British Columbia

Location: "Newton Area of Surrey, BC" (from a youtube video on their channel)

RAPS is engaged in one of the largest operations we have ever undertaken — rescuing scores of kittens and cats from a disastrous hoarding situation.

“We were called by a family member to intervene in a situation where a person with some significant issues had been hoarding cats and kittens in a large townhouse,” says Valerie Wilson, manager of the RAPS Cat Sanctuary and RAPS Adoption Center. “What we discovered was unlike anything most of us had seen in decades of animal welfare work.”

When the rescuers arrived at the home, dozens of cats and kittens scattered like insects. Opening bathroom cupboards, drawers and looking behind appliances, there were kittens and cats everywhere throughout the house. The entire house was festering with urine and feces everywhere and the stench was unbearable. The home has almost no furniture and the frightened kittens were scampering under urine-soaked blankets to hide from the human “intruders.” When our team cold called unannounced, there were no litter boxes and most of the cats were locked in a room with no furniture, surrounded by feces and urine.

“One of the most disturbing aspects of this situation is that not one, but two, animal rescue organizations had intervened in the past, but had not addressed the underlying hoarding situation,” says Wilson. “In both instances, the organizations had removed cats from the premises but left intact cats, resulting in further reproduction and this near-catastrophic situation that has ballooned into dozens of cats and kittens.”

RAPS has already removed about 15 kittens, as well as a nursing mom.

The nursing mom was so unhealthy she couldn’t care for her kittens. One of those kittens was initially thought to have a brain condition, which was discovered to be merely severely low blood sugar. Through bottle-feeding, that kitten is regaining its strength. The mother is under medical care at the RAPS Animal Hospital and we hope for the best.

As RAPS continues this rescue operation, we anticipate upwards of 10 or more pregnant females and as many as 50 or more cats and kittens in total, most of them unsocialized kittens. And RAPS anticipates at least another 20 to 30 kittens to be born, bringing the overall total to upwards of 80.

RAPS has set up a special fund to support these animals and the ongoing rescue operation. They are calling on the community to support this major undertaking.

RAPS is also seeking experienced cat and kitten fosterers.

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Summary

• British Columbians overwhelmingly favour the provincial foreign buyer tax and the federal two-year ban on foreign real estate purchases, a new poll shows. But developers, experiencing a bitter downturn, are pushing the government to ditch policies that curb foreign investment. They say they desperately need investors to return to the market.

• According to a recent paper, in the 1980s, the government opened its doors to wealthy migrants with the Business Immigration Program that allowed about 200,000 people, mostly from East Asia, into Canada, until it was shelved in 2012. Instead of spurring entrepreneurial activity and stimulating the economy, wealthy migrants invested heavily in property.

• After much reluctance, the B.C. Liberal government finally responded with a 15 per cent foreign buyer tax in 2016. It was too little, too late for the party, and the next year the NDP took over the government and increased the tax to 20 per cent. They also introduced other demand-side measures, including the speculation and vacancy tax, which requires citizens to declare if they are paying Canadian income tax and if the home is a principal residence.

• There are signs that in the current market downturn, the development community would like to reopen those doors to outside money. Condo marketer Bob Rennie said racism is driving the pushback against foreign investor buying.

• Rennie recently spoke on an real estate industry panel hosted by Postmedia. He said he’d been talking to Mark Carney about opening rental housing development to foreign investment. Mr. Rennie also said he was opposed to the foreign buyers’ tax from the start, and believed it was a racist policy.

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