Two Kitimat residents hope to save birds by clawing back house-cat freedom

KITIMAT, B.C. – A proposal by two residents of Kitimat, B.C., could send fur flying as they seek civic regulations on house cats.

Laurel Woodhill and Hilda Littman are appealing to Kitimat council to consider a bylaw that would keep cats indoors, away from birds and other wildlife.

The women say they are fed up dealing with what they call "carnage" in neighbourhoods of the north coast district municipality.

Woodhill estimates there are as many as 500 cats in the community, and she says they have been a problem for years.

She and Littman say they are concerned the cats are killing too many birds and they believe the owners should be accountable.

The district currently has no bylaw to restrict roaming cats, but councillors say they will consider the issue.

"If they all kill two birds a day, that's 1,000 birds a day," Woodhill says of the cats. "That's 30,000 birds a month. That's 360,000 birds every year, just here in Kitimat."

A report released in 2013 by the Wildlife Research Department for Environment Canada estimates 196,000,000 bird deaths annually are due to feral and stray cats, making them the number one killers of birds in the country. (CFTK)