“Yellowknife is