The mayor of an Alberta city is under criticism after she suggested residents use extreme violence to deal with feral cats in a Tuesday meeting.
Gale Katchur is the mayor of Fort Saskatchewan and said “When it comes to feral cats, it would be cruel to say, but it would be interesting if people could deal with them themselves. Like, I’m going to say, in the old days when you lived on the farm,” she followed up with some laughs before she continued “When you lived on the farm, if there was cats, you threw them in a bag and threw them in the river or they just put them on the exhaust pipes,”.
The meeting was posted on the Fort Saskatchewan Youtube Page with Katchurs comments coming at the 1:27:00 mark.
Katchur released a statement to the public on Thursday morning stating:
I want to address my recent comments made during the September 17 Committee of the Whole meeting regarding managing feral cat populations. I recognize that these comments did not reflect the values of compassion, respect, and care that we, as a community, hold dear.
I sincerely apologize for the remarks and any hurt they may have caused. As the City of Fort Saskatchewan’s mayor, I represent our community’s commitment to humane and thoughtful approaches to all issues, including animal management. I deeply regret that my comments fell short of this standard.
Fort Saskatchewan is a city that embraces empathy, and I understand that my remarks did not align with the values of compassion and inclusivity that we strive to uphold. Our community deserves leadership that reflects these principles, and I am committed to learning from this experience.
Moving forward, I will ensure that my comments and our approach to managing animal populations reflect our community’s dedication to humane and responsible practices. I appreciate the continued engagement and passion from our residents as we work together to create a compassionate environment for all, including the animal and natural life within the City.
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