FORT SASKATCHEWAN, ALBERTA—Animal Justice, Canada’s leading national animal law organization, is appalled by Fort Saskatchewan Mayor Gale Katchur’s comments made during a city committee meeting earlier this week.
During a discussion about animal licensing on Tuesday, September 17, Katchur reminisced about the “old days” when people “threw (cats) in a bag and threw them in the river or they just put them on the exhaust pipes.” She went on to suggest it would be “interesting” if residents could “deal with them themselves.”
“Suggesting that people ‘deal with’ feral or ‘unwanted’ cats by drowning or suffocating them is not only shockingly cruel but also illegal, and deeply concerning coming from an elected official. Drowning or gassing cats violates animal cruelty laws, and is an unconscionable way to treat a sentient companion animal,” said Camille Labchuk, lawyer and executive director at Animal Justice.
“This type of rhetoric puts countless vulnerable cats at risk and undermines the progress we’ve made in treating animals with dignity and respect.”
Contact:
Josh Lynn
Public Relations Manager
[email protected]
Camille Labchuk
Executive Director
[email protected]
