Foster cats

The impending Toronto city workers strike date, June 22, next Monday, is fast approaching. While most of the dogs at Toronto Animal Services South have found placement with rescues or fosters, a lot of the cats have not. That's not from lack of trying but there are just a lot more cats than dogs at the shelter.

If you're so inclined, you could really help out by fostering a TAS cat for the duration of the strike. There are no guarantees but it's unlikely the strike will go for longer than three weeks. If it's not settled by then, city workers will probably be legislated back to work. That's what happened last time.

The animals who don't find their way into foster care will be transported to one of the other city shelters where they will be managed by a reduced staff of who knows who. It sounds like it's going to turn into something more akin to a warehousing environment than a shelter environment. Sure, it may not be the end of the world for the animals but it won't be very nice.

If you're interested, this is the TAS South number: 416 338 6668. Ask to speak to the person looking after the cats (if you get the answering machine, hang up and call back later, otherwise, you'll be waiting a very long time). Or you can drop me an e-mail and I can give you the direct line to the person trying to find fosters.

Continued here.