Maybe feral cat colonies are not the cat’s meow

 I have a soft spot for cats and people who care for feral cats, but it may be a misplaced love.

A story yesterday on thestar.com says learned scientists have concluded that cats, which are natural predators of birds and small mammals, are much deadlier than we think.

Using results from local surveys and pilot studies, they found that unnamed stray and feral cats kill a median of 2.4 billion birds annually in the U.S., along with 12.3 billion mammals a year, most of them native animals like shrews, chipmunks and voles, rather than introduced pests such as Norway rats.

The estimated kill rates are two to four times higher than previously believed, making cats one of the single greatest human-linked threats to wildlife.

It’s shocking for someone like me, whose house is ruled by three cats (courtesy of a wife who can’t say no and would have another if I’d go along with it), but not all that surprising.

The senior member of our cat family, 16-year-old Ethel, wouldn’t raise an eyebrow at a bird now, but there was a time when she was so deadly at stalking that we put a bell on her collar, which reduced her effectiveness only slightly.

She’d hop up on the kitchen window sill with a bird clenched in her teeth, eager to show us her prize.

When we first moved into out house, turtle doves inhabited the two big spruce trees in our yard, until Ethel got them.

Our youngest cat, Tuna, was adopted as a tiny stray at our cottage on the Crow River, where she, her mother and brother were living on handouts and whatever chipmunks they could catch.

They nearly wiped out our plentiful chipmunk community; even after the cats were well-fed, they’d hunt them for sport.

I’ve written many Fixer columns about feral cat colonies at Bluffers Park and behind a truck service centre on Evans Ave., which often prompted comments from readers who said they should be euthanized, citing the birds and wildlife they kill.

I thought they were mean, crotchety cat-haters - and there are plenty of them out there – but when I square the scientists’ findings with my own observations, it’s hard not to conclude that cats are a factor in the decline of the bird and small mammal population.

It makes me wonder what they'd do if they were 10 times bigger than people.

 

 

   

 

Ford verdict would have cleaned me out

 Good thing nobody took me up on my offer to bet that Mayor Rob Ford’s appeal of a court order kicking him out of office would be denied.

I’d be tapped out today, if people had lined up to wager on Ford, as I urged them to in my Jan. 22 blog.

In my bookmaking wisdom, I had Ford a 99-1 dog to win his appeal of the order by Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland, figuring the learned judge knew his business when he punted the mayor last November.

My reasoning was based mainly on the length of time it took Hackland to reach his  verdict – more than two months – when it was thought after the hearing into the complaint against Ford that it would be about four weeks.

I figured he must have examined the issues so thoroughly that he would only impose the ultimate penalty if he was certain his decision was bulletproof and would not be overturned on appeal.

Ironically, he rejected the same argument – that city council had no authority to order Ford to repay $3,150 in donations he solicited for his football foundation – that was accepted by the three-judge appeal panel and used to overturn his order.

A friend at city hall who talksto the Ford Bros. told me they also considered it a foregone conclusion that the appeal would lose, and were as surprised as anyone when it went the mayor’s way.

Had gambling websites taken bets on it, I would have been tempted to chunk it in with both hands, and taken an icy bath.

But I guess luck was on my side; despite offering my personal email address for anyone wanting to back Ford, not one brave soul stepped up.

I think it’s because even the most loyal of his supporters thought his goose was cooked, or at least weren’t willing to wager on the outcome.

And that’s okay with me, on two scores: I didn’t lose a dime, despite a reckless certainty about the result, and I am happy Ford kept his job.

City hall would be so tedious without him.

Ford is a 99-1 longshot to keep his job

I’m taking bets that Mayor Rob Ford’s appeal of a judge’s ruling to kick him out of office will be denied. Step right up and put ‘yer money down.

The decision of the three-judge Divisional Court appeal panel is due any day now, with his future as mayor hanging in the balance.

Ford is appealing the ruling of Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland that he violated the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act by voting at city council on an issue in which he had a pecuniary interest: To pay back $3,150 he raised from lobbyists for his football foundation, solicited on mayor’s office letterhead.

