A U.S.A. site about the history of the day: http://tinyurl.com/2dgctp8
Toronto Sun article about the exploding population of tens of thousands of unwanted, abandoned, lost, stray and wild cats and kittens on our streets, back alleys and hidden places: http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/10/16/15716966.html
The internationally acclaimed documentary CAT CITY by Justine Pimlott thattalks about what is happening right now in our city of Toronto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9x1sOzaYU0
This video should rate mandatory watching by all of our elected politicians at City Hall. There is a real problem in our city that is invisible to most of the population (as starving animals try to hide from what they perceive as human predators).
The city's Toronto Animal Services and the newly branded and 'under new management' Toronto Humane Society non-profit charity, as well as the dozens of small rescue and shelter operations throughout the GTA need to work together to find a humane solution to the problem.
One step is to have mandatory spay-neuter of all animals, except for licenced breeders, so we do not promote the cycle of animal suffering and abuse.
Another step is to join with Dean Maher, candidate for City Council in Ward 20, who wants to ban the sale of dogs and cats from retail pet stores. An excellent idea, given that some retail stores get their stock from unqualified backyard breeders and often animals in such environments are not well cared for.
Still another step is to have a low cost spay-neuter clinic located n downtown Toronto. Spay-neuters can cost anywhere from $200-$600 depending on the business practices of local veterinarian clinics, yet can be and are provided for a flat $50 fee by the non-profit spay-neuter clinic now running in Newmarket. http://www.spayneuter.ontariospca.ca/
If you want to see and feel the raw emotion and terrible situation that abandoined cats experience, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7FMVMmp7KA
Caution: Can be disturbing to anyone without a soul.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated - Mahatma Ghandi 1869-1948
* Update: Here is a Youtube video by Toronto Humane Society http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szxeBHYAQFg&feature=related
