THE HELPING ISSUE
A whale of a feral cat problem on Texada “[Brenda Currie] hen most people think of the starts her day at Wild Ocean Whale Society, they think about sea life, not 5 am when she cats. But the society’s volunteers launched takes cats to the MEOWS last fall, to respond to a feral cat colony on Texada Island. In the vets (the Comox past year, MEOWS has grown far beyond that first colony. Valley Animal Susan MacKay, founder and CEO of both WOWs and MEOWS, says the new Hospital)... She initiative was born of a similar need as WOWs. loads her car with “We pride ourselves on never turning down any rescue or response, macats, goes to Powell rine or terrestrial,” she said. The Wild Ocean Whale Society’s ofRiver and then to ficial charity mandate states “saving, supporting, protecting or assisting stressed or endangered forms of life,” Comox. It makes for a covering wild or domestic animals. long day.” BY ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT
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In September of 2022, WOWs was called in to help with the feral cat population explosion on Texada, which was producing many additional kittens, which, in turn, would produce even more cats. They even heard that some people were threatening to poison the cats, since there seemed to be no hands-on help available. “So we stepped in to help out,” said
– Susan MacKay Susan, who has rescued cats and dogs as well as marine life over the years. “WOWs is for the preservation of all life. We won’t turn down a rescue.” The SPCA was maxed out at the time. WOWs started with the rescue of 12 kittens pulled from the colony. Homes were found for the kittens, and
WEIGHT WATCHERS: A MEOWS volunteer weighs a feral kitten found on Texada Island. The organization finds homes for kittens, and ensures wild adult cats are spayed, neutered, dewormed, and vaccinated. the new owners became responsible for their own vet bills to spay/neuter when old enough. As soon as WOWs got involved, the scope of the problem became clear; the volunteers faced it head-on. Dozens
of feral adult cats, frustrated citizens, and more and more kittens found their way to MEOWS. So did stories of what can happen when humane measures aren’t available. While volunteers were trapping the
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