CAMPBELL RIVER — The cat came back and they thought she could have been a goner based on the ominous note taped to her collar.

But a week after GirlGirl spent an "unpleasant night" away from home, Teri Marshall says one of the two people behind the note later came to her door and apologized for trapping the cat.

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“[He] assured us she was given water and petted a few times during the night,” she said. “He said there was no abuse and he only noticed her tag as he was putting the note on her.

“We felt it took a lot of courage to come to the door and be honest about what they did.”

The cat had escaped through the dog door in Teri and husband Norman’s home, and returned the next morning with a note taped to her collar.

It said she had spent an unpleasant night and if she came into the note writers’ yard again, they would “have to take other measures.”

Marshall said the man plans to continue trapping cats and taking them to the SPCA, but because GirlGirl has an identity tag, he promised to contact the family if she gets out again.

Marshall, who adopted the Turkish Angora and her brother BoyBoy in December, said trapping is traumatic for cats. “We feel it’s abusive to trap pets and stand strongly against it.”

Stephanie Arkwright, manager of the Campbell River SPCA, said that when it comes to nuisance cats, the SPCA recommends that complainants speak directly to the cat owner. “It is possible that the owner in question does not know that their cat is causing an issue,” she said.

In some cases, however, cats can be humanely trapped and brought to the nearest shelter or returned directly to the owners, Arkwright said.

There are no bylaws pertaining to cats in Campbell River.

“Just like people can call animal control when there are unwanted dogs in their yards, we do want to give people an option for nuisance cats,” said Arkwright. “We do not condone cats being inhumanely trapped, harmed, traumatized, relocated or abandoned — all these action are against the Provincial Cruelty to Animals Act, and all of the above are chargeable offences.”