Had he abstained from the vote, which he won 22-12, he wouldn’t be in this pickle, but that’s another story.

Hackland applied the only penalty prescribed in the Act, removal from office, but described it as a “blunt instrument,” which it surely is.

Ford’s lawyers have appealed on several grounds, including that council had no authority to order him to pay back the money. But for the most part, they’re the same arguments made to Hackland before his decision last November.

After the hearing in early September into a complaint made against Ford, Hackland was expected to take up to four weeks to issue his verdict. Instead, it was more than two months.

That’s why I’m willing to bet Ford won’t be getting his job back.

Hackland took a lot longer than most people figured, and you have to ask why. I think he went around the horn, up down and seven ways from Sunday, making sure his decision was unassailable.

What else could he have been doing?

If Hackland, who has a reputation as an excellent judge, had the slightest doubt that the ruling would be overturned on appeal, I doubt he would have imposed so drastic a penalty.

He has no skin in the Toronto politics game. What does he care if Ford is mayor?

Hackland’s only interest is in squaring the facts with the law, which allowed some small wiggle room to which he did not defer, because he didn’t think it applied.

Ford Nation is hoping for a miracle from the court, and I will not be disappointed (except as a bookmaker) if the appeal is upheld. I’d much rather he finish his term.

But I think Hackland is convinced his ruling is bulletproof, so as a gambler, I am betting on his legal acumen, rather than with my heart.

Which is why I am willing to take the action of people who want to bet with theirs.

Anyone who wants to put up their dough can email me at jlakey@thestar.ca. 

    

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

         

 

   

   

 

  

 

   

  

 

 

Winning two hockey tournament titles, two hours apart, is a rare feat

Playing on two championship teams in one day at the same hockey tournament makes my boy one in 1,300.

The Toronto Penguins club, which has 16 teams in the GTHL, held its annual Winter Classic hockey tournament this past weekend, with 77 teams at the A and AA levels in it from Ontario and New York state.

My boy Jackson plays defence for the Penguins minor bantam (born in 1999) AA squad, which is tearing up the GTHL’s east division this season, with 22 wins, one loss and three ties so far. They’ve beaten every one of the other 14 teams in their division with speed, skill and scoring.

He’s also a frequent call-up player to the Penguins bantam (born in 1998) A team, which plays rock ‘em, sock ‘em hockey and is in the middle of the pack in their division.

Jackson, who’s bigger and stronger than most kids his age, likes to mix it up with the older boys and can handle the action.

All the Penguin teams were in the tournament and played in at least three games in about 36 hours, and a fourth on Sunday, if they reached the final.

Our AA team was heavily favored and did not disappoint, beating their arch-rivals, North Toronto, 4-0 for the gold medal, in a game that ended at 3 p.m. Sunday.

The bantam A team was playing for the gold in their group an hour later at the Westwood arena and were missing two players – one for a suspension and another with a broken wrist – which opened up a spot for a call-up player.

Jackson, who’d just finished his game, was asked if he could help out. He loves to play and hates to say no, so he kept his sweaty equipment on and walked down the hall to the bantam dressing room for round two.

They were beaten for a goal early and down 3-0 to the NobleKing Knights, from Nobleton, in the second period. The Knights were all over them and it was looking grim.

All of a sudden, wham, bam! Two quick goals and the Penguins were back in it.

They started taking the game to the Knights, potted another in the third and went into overtime tied 3-3, before winning it on a beautiful, two-on-one passing play.

For the second time in two hours, Jackson lined up to receive a championship medal.

It made me wonder how many other kids, if any, had won all the marbles twice in the same tournament, so I went to the team office at Westwood and asked the organizers if they were aware of a similar situation.

They said there was a small chance that a kid may have played for two teams on a call-up basis in the tournament, but they were sure that nobody else played for two that both won their group. In fact they’d never heard of anything like it.

With an average roster size of 17 players, about 1,300 kids played in the tournament, but only one got two gold medals.

For a hockey dad, you couldn’t ask for more.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

         

 

   

   

 

Nobody is sorry to see an end to transit shelters with only one wall

There’s no shortage of people who won’t miss one-sided transit shelters, judging by online comments and emails about my Thursday Fixer column on Astral Media’s decision to stop putting them up.

