A mother cat and two kittens were found outside of a Second Ave. business last week. A passerby spotted a crate sitting outside the storefront Tuesday around 8 a.m. and was surprised to see the three cats inside. After realizing the animals had no water, she filled up a bowl and put it in the crate where the cats remained until the store opened at 10 a.m.
As the day went on and no one came forward to claim the animals, it became clear they had been abandoned.
“It's kind of sad and frustrating that somebody would do that because there's so many other avenues. You never know what somebody came to before they made the decision to abandon them, but regardless of that, it's not acceptable,” commented Tristen Zimmer with the Fernie Pets Society. “There are other avenues; whether that is the SPCA in Cranbrook, whether you go to the Fernie Pets Society website, log on and re-home, or look for a home yourself.”
She added, “When you make the decision to take an animal on, you're making a decision to care for that animal until either that animal's time has finished and they've passed, or until you can no longer care for them.”
While abandoning animals in downtown Fernie is relatively unheard of, Zimmer said cats are often left to fend for themselves in many areas throughout the Elk Valley.
“We hear it in the Hosmer area, we hear it out at the ski hill, things like that happening all the time,” she remarked. “It's quite incredible how many people have feral cats living on their property because somebody dumped them off there. I think it happens a lot more than we really realize.”
The mother cat is a grey and white short hair, one of the kittens is black and the other is grey and white. All three will be spayed or neutered through the Spay and Neuter Incentive Program's (SNiP) feral cat division at no cost and adopted out through the Fernie Pets Society. They are currently being taken care of by the staff at Barkside Pets. People are encouraged to drop by to meet the cats if they are interested in adoption.