
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