Astral has a 20-year contract to provide the city with street furniture and has so far erected about 50 “canopy shelters” in places where there isn’t enough space for a regular, four-sided model.

In some cases they replaced larger shelters, leaving people who don’t know about restrictions on sidewalk encroachment that didn’t exist when the earlier shelter was built to fume about being short-changed.

There were so many complaints that they are all but useless that Astral decided to pull the plug on them and won’t put up any more, even if it means no shelter in some locations where there used to be one.

“Worst design ever!” said one reader who posted a comment to my column. “What does it matter how many sides these shelters have if there are huge gaps at the bottom allowing cold wind and occasionally car splashes in?”

Joy Milando sent me an email saying an aging shelter with glass on three sides, at the southwest corner of Avenue Rd. and Lawrence Ave., was just replaced by one with only a narrow roof and glass on one side.

The old one faced north and “did not impede the sidewalk, nor was it rusty,” said Milando.

“Now there is no shelter from the cold north winds or from splashing caused by traffic turning south on Avenue Rd. This was an idiotic decision and can’t even be called a shelter. There is no shelter.”

Heather Davies emailed to say “I laughed when I read today’s Fixer article! One of those shelters has just been installed this week at Don Mills Rd. and McNicoll Ave. The ‘wet paint’ signs were still on it this morning.

“There used to be a full-sized shelter just around the corner on Don Mills, but was removed during recent road construction. The new one is in a better location but is pretty useless.”

 One of the online comments asked, “Does anyone at Astral actually take transit? Apparently not, or they would come up with something better that offered real shelter.”

More on that in my Monday Fixer column.

 

    

    

 

Windbag Sid Ryan should shut up

Is it just me, or has anyone else had enough of Sid Ryan?

Ryan, the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour and a union leader since the 1970s, is a vigorous defender of organized labor, a necessary job at a time when unions are under attack from all sides.

As a union member, I appreciate being part of a collective bargaining unit that gives me a good wage, workplace protections, benefits and a defined pension.

I also appreciate that The Star is enlightened enough to deal with our union, rather than trying to break us, as is the case in the U.S., where corporate spin has demonized unions.

Having said that, it seems to me that Ryan has outlived his best-before date and should cash in his fat pension, and the sooner the better.

On Monday, Ryan managed to turn a workaday tweet from Toronto Sun reporter Don Peat into a personal attack that was petty and unbecoming of someone in his position.

Peat covers city hall for the Sun, which puts him into the wobbly orbit of Mayor Rob Ford. He uses Twitter to tweet to his followers (including me) whatever Ford happens to say, which can be entertaining, given the mayor’s gift of outrageousness.

He tweeted a quote from Ford, saying he wants to keep the Gardiner Expressway and not impose tolls.

Ryan tweeted back a question to Peat: “Are you Rob Ford’s personal communications assistant?”

Peat replied: No. I’m doing my job as a city hall reporter.”

Ryan persisted: “Are you expected to tweet every sentence he expresses? Why is the Sun acting as his personal aide?”

Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler, a labor relations specialist who was part of the cabal that brought down Ford, interceded on Peat’s behalf, tweeting that Peat is also a union member and deserves a little respect.

Ryan: “I asked a question as to why Don tweets every sentence that comes out of Ford’s mouth. It’s weird. Nothing to do with work ethic.”

Chaleff-Freudenthaler: “If you’d asked that without the insulting sarcasm, I wouldn’t have had any issue with your question.”

Ryan: “To be honest, I could give a sh+t what you think.”

Chaleff-Freudenthaler: “Thanks Sid. As someone who’s been respectful to you and whose dues pay your salary, that’s awfully nice to hear.”

Sid apparently doesn’t understand that it is Peat’s job to tweet Ford’s quotes. Reporters are required to use Twitter these days to bring followers into media websites, particularly those who might not otherwise get there.

What better way than with pearls from Ford?

I have never met Peat, but I have worked alongside a lot of excellent Sun reporters over many years, whose personal politics are as diverse as those of my Star colleagues.

