By Lisa Parent

Canadian Animal Task Force vaccinates and fixes cats in Cypress County

May 12, 2023 | 5:03 PM

CYPRESS COUNTY, AB – The Canadian Animal Task force is volunteer driven charity that provides animal care and promotes community safety.

One of their ventures is vaccinating, neutering and spaying feral cats.

Starting Thursday, the task force began catching cats around Cypress County with humane traps.

Volunteer veterinarians provide the care needed, and then the cats are placed back in their communities where many are fed and looked after by locals.

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RJ Bailot is the executive director with the Canadian Animal Task Force.

Bailot praised Cypress County for seeking assistance with their cats.

“We also did get support from Cypress County which is amazing, because these are the things we want communities to support, is these kind solutions to issues, and this definitely is one of them,” Bailot explains.

Bailot says many places don’t care for their cat populations as Cypress County has.

He adds, “in many places they round up cats and destroy them, that’s not a solution, and is obviously not humane. This is a much kinder approach.”

Their main goal is to control the Alberta cat population, but also provide meaningful and healthy lives to the cats already here.

Bailot says the main driver of the task force is the passionate volunteers.

“We could not do the work we do without both our donors and our volunteers, we have hundreds of volunteers, they make up our organization,” he says.

Beth Honeychurch has been volunteering with this organization for about 13 years. She says this organization is her family.

“I really appreciate this group, we’re very very diverse, and it really has taught me so much about about the potential of animals, but also the potential of people and that’s something that’s really important to me with the Canadian Animal Task Force,” Honeychurch says.

The task force expects to treat about 150 cats over the weekend.

Bailot explains, “because again the cats are often roaming, and then they’re just breeding endlessly, and then someone takes in a few cats to care for them, and then by next spring they have 30 cats.”

The cats will be released on Sunday after operations and vaccinations. Some of the kittens may be placed in animal shelters around Alberta.