Halifax closes in on roaming cats

Halifax is a step closer to licensing an estimated 200,000 cats, despite warnings from staff about the potential costs.

Regional councillors spent several hours Tuesday debating various plans to control animals before voting in favour of rules that were proposed two years ago.

The proposal requires that cats be licensed, limits the number of dogs and cats to three each for every property smaller than two acres, and bans the feeding of wild waterfowl and pigeons on both private property and municipally owned land.

In addition, people would be allowed to rent traps from the municipality to catch cats.

Halifax police told the committee of the whole that a new bylaw is needed to improve licensing and enforcement, though they wanted to start with dogs only and include cats some time in the future.

Police estimate there are 200,000 cats in the region and say there currently is no shelter big enough to deal with an influx of seized felines. The committee heard that the bill for a new building would cost more than $1 million