IT would seem that you are cither a cat person or you are not. The furry felines are cither personalities in their own right and an equal member of your house- hold or they are alley cats — breeding indiscrimi- nately and as likely to wake you in the middle of the night as a passing police siren. Worse, and more seriousiy, the feral population of cats is said to be climbing all over North America as tost house pets have learned to survive, and breed, in the wild. The damage cats, wild or not, are doing to the songbird population is not directly quantifiable, but it is a fact that species are in decline. Environmental factors like the use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers as weil as diminishing habitat are undoubt- edly to blame, but so are cat killings. Whether this can be categorized as the process of natural selection or not depends on whether you are a cat lover or not. Monday night, North Vancouver District council debated whether to introduce 2 bylaw proposed by Coun. Ernic Crist that would have forced pet owners to keep their cats indoors or on a leash when outside. Crist maintained that be is a cat lover himself and that his proposed bylaw was meant to protect the pets and keep them from risk. sroposal was deftated with one of the arguments against the initiative being the culty of enforcing it. However, an earlier proposal by Crist that cats should be the subject of a licens- ing bylaw, just as dogs are, is being studied by staff with a report expected in the inguiring Kirk Op) North Vancouver I suppose it all depends on whether they know where they are going! Actually, Laura Bemister North Vancouver Yes. But I hadn’t thought about the bird population. Good point. I'm in favour of With all the traffic, how much freedom do they have? As for the birds, I seem to see a lot of them in tagging would help the return of lost cats. Dogs have to be licensed, so why not cats? There are alley cats running all over the place. that protection definitely. the park. I think it depends on where you live: there’s a lot of difference between Grousewoods and Keith and Lonsdale. DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE INQUIRING REPORTER? E-mail your comments or question ideas to: mmillerchip@nsnews.com: ‘Wilderness leadership skills to be taught THE Squamish campus of Capilano College has launched a new wilderness leadership program. The 12-week intensive certificate program runs to Nov. 23 and agzin in carly 2001. it is designed to lead 18 participants through training required to obtain competency in wilderness leadership skills. - With the outdoor pleasures of the Howe Sound/Whistler .. corridor luring people from around the globe, job opportu- nities abound. 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Of courism-related jobs in 1998, the adventure tourism and recreation sector accounted for 10, 400 jobs or four per cent of the total 234,200 tourism-related jobs in “The wilderness leadership program supports the econom- ic dev clopment ‘directions set out by the District of Squamish,” said Stephanie Forsyth, dean of college and com- munity partnerships. “It would appeal to outdoor enthusiasts over the age of 18, or working professionals interested in out- door adventure.” Through an agreement with the Howe Sound School District, students enrolled in Tourism 11 and 12 will gain early preparation for the college program ‘and will obtain transferrable credit for some of their course work. Graduates from the wilderness leadership program can work towards the college’s outdoor recreation management diploma program, which can lead to the Bachelor of Tourism anagement degree For more information call’ 892-5322 or send an e-mail to: . Visit the Web site at . 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