This has been a particularly harrowing week at Craig Street Cats.  On top of ongoing financial difficulties we have been compelled to respond to several cases of abuse and neglect.

We are appalled at the level of cruelty, abuse and neglect being perpetrated against cats and their caregivers, and the fact that our society is so jaded that media no longer responds to reports of such things.  This week alone we have responded to 4 separate incidents involving cruelty to cats and one involving assault of an elderly cat caregiver:

​1.  a 4 month old kitten found missing a rear foot and dumped in a rural area.  The foot has been cleanly cut off, indicating that this was not an accidental injury.

2.  an elderly woman who has been caring for a managed colony of cats, with permission from the property owner, has been harassed and stalked by a neighbour who objects to the cats being on his neighbour's property.  This person has threatened the caregiver with a crow bar, and hurled insults at her in the past.  Yesterday he  threatened to poison the cats, and threw shovels full of dirt clods at the caregiver, then followed her home and uttered more threats against her.  A police report has been made, but police declined to intervene.

3.  six 4 week old kittens put into a cardboard box and tossed into a dumpster, saved by a passerby who contacted a dog rescue, which then contacted us.

4.  five cats and one dog abandoned by their owner, who simply left them behind when moving.  We have advised the property owner that Animal Services and the Winnipeg Humane Society must deal with the situation as abandonment is a crime.

5.  late this afternoon we received a call about 2 kittens tossed from a moving car at Broadway and Colony.  Sadly, we were not able to accept those kittens, as we are absolutely out of space and money.  We advised the caller to contact WHS to report the incident and ask for help placing the kittens.
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That's just this week.

Over the past 2 months we have seen more cases of deliberate cruelty than in the previous 6 months combined.  Media releases about them garner less and less attention.  This is troubling because it means that cruelty to animals is no longer news worthy. 

​More troubling is the fact that the agencies charged with responding to these events (police, animal services, Provincial Vet, Winnipeg Humane Society) either won't or are so overwhelmed with even more horrible cases that they can't.

Most troubling is the fact that these cases garner very little tangible response from the general public.  Caring for abused, injured and abandoned animals is incredibly expensive, yet pleas for assistance draw virtually no response beyond 'sharing is caring' and anger directed at the perpetrators of whatever cruelty has most recently transpired.  A few incredibly generous people give every single time, but cruelty has become so common that fewer people respond to each subsequent event. 

What a sad commentary on the state of our society.

Summer is finally here!  Yay!  Warm weather, kids out of school, camping trips, days at the beach, and vacations are all on the horizon.  Everyone is excitedly planning what they will do with their holiday time.  Kids are taking swimming lessons, running through the sprinkler, enjoying ice cream.  What a wonderful time of year.

For those who work in animal welfare, however, summer is a time of desperation.  It means incredible demands on resources, and no way to cover expenses, because donors are away.  For Craig Street Cats, summer means making heart breaking decisions every day.  Decisions that often mean death for the cats we must turn away because we do not have the money to care for them.  We have to say no 40 or 50 times every day.

Summer is kitten season.  Over the next few weeks we will be asked to take in over 1000 kittens.  We will have to say no to almost all of them, because we do not have the money to care for them.  Most of those kittens will be left on the street, where 75% of them will die before they are 3 months old.

Summer means incredible veterinary expenses, because all those kittens we are able to help must be spayed or neutered, vaccinated and dewormed.  Many of them are sick, requiring medication and multiple visits to the vet.  Some need life saving surgery.  Over half of our annual veterinary expenses are incurred during July and August.

Summer means deciding which bills to pay, and which to leave until next month (or the month after that), because there is no money to pay all of them and still feed the cats.
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Summer means writing articles like this one, because every year people forget about the cats while they are enjoying their holidays.  Today is July 17th.  Craig Street Cats' expenses, so far this month, are over $25,000.  Total income this month?  Just over $10,000.

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