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daly 6, 1990) News 985-2191

Classified 986-6222

sy

Distribution 986-1337 72 puves

hy

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

HIGH FECAL coliform counts have lead to the closure of Deep Cove’s Panorama Beach for the first time this year. Last year, the beach was
closed for almost a month after the cove waters failed to meet public health standards. North Vancouver District is continuing to investigate the

source of the pollution but has yet to reach any definitive conclusions. See story page 3.

Cat killings trouble pet owners

WILD ANIMALS BLAMED FOR NORTH SHORE DEATHS

DOZENS OF cats and dogs
have mysteriously  disap-
peared in the dark over the
past six weeks in West Van-
couver.
By MICHAEL BECKER
N

s Reporter

In some cases, their shredded
remains have been left behind by
the animals that are kiHing them
in the lower Caulfeild area.

Marni Bush lost) one
three cats a week ago.

Bush and her son produced
posters offering a $100-reward for

of her

safe ceturn of her lost cat,
Dumpy, a.k.a. Dump-
ster-Smithrite. But as she walked
door (o dour to talk to neighbors,

the

she heard an alarming number of

similar tales of missing pets.
“TP was fiterally flabbergasted at
what | was hearing. tt was like
every third house had Jost a cat.
People would come out and point
to the railroad tracks and they
would say, ‘There's something out
there, there’s something out
there,""’ Bush said.
knocked or

$0 homes within a

the doors of
four-

9

block radius near her Kensington
Crescent home and found that 30
cats and two small dogs were lost
in that ane area alone during the
past month and a half.

While many have observed
coyotes in the area, Bush believes
a wild cat is responsible for the
pet shreddings.

“One person's property borders
on mine and he’s seen a@ big wild
cat that comes down underneath
my hedge and sits down in’ his
yard oon) Kensington Cresceat,”
she said. ‘He's not the onty per-
son Who has seen the cat. It would

REN RSE RIA NSO SUN Cs cae Lie PAE ie

seem to me from ailking to peo-
ple, the cat is territorial and it
shreds the animal and people find
the hodies of heir animals in the
backyard or whatever.

She now keeps her two remain-
ing cats, Companion Cat and
Sleazebag, indoors after dark.

Bush said the areas losing the
most pets are neighborhoods
located near the BC Rail railroad
track that) cuns through West

Vancouver.

Based on information received
from her customers, West Van Pet
Centre owner Kathy Samuda con-

firmed pets are becoming regular
meals for coyotes in’ lower
Caulfeild and the more wooded
areas of the British Properties.

Samuda, who lives on
Southborough Drive, fost her cat,
Sunshine, to a coyote one morn.
ing in November. The coyote was
followed and was observed as it
wate her cat, leaving behind only
the head and collar.

“He was a lovely cabby with
long haic and he was a knockout.
He was taken from our yard dur-

See Domestic

TS aS eas