11 | durhamregion.com | This Week | Thursday, December 8, 2022 | Barn Cat Co-op since 2017. Her group alone has helped more than 1,200 cats so far in 2022. At any given time, they have 100-plus cats and kittens in foster homes and that number has climbed as high as 200. "I have never in all my years of rescue seen anything like this," Geer says. What is happening? Rescuers say it's a "perfect storm" of factors. Durham doesn't have a permanent, sustainable option for low-cost spaying and neutering of cats, making it difficult to control the cat population. When the pandemic hit, rescuers began to see things escalate. People found it more challenging to access veterinary care during lockdowns so didn't have their cats spayed or neutered -- or, people's jobs and incomes were impacted by the pandemic and they couldn't afford vet costs. The pandemic also saw a spike in people acquiring new pets -- in some cases, those animals were abandoned or surrendered once people went back to work in-person, or faced climbing vet costs due to inflation. "All of this has caused an explosion of cats and kittens outside," says Jen Edwards, founder of Edwards Animal Sanctuary, a cat rescue based in Uxbridge. At any given time, Edwards has 140 to 150 cats and kittens in her care through a network of volunteer foster homes. She says a lot of the work falls to volunteer rescuers, because municipal shelters often won't take sick or injured cats, feral cats, cats with special needs -- or shelters close to intake when they reach capacity or have illness outbreaks. "The money that we spend is astronomical; it shouldn't fall to private rescuers," Edwards says. There are some initiatives in place in Durham to help manage cat populations, but people on the front lines say it's not enough. For example, the Humane Society of Durham Region provides vouchers for cat spay or neuter -- but they are available only to low-income residents who can provide proof of government assistance, while the City of Oshawa has a Trap Neuter Return Manage Program aimed at controlling the feral cat population. For decades, advocates have been calling for a well-funded, sustainable low-cost spay and neuter clinic in Durham, as well as municipal trap/neuter/release programs throughout the region. Without those things in place, Linda Power, a long-time animal activist in Oshawa, says volunteers struggle to tackle this daunting and expensive problem. And it's burning them out. "Rescue groups are running up huge, impossible to pay vet bills. Some of them are closing, they can't carry on and that means we're going to be left with an even bigger mess," Power says. Cat rescuers across Durham say the same thing when they're asked what needs to be done to address this crisis. "We should have been doing trap, neuter, release 20 or 30 years ago and then we wouldn't be dealing with this, but that was never a priority," says Nicola Ransom-Brown founder of Uxbridge Cat Rescue. "We were already struggling prior to the pandemic ... I didn't think cat rescue could get any worse, but it certainly did." Melinda Diebel is the founder of Uxbridge Scugog Pet Food Bank -- which feeds about 700 animals a week -- as well as a member of the Oshawa Animal Care Advisory Committee and a longtime animal rescuer who has worked in many roles. She agrees the core of the solution is having fewer cats, which can only be achieved by spaying and neutering. "If we can't get spay neuter sorted out we can never ever get ahead of it," she says. Diebel says it can be an uphill battle to get politicians and the public to care about stray, abandoned and feral cats -- "sometimes people don't connect with these cats, they see them as different from their cat at home" she says, stressing that no cats are meant to be living outside. "What we're doing right now, this is triage -- we're just trying to save as many as we can," she says. "We can't change the tide until we figure out a way to reduce the number of animals in need." A fundraiser is underway to raise money for a low cost spay and neuter clinic in Durham, click here to donate. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: For decades, animal advocates in Durham have been seeking a low-cost, permanent, sustainable spay and neuter clinic in the region. Front-line cat rescuers say things have become dramatically worse since the pandemic. NEWS Continued from page 3 'I HAVE NEVER IN ALL MY YEARS OF RESCUE SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS' Janine Pascoe with her cat, Pumpkin. She finds time to help her mom, Kelli Geer, with her rescue cats. Geer is the founder of Barn Cat Co-op, one of many cat rescue groups in Durham struggling to keep up with the number of sick, injured, orphaned and feral cats in need of care. Susie Kockerscheidt/Metroland SCAN THE CODE to read more Durham news online. You have a chance to see some former NHL greats take on the Whitby Professional Firefighters at the Whitby Iroquois Park Sports Centre. Last year's hockey game featured the likes of former Leaf great Wendel Clark, as well as Gary Leeman, Bernie Nicholls, Steve Thomas, Dave McLlwain, Craig Muni, Dave Hutchison, Darryl Shannon and more. The event generally shows off skills and laughs and is meant to be fun for all ages. It's also in support of the work done by Crime Stoppers in its efforts to reduce crime in the community and keep Whitby safe. The program encourages members of the community to call anonymously with information that assists in solving crimes committed, including information relating to the whereabouts of wanted persons, illegal drugs and stolen property. For this information, cash rewards are offered to anonymous callers when their information assists the police in recovering stolen property, seizing illegal drugs or when an arrest is made. The game takes place on Thursday, Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 (plus HST). Additional discounts are available by calling 1-888-777-9793. FORMER NHLERS TO PLAY WHITBY FIREFIGHTERS FOR CHARITY TIM KELLY tkelly@durhamregion.com NHL hockey legend Bernie Nicholls, foreground, and others like Gary Leeman, Tom Fergus, Craig Muni, Dave McLlwain, Mark Laforest and John Ogrodnick were at Whitby's Iroquois Park Sports Centre last year for the NHL All Stars vs. Whitby Professional Firefighters game to benefit Crime Stoppers. This year's game in Whitby is on Dec. 29 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for $30 are available by calling 1-888-777-9793. Benefit Show photo