Talking about feral cats - We consider important for the public to understand the difference between cat rescue groups because due to bylaws and to the chosen government status of every group we are all different. These are the differences:
1. The government status. Is the group a public cooporation or a private group?
A. A public corporation has to follow the rules dictated by their no-for-profit and charity status. The amount of paperwork they have to file every six months or every year leaves the group with little time left to do the rescues themselves. The benefit is that thanks to their status they can get grants from large public and private corporations and get all the veterinary, rental/mortgage and utility bills paid.
B. The private group has to follow the same bussiness rules than any other bussiness, but they cannot apply for grants of any type. The veterinary services and all the other bills have to be paid from their own bank account. The advantage they have is that they can manage their own time to rescue the cats themselves and to have more time to care and to rehabilitate feral cats and kittens.
2. Does the group rescues cats themselves from the streets or fields or they bring domesticated cats from other provinces or countries?
A. As we explained above, the public cooprations do not have much time left to rescue cats, they rescue just a few with the help of volunteers. On the other hand, they travel to other provinces and to the USA and arrange for domesticated kittens and just some cats to be shipped by plane or van to Victoria where volunteers pick them up. .
B.The private group is free to dedicate all its time to rescue and to care and rehabilitate. They do not need to bring cats from other places. They do the rehabilitating work given feral a second chance in life.
3. Does the group places cats in pet shops or not?
A. The public coorporation cat groups applies for grants from large pet stores such as Pet Smart, Bosleys and others. These grants are given in exchange for the cat rescue placing "domesticated" cats and kittens for sale in their stores.
B. Private cat groups, in general, do not want to leave the kittens and cats lock in cages night and day on a shop.