To publicly accuse Peat of being a stooge for the mayor because his paper supports Ford, and insult him, as well as Chaleff-Freudenthaler, makes Ryan a blowhard who doesn't understand how media works in 2013 and an embarrassment to labour.

I think a small portion of my union dues pays his salary, which qualifies me to nominate Ryan for a buyout.

If he is too dumb to see the writing on the wall, he should at least shut his cake hole when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

And I don’t give a sh+t what you think, Sid.

 

 

 

 

            

    

 

 

 

         

 

   

   

 

  

Holes cut in new sidewalks frustrate taxpayers

It seems like every time a new sidewalk is built, someone comes along and carves a hole in it.

With so many of the wires and pipes for utilities buried beneath the ground, there’s an ongoing need to access them for maintenance and repairs.

But the point of access is almost always through a road or sidewalk, even if it the cement or asphalt has barely hardened, which is often the case.

One of the most frequent complaints I get is about utility cuts. And when it’s a hole in a new road or sidewalk, it makes people wonder why the digging wasn't done sooner.

A reader told us via SeeClickFix that new sidewalks were built last fall in Riverdale, south of Danforth Ave., after natural gas lines in the area were replaced.

“Two months after the sidewalks were completed, city contractors are now in the process of digging up many of the same walkways,” to replace water shutoff valves, said the reader, who asked not to be named.

“How pervasive is this? Between Danforth and Withrow Ave., counting only the west-side sidewalk on Pape Ave., the city has already - or shortly will be – cutting the sidewalk at 41 different Pape addresses.

“This is a management/organizational issue of great magnitude. Each of the homes and businesses will have their new sidewalks dug up at least once. At our Pape address alone, the new sidewalk has already been cut three times.

“Someone in authority needs to ask why city works would authorize these new sidewalks at all, if the final outcome will be yet another permanently unsightly, chewed up, massively disrespected neighbourhood?”

It is hard to argue with the reader, but it’s worth noting that federal legislation grants utilities as-of-right access to the space beneath roads and sidewalks. If they need to service buried lines, the city can deny them a utility cut permit under only the rarest of circumstances.

But the city should try harder to co-ordinate more of the work done by utilities with plans for new roads and sidewalks, to lessen the need to dig them up.

Mayor Rob Ford would call it respect for taxpayers.

  

 

 

    

 

 

 

         

 

   

Some people have reason to think coyotes more dangerous than experts say

My Thursday fixer column about coyotes snacking on a dead deer at G. Ross Lord Park in North York concluded with an expert saying dog walkers shouldn’t worry about an attack.

But Kenn Leitch, who sent me an email after reading the column, says he’s not so sure about that.

I talked to Dr. Chris Davies, manager of wildlife for the Ministry of Natural Resources, before I wrote the column, to ask how likely it is that coyotes hunted down and killed the adult deer before picking clean its carcass.

Davies said coyotes are quite capable of taking down a deer, but since someone told us he saw no signs of attack when he first spotted the dead deer on Dec. 21, it’s more likely it was hit by a car and made its way into the park, or died of natural causes.

He added that coyotes are unlikely to be aggressive with people or attack their dogs while walking in parks, and that they needn’t fear them.

“I disagree that coyote attacks on dogs are all that rare,” said Leitch, who lives on Kingswood Rd. in the Beaches.

“Our 75 pound Bernese/Collie/Shepherd cross was attacked Saturday in our yard by the new(er) female mate to Neville the coyote, who killed a dog on Neville Park Ave. a few years ago.

“Our dog was not seriously injured and fortunately came to the door on our intense instruction, rather than stand her ground.

“Interestingly, Toronto Animal Services said they only investigate dog bites, and if I’m concerned about rabies to call Public Health. Nice.”

Davies told me that coyotes in Ontario originally migrated from the west, where they are a relatively small animal, and bred with larger eastern wolves to create the predominant strain in the province, which seldom grows larger than about 20 kilograms.

They prefer to stay away from people and are not prone to be aggressive towards us or our pets, he said.

But there are many cases of aggression and some attacks in the GTA, which has me wondering if the urban coyote is learning to be much less timid than its rural cousins.

