10 Questions with Cause 4 Paws

Director & founder: URSULA LORD

Location: Montreal (since 2003)

Animals rescued: cats, cats, cats

https://www.facebook.com/cause4paws/

 

Interview by Allan Tong & Wallie Seto

(May 2018)

 

Ursula Lord is a fighter with a big heart. When she’s not rescuing cats in need, she is fighting hoarders who are doing them harm. We caught up with the founder of Cause 4 Paws Feline Rescue as she prepares for the NDG Pet Fair June 9th at the Monkland Community Centre.

 

 

When did you start Cause 4 Paws (C4P)?
December 2003, at a feral cat colony behind Scarolie's restaurant in Pointe-Claire, QC.  I was informed of this colony, but no one had the time to trap there. Along with two other women, we began to trap and had these cats sterilized, vaccinated, de-wormed, treated for parasites, and combo-tested. I found homes for as many of the cats as could be socialized--and comfortable in a home environment--and for all the kittens caught. I also worked at colonies near the Roxboro train station in Cote-des-Neiges, Montreal-North, and Anjou.

 

 

Why did you start C4P?
I didn't consciously. However, I soon had adoptable cats from the Scarolie colony and the others. We began to be better known and were called upon to help in other situations involving abandoned cats, moms with kittens born outside, and the like. I began doing once-monthly adoption days, then twice-monthly, and now every weekend. The need is so overwhelming. I cannot imagine a field of endeavour in which the need for help so utterly outstrips resources.

 

 

How does C4P operate?
We are exclusively a foster-home-based rescue.  We rescue only those cats and kittens we can accommodate and for whom we can provide all the vet care needed or those for whom we feel we have a reasonable chance of successfully fundraising. We have no central shelter facility; no animals are warehoused. All C4P cats and kittens enjoy the quality of life while in our jurisdiction.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's your single biggest challenge? Or what's the most difficult thing about running a rescue?
Money, given that this is unfunded volunteer work.  However, government inaction, such as MAPAQ's notorious lax attitude toward enforcing what little animal-rights legislation we have in QC, has been a major impediment, particularly in the fight against animal warehousing that Susan Mackasey of PetitsPawz initiated and I joined. We cannot get MAPAQ to cooperate in the effort to end the well-documented cruelty at the hands of several notorious animal hoarders. Also, an apathetic and uncaring public will never spur governments into action. I hope that greater public awareness and government involvement at all levels will result in funding for rescuers as well as more volunteers, the shortage of which is yet another ongoing challenge.

 

 

What are your other challenges?
I am being sued by a well-known Montreal-area animal hoarder. Because of the suit, I cannot discuss any details, but we've all had to engage lawyers. It is brutally difficult doing cat rescue full time, and being hit with substantial legal bills.  Many people think that a rescue is about cuddling cute little fluff-balls all. Nothing could be further from the truth. The hard, cold reality is that running a rescue is exhausting.  It leaves one financially drained while bearing the emotional brunt of witnessing the results of extreme cruelty.  Only people with a true passion for animal welfare would voluntarily choose this life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's the biggest cause of cat overpopulation?
Public ignorance and apathy about the sterilization of companion animals, cultural barriers to sterilization, the unfettered and unregulated proliferation of kitten mills and backyard breeders, lack of universal access to TNRM programs, the high prices of vet work combined with very limited access to reduced-cost vet work for low-income earners or those on social assistance, the homeless, the elderly; there is no single reason for this tragic phenomenon.

 

 

How would you change this?
With a public information and sensitization campaign, enforceable and enforced regulation of kitten mills and backyard breeders mandating their permanent closure, forbidding sale of animals in online and print classified ads, universal access to funded TNRM programs, wide availability of lower cost and even pro-bono vet work for basic preventative procedures, laws mandating the sterilization of all pets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What should all first-time cat owners know about owning a cat?
It is a lifelong commitment, that allowing their cats to have or sire kittens is contributing to the death rate of those whose births could not have been prevented, that the feline reproduction rate is exponential, higher than even that of rabbits.

 

 

What's your happiest adoption story?
The adoption of special-needs cats and kittens.  A recent one is Nova, a female jet-black teen doomed to die at a high-kill pound because she was having seizures resulting from a then-unknown cause, and no one would take her. So C4P did. Her story, photos, and those of a few other cats, two of whom could not be saved, can be found here.

 

 

What, or who, inspires you and keeps you going?
The cats and kittens.  Every time I am so exhausted and discouraged that I fear I cannot go on, more cats and kittens needing help enter my life.  I fall in love all over again and am re-energized :)