Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall

They were just found loose in the plant.

Yeah, our forklift guy, he thought it was rats.

Adorable, right?

How old are you? You look like my other babies.

Yeah, you have teeth.

Good baby.

So, somehow they're making their way in here,

and they're having their litters or they're being dropped off.

We used to take them home, but we can't take them all home.

-That's the problem. - I know.

It is a feline free for all in Cornwall,

as feral cats have taken over neighborhoods.

They may be cuddly and cute, but in Cornwall feral cats

have become a big problem.

They're breeding and feeding,

and they're using the whole street

as a litter box.

Some residents are embracing the cats,

leaving food around.

Well, getting everyone to agree on a solution

is much like herding cats.

Residents and volunteers alike just want the city

to stop pussyfooting around.

It's a catastrophe.

The city of Cornwall dropped the ball many years ago.

There should have been money into the budget every year.

We wouldn't be in this predicament now.

We wouldn't be.

I am Mary Jane Proulx from Cornwall, Ontario.

Lived here all my life.

Growing up I had rabbits and guinea pigs,

and all kinds of animals.

I remember trying to save little birds

whenever I was, like, 8 years old.

No, they all died,

but at least I tried to save them.

I do the right thing, and I expect everybody else

to do the right thing and I get very, very mad

when people don't do the right thing.

I want to slap people sometimes, but I don't.

I love cats, and I don't want cats to be poisoned,

or to be, you know, shot or trapped,

and whatever done to it.

It's not their fault why they're out there right now.

Something has to be done.

So, I started my own organization

called Cat Trap,

and we believe in the program TNR,

trap, neuter, and return.

After we bring them to the vet, we put them back out

where we got them from, into the colonies.

Because they're all together, they're all like family.

I think the first time we did any trapping was like 15 cats.

That was, like, wow, it was quite amazing,

and then it just snowballed after that.

I wanna help people.

So, my name is out there.

I like to knock on doors, I like to talk to people.

Well, I mean, I have a nice piece of property here,

and I got cats pooping all over it.

I got a cute little dog, likes to roll in it,

and I don't think it's right.

I pay high taxes, and I expect some stuff cleaned up,

and they're not doing it.

I called the city and said, "What are you gonna do

with these cats?"

They turned around, told me they have a bylaw for dogs

but not for cats.

I told them, "Bullshit,” and hung up.

We found 'em dead on the lawn right there,

some babies and that.

We found some babies over there on the track line.

He's found some dead ones on his property over there.

It's too bad, you know, just cats all over.

It's frustrating.

I've dealt with neighbors fighting with each other.

That's not good, you don't wanna fight with your neighbor

over something like that.

It's not the cats' fault, it's our fault.

Let's take responsibility now.

That's okay.

Hear that noise, it's okay, you're okay.

So, Mellissa, she's awesome, I call her my other daughter.

I do.

She's a hard, hard worker.

She's doing her rescue all on her own.

Plus, she works.

She just loves animals, it's just DNA.

Yeah.

We don't want fleas on your face.

I've rescued several litters from the dump,

and they call me, "Can you come pick up these kittens?"

Or, "Can I bring them to you?"

My name's Mellissa, I run Tiny But Mighty Kitten Rescue,

and I save kittens.

Cats specifically, I mean, at least in Cornwall,

the city doesn't fund to help them,

and a lot of people find that the cats are disposable.

Kitten gets old, not as cute,

put them outside, they're not fixed.

What do you think happens?

I get a lot of messages, a minimum of 5 per day of,

"Can you take this kitten I found?"

So, if I have space, I can take them.

First, get them spayed, neutered, vaccinated,

dewormed, micro chipped,

and then I find families for them.

I don't have a clue how many litters I've saved.

I lost track.

There has always been a large number of cats

in this area, and it's primarily due to

the lack of spaying and neutering.

My name's Bonnie Bishop, and I'm an associate director

with the Ontario SPCA.

We call ourselves here an animal shelter,

and we have 12 of them across the province of Ontario.

In this community, for example, we have been inundated

with a large number of cats for many years.

We represent 30 percent of the intake of cats

in the province of Ontario.

We have limited cage space here, and we've had days where people

have shown up with up to as many as 20 cats,

and think that we can take those animals in

on that given day.

Here in Cornwall, there's no program currently

that the city runs to pick up stray cats,

so the public literally picks them up

and brings them in to us.

We talk to a lot of people that come in,

and when we had a wait list, say, "Ah, just gonna go

dump it somewhere."

Not acceptable, it's not acceptable to dump an animal.

Those animals, they become prey for something else.

And also, they are now being forced to hunt

and fend for themselves in a way that they've never

had to do before.

No, I believe cats should be indoors.

The domestic cats that we have in our homes,

we see them in our house as being this love able,

adorable creature, and then we put them outside.

They engage in very similar behaviors

to what wild cats would do.

- I keep getting this cat. -Yeah.

That's a new one.

My name is Elizabeth Gow,

and I study what cats do when we can't find them,

and I do that using a variety

of different specialized cameras.

They can get up to all kinds of mayhem.

They can cross busy roads.

They can go into sewer drains,

climb trees, stalk,

kill animals.

And so, on one of the concerns with cats is their impacts

on biodiversity.

They are not from here, and when they're outside,

they are technically an invasive species.

They engage in very similar behaviors

to what wild cats would do.

So, they will hunt animals when they find them.

It's a golden crowned king let.

This tiny little one here.

So, and here is a little warbler,

the northern perulla.

It's got a little golden chest here.

Well, cats will eat just about any bird

they can get near.

Brown creeper,

so named 'cause it goes up the tree trunk.

A woodpecker.

In Canada alone, about 250 million,