We have four cats, all indoor, spayed, microchipped. We weren’t thrilled when Toronto introduced a bylaw requiring that cats (and dogs) be licensed, so we ignored it. So did everyone else we know.
A couple of years later, a co-worker said that he’d received a warning in his mailbox along the lines of, “License your cats, or . . . or . . . you’ll be fined!” A few days later, guess what was in our mailbox? Oh yeah.
We have one of those stickers on our front door that says, “Pets Inside!” along with how many cats we have. I have no idea why we stuck it on our door. I doubt a firefighter would run into a burning house to save a strange cat (I, however, would seriously consider it if one of my girls was inside, and yeah, it would be a totally stupid thing to do!). I guess the animal control patrol was in our neighbourhood looking for hardened criminals who hadn’t licensed their cats and dogs, and they arrived on our doorstep.
Busted!
Since our cats are spayed, we get a discount and pay 15 bucks per cat, rather than the regular $50, so that’s $60 (we have four). I said to my partner, “Now we’ll be dinged every year.”
Flash forward one year . . . came home tonight and guess what’s in the mailbox? An envelope containing the license renewal reminder for our cats, right? Bzzt. Wrong! Four envelopes, one for each cat, at 54 cents a pop. Inside each envelope, a renewal notice on a thin sheet of paper and an insert about donating to animal control.
Gads, what to say? Was there a reason they couldn’t put all four renewals in one envelope, since they were going to the same person at the same address? In our recycling bin, there are now four envelopes, four renewals (since I renewed online rather than through the mail), and four inserts. And the city spent $2.16 on postage when it could have spent $0.54. $1.62 would buy a couple of cans of dog or cat food. Since many folks have more than one cat or dog, I wonder how much money the city wastes on this every year that it could be spending on the animals in its care.
And the insert asking for a donation? Dear Animal Control: Please consider the $60 I just paid you to renew my cats’ licenses as my donation. After all, I won’t be getting anything in return for my $60 except for four renewals in four individual envelopes next year. Thank you.
Gotta love bureaucracy!
Update (September 27, 2010): A bit of an improvement this year. The renewal notices came in separate envelopes, but the receipts came in one. So we’re halfway there!
About Sarah Ettritch
Hi Sarah,
I quoted from your post in an article I wrote today about Toronto Animal Control knocking on doors and hunting for unlicensed pets. Here’s the link:
http://www.examiner.com/x-34913-Toronto-Animal-Rights-Examiner~y2010m6d7-Toronto-Animal-Control-on-another-cashgrab-witch-hunt
That’s great! And guess what? After I renewed the licenses online, I received four paper receipts through the mail–in four envelopes!
Before attacking the City of Toronto, maybe do some research regarding why City’s choose to licence cats, I think it’s a great idea. If good forbid my INDOOR cat somehow got outside one day, and got lost, if his licence got him home safe and sound it would be so worth it. Below is an article I found regarding cat licencing. Real eye opener. Please read….
As my post states, my cats are microchipped. Therefore, they’re already covered if they get out. I see no reason why anyone should have to pay an annual license fee for spayed/neutered, microchipped, indoor pets.
I deleted the text of the article you included in your comment. Reproducing the full text of a newspaper article without permission would be a copyright violation. If you provide a link to the article, I’ll update your comment to include it.
The city of Toronto has gotten completly retaded. Ontario is a joke to the rest of Canada – I know this because a good friend of mine travels to every province on business and he hears the same thing everywhere. They consider people in Toronto to be morons, and with good reason. Some kid knocks on my door while I’m at work and peeks inside my window looking for animals…or maybe what kind of tv and stereo I have…and rats me out so I can pay a fee for an indoor cat. Meanwhile, my next door neighbour gets his car stolen – only reason it was found was because of an unpaid parking ticked that arrived at his door a month later with the address of where it was dumped. Nice to know that taxpayer money is being used so efficiently.
It really boils my blood when nitwits (yeah, I’m looking at you Mark) blindly swallow every single drop of pre-packaged diarrhea that’s given to them. It cripples the rest of us with more than two active brain cells to rub together – apparently, we’re the minority now.
A pet license should be a CHOICE.
But then again, this is Ontario, where big brother makes those decisions for us.
In the case of indoor (or even just microchipped) cats, I definitely see cat licensing as a cash grab by the city. If the money was being put to good use to help animals in Toronto, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But some of it is apparently being wasted.
I personally think that cat licence’s should be free of charge.
I think that the cat licence provides valuable information for identification .
I do not think the micro chip covers in the event that the cat is found by someone that is willing to call an agency like the humane society to find out where the cat belongs.
I would be willing to make a donation to any agency or group that would carry out such a program, it could even be national.
Thanks
It’s possible that someone might not want to take a cat to the humane society or a vet, but I think most people would. Also, since my cats are indoor, they don’t wear collars. So they don’t wear their licenses.
I agree–it would be nice if licenses were free!