That’s scary, at least for someone walking a small dog in a secluded area.

 

 

 

     

         

 

   

   

 

  

 

   

  

 

 

   

  

 

 

Partnering with the OLG on a casino is like going into business with the mob

It’s funny how the money our shining new casino is supposed to earn for Toronto is already shrinking, even before it is approved.

After releasing a report that claimed a downtown casino could earn the city as much as $168 million in hosting fees annually, the OLG now says the number is more like $50 to $100 million a year.

What changed, since the first figure was floated to sell the dumb and trusting public on the idea that a casino would be a windfall?

Let me guess. The OLG knows the real number would be far less than half of $168 million, and that it would later be accused of an enormous deception if it became the basis for city council to approve a casino.

If it ever happens, a casino is more likely to net the city no more than $40 million, tops.

We could save it up for 20 or 30 years and use it as a down payment on a subway line.

It’s kind of like the casino business itself – built on the lie at the heart of all gambling: You can get beat the game, even when the odds say otherwise.

People walk out of casinos every day with more money than they started with. The short term variations of numbers or the fall of cards can just as easily favour the player as the house.

We’ve all heard of somebody who fed 20 bucks into a slot machine and won $2000.

And if nobody ever won, the suckers would tap out sooner and stop showing up.

But casinos aren’t in business to lose. The odds of every game are stacked against the player, which means the house will surely get the money, especially from players who keep coming back.

Over time, the odds always hold up.

What is needed to make the swindle work is a healthy supply of marks. That’s why the OLG has pegged Toronto or one of the surrounding municipalities as the next lucky winner of a casino.

There’s a lot of untapped money around here, due to a healthy local economy. A casino in Toronto, or one anywhere in the GTA, gives the OLG a way to get its hands into well-padded pockets it has yet to pick.

Anyone who believes the OLG and Queen’s Park is entering into a partnership with Toronto, where a big chunk of the take will be shared with the city, is naïve.

The driving force behind the push for a Toronto casino is the huge provincial deficit and the evaporation of revenue from Windsor, where the fabulous casino built half a dozen years ago is almost always empty.

One more thing: The OLG partnered with Ontario's horse racing industry in the mid-90s to put 20,000 slot machines into race tracks, which was wildly successful for both sides, and continues to be for the province.

But after the province tanked and went $16 billion in the hole, revisionism was applied to the partnership. It became a “subsidy” that might prevent Grandma from getting good health care, unless it was dropped.

The slot machines will stay in the racetracks and the OLG will toss them a few crumbs as rent, which will close many small tracks, devastate Ontario racing and throw tens of thousands of people out of work.

That’s how the OLG rewards its partners.

 

     

 

  

 

 

   

   

 

  

 

Watch out for reckless, crazy sidewalk plow drivers

Hiking along the sidewalk seems pretty safe, until a sidewalk snow plow comes whistling around the corner and nearly bowls you over.

The city’s road and sidewalk plows finally got a good workout last week, after idling through the previous winter, and are again on hold until the next dump of snow.

It looks like it’ll be at least a few more days before they hit the streets again, but a reader has sent a dire warning about small sidewalk plows, which my wife refers to as peanut pushers, as they were called by kids in Montreal, where she grew up.

David Wilen emailed to say that in our recent stories about snow clearing, “you seem to have the snow plows’ point of view,” but haven’t recognized “a very dangerous situation in Scarborough.

“We get our sidewalks cleaned by contractors under contract to the city, which I am thankful for.

“However, they have become a terror. While cleaning them (sidewalks), they go the maximum speed and have no regard for anything in their way.  There are blind spots (corners), hidden driveways (and) bushes.

“They just don’t slow down, and with kids and adults nowadays wearing headphones and talking on the phone, I am surprised nobody has been hit or killed.

“They are probably on some time limit to get all the streets done, so slowing down and being careful is not one of their concerns.

“If someone is coming around a corner and not paying attention, and the mini-plow is coming down the street at top speed, (it’s) a deadly accident waiting to happen.”

We get complaints about sidewalk plows every winter, but usually because they tear up the turf next to the sidewalk. This is a first.

Stand warned.