P.E.I. Humane Society overpopulated

P.E.I. Humane Society struggles with large cat numbers

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The P.E.I. Humane Society is over capacity with cats this summer.

The Charlottetown complex can usually hold 50 cats comfortably, but this year it has about 100 cats.

This time of year usually sees an influx for the society, with plenty of pregnant cats giving birth and families on vacation instead of adopting new animals but this year has been worst than last, said P.E.I. Humane Society spokesperson Lisa Hashie.

“All of the animal shelters all across North America it’s a busy time for animals coming into the shelter. With a lot of animals coming in and not a lot of animals going out it quickly builds up,” she said. “As of yesterday we had over 120 in our care, some are out on foster care.”

Space and health become a challenge for the facility when dealing with overpopulation, she said.

“The concern is keeping them healthy and giving them the space and enrichment that they all require. So that’s where the big challenge comes from when they’re all packed like this,” she said. “The spread of disease happens fairly quickly when you have that many cats together. Not only are they in so close encounters together they get stressed out so close together as well.”

With too many cats and not enough adoptions also come tough choices.

“We have to make difficult decisions such as having cats euthanized because we don’t have the resources that we would usually have when we’re not busy,” said Hashie. “The animals that we have euthanized have had mild disease, who would ordinarily receive some treatment and nursing care, but were euthanized because our resources are stressed so thin.”

“Even one animal in the building being euthanized because we have too much is sad for us,” she added.

Hashie said that having your cats neutered or spayed, having them identified with a collar or microchip, adopting cats or donations to the society would help them save more animals and cut down on those who need to be cared for.

“If anybody is interested in volunteering they can do so. They can find the application on our website.”