Dear editor,

Are you tired of cats in your garden and flower beds? Want to protect songbirds, butterflies and snakes? Want cats to be safer and kept at home?

Get on board and sign the petition to ensure cat owners are responsible for their pets鈥� behavior. Go to

More and more communities across Canada are adopting a Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw, where animals, including cats, are not allowed to run at large. Dog owners already abide by this type of bylaw, but, that wasn鈥檛 always the case. Remember when dogs ran loose and owners didn鈥檛 poop scoop? Now, most people and dog owners alike would agree this has been a good change for our pets, our neighbours and our environment. Now it is time for cat owners to adapt to this change. Drop the 鈥渃atitude鈥� and own up to pet ownership.

Courtenay City Council, it is time to consider our bylaws and adopt a Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw that includes cats. I know people who have had to dig up their gardens and put in lawns, no longer can grow veggies, have cardboard and wire covering dirt and gravel pathways, motion sprinklers for their garden and even their lawns, cardboard covering driveways, and in carports and removing their bird feeders.

Seriously! Do you think this is acceptable? This is more than an inconvenience. No cat should determine how we use our yards. Many neighbourhoods do not face this problem but for those of us dealing with roaming cats, it is a real issue; easily solved, if cat owners were held responsible for their pets.

Please sign the online petition at change.org no roam cat bylaw, or if you prefer, a paper version is available at The Courtenay Community Thrift Store, 971 Cumberland Rd. in Courtenay.

Cindy Kozlowski

Courtenay