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Winnipeg ponders feral cat problem

Jared Levine checks in on "tommie" in the hotel cattery, which includes a large fish tank, with tropical fish to entertain the guests at Wag Hotel, in West Sacramento, California, on November 24, 2006. Wag Hotel, a luxury hotel chain for dogs and cats, will open its San Francisco hotel in December. (UPI Photo/Ken James)
Jared Levine checks in on "tommie" in the hotel cattery, which includes a large fish tank, with tropical fish to entertain the guests at Wag Hotel, in West Sacramento, California, on November 24, 2006. Wag Hotel, a luxury hotel chain for dogs and cats, will open its San Francisco hotel in December. (UPI Photo/Ken James) | License Photo

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, April 3 (UPI) -- A Winnipeg, Canada, animal rights advocate says the city's bylaws are too outdated to deal with the tens of thousands of feral cats overrunning the city.

This week a Winnipeg City Council protection and community services committee will ask the city administration to research the feral-cat problem and report back on the best way to address the situation this fall, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

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"It's a huge issue," cat advocate Lynne Scott said. "They're everywhere. Every neighborhood has them."

Scott told the Free Press she runs a program to help reduce the population of 50,000 feral strays running wild in the city. She traps the animals, has them spayed and neutered and releases them back in the area where they were found.

Scott said one female can have an average of six litters a year, with about seven kittens in each litter.

Scott said she is only one person and Winnipeg has no citywide plan in place to curtail the feral cat population, which is expanding exponentially, the newspaper said.

"In certain parts of our city, it's a big problem," city council member Gord Steeves said. "Unfortunately, a lot of (cats) are euthanized."

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