Have your say

Cats kill in numbers

Congratulations to Randy Turner for his informative feature concerning Winnipeg’s overpopulation of cats ( City’s kitty crisis, Sept 1). The roaming outdoor cat is not, however, unique to Winnipeg.

Bird Studies Canada, in its Aug. 24 newsletters, outlines a U.S. study of the outdoor activities of house cats. Cats kill an average of two animals every week they are outside, of which 13 per cent are songbirds.

The American Bird Conservancy extrapolates that house cats are killing more than four billion animals every year in the U.S., including at least 500 million birds. These shocking statistics will, I hope, inspire cat owners to keep their pets indoors at all times and City of Winnipeg officials to take action.

ARDYTHE MCMASTER

Rossendale

I have been a volunteer at the Winnipeg Humane Society for over 10 years now, and while I don’t agree with a lot of their policies, I have certainly witnessed the cat overpopulation problem first-hand. The city’s no-kill shelters do a wonderful job but they can only take in so many animals.

Unfortunately, there is a never-ending stream of homeless cats. I am not in favour of cat licensing, however. Winnipeg is not Calgary. Demographically, with its lower average incomes, Winnipeg is more similar to Edmonton. Edmonton also has a cat-licensing bylaw, and it has been a dismal failure.

Key information in your feature is what parts of the city most of the homeless cats come from — the core, the West End, North End and East Kildonan are the hot spots. It’s no coincidence that these are also the poorest areas of the city. The homeless-cat problem is largely one of poverty.

KERRY WARD

Winnipeg

Earning some credit

Re: Lyme disease may lurk in your own backyard, (Aug. 31). I spent 10,000 hours identifying thousands of ticks submitted by veterinarians and the public across Ontario between 1993 and 2002, and there were no credits for our peer-reviewed, scientific study in Dr. W. Gifford-Jones’ article.

Actually, 12.9 per cent of the blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, which were collected from hosts that had no history of travel, were infected with the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi.

A subsequent study of ticks collected from songbirds by bird banders and wildlife rehabilitators across Canada clearly shows that songbirds disperse Lyme disease vector ticks nationwide. Consequently, people do not have to frequent an endemic area to contract Lyme disease. Again, I identified the ticks for this study.

Yale University scientists received credit for the initial two-year study of Lyme disease.

Why not give a Canadian researcher from the Lyme Disease Association of Ontario credit for a 10-year study?

JOHN D. SCOTT

Ontario

Insane and irrational

Re: Discourse of hate (Sept. 1). To blame bloggers such as Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer for the brutal, unforgivable actions of Anders Behring Breivik is as insane and irrational as blaming Jews for Islamist anti-Semitism or gays for Islamist homophobia.

DAVID SQUARE

Tyndall

Publishing a photo of Anders Behring Breivik’s Nazi-like salute is in poor taste. Such an image promotes the discourse of hate. Most certainly he is made to look like a hero to those who may share similar beliefs. They may even cut out this photo and tack it onto their bulletin boards.

RAY CLOUTIER

Winnipeg

Students can get grants

Re: Paying for university 101 (Aug. 25) We all benefit when more young people do better in school, build great careers, have children and contribute to our future economic prosperity.

Some helpful information to add to Joel Schlesinger’s article is that the federal government offers numerous grants for full- and part-time students who have limited income, disabilities, children, etc.

Students are eligible for more than one grant. Students are automatically considered for all grants when they apply for a student loan through Manitoba Student Aid. The free money is underused because many students are unaware of it or unsure of the conditions, and the application form is onerous.

IAN GERBRANDT

Winnipeg

Re: Who are you calling entitled? (Sept. 1).

Hopefully there is a lesson for all students in Mia Rabson’s article.

If you are choosing post-secondary education, research the successes and risks of your field of study. If you take a general degree and graduate during challenging economic times, expect hardship. There will be others ahead of you who will be more qualified for the workforce.

If you’re choosing a specific area, ensure there is a market for your expertise when you graduate. If you aspire to a certain standard of living, make sure you pick a vocation that fits with your desires.

DAVID OWENS

Winnipeg

Shirking obligations

Re: U.S. soldier may face jail, group warns (Sept. 1). Canada should never consider granting refugee status to military deserters from safe democracies. These people are undesirable and have shown that they are disloyal to their country by shirking their contractual obligations.

In this case, the U.S. discontinued the draft in 1973, moving to an all-volunteer military force, thus there is no mandatory conscription. Kimberly Rivera obviously knew her country was at war (in Afghanistan and Iraq) when she volunteered to serve.

If she were truly a conscientious objector, she would not have considered the military as a career. She should be immediately deported without further appeal.

TERRY MEINDL

Teulon

Repeating the past

It is sadly ironic that your Sept. 1 story

Renovated out of reach coincides with the remembrance of the Scottish Clearances that evicted the Selkirk settlers 200 years ago.

The scenario is still the same: Landlords rush to exploit a short-term opportunity for windfall profits and callously create a dispossessed diaspora while the authorities support the bullies.

The Selkirk settlers are celebrated at a floating barge concert while the provincial ship of state sinks. All this in the shadow of the human rights museum that intends to teach us the past to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

RON NASH

Winnipeg

Creating a crisis

Re: Raise the (welfare) rent, inner-city advocates say (Aug. 31). After Parliament failed to pass Bill C-304, the Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing Act, Canada officially became the only G8 country not to have a national housing strategy. This failure has created a countrywide housing crisis that provinces and municipalities are ill-equipped to handle.

It is a cruel irony that a 260,000-squarefoot, 23-storey, Canadian Museum for Human Rights vanity project stands empty at The Forks while thousands of disadvantaged Winnipeggers are either homeless or living in substandard housing.

GORDON WARREN

Winnipeg