The City of Langley doesn’t appear to have a wild cat problem, and that may have more to do with coyotes than anything else, council was told on Sept. 12. There has been only one call in the last five years complaining about a feral cat (a house cat gone wild).
As director of engineering Gary Vlieg, the author of a report on the issue, observed, with coyotes around, “if cats end up free roaming, they don’t roam too long.”
The Parks and Environment Advisory Committee review recommended “that council investigate avenues for controlling free roaming cats.”
The Vlieg report noted there is no regulation of any kind for cats in Langley, unlike some other communities which have laws requiring licences and mandatory spay-and-neuter programs, to control populations of strays.
While there have been virtually no service calls for stray cats to municipal staff, the report noted the local Patti Dale Animal Shelter “has logged over 100 kittens in 2011 from the Langley area.”
In the Lower Mainland, the report noted the District of Maple Ridge does have a “Cat Spay and Neuter Bylaw” requiring all cats over six months of age to be sterilized unless the owner is a registered breeder.
However, Maple Ridge rejected a proposal to require cat licensing because of the expense.
Coquitlam and North Vancouver also have cat control bylaws but none of them require cats to be licensed. That was enough information for council, which voted to leave things the way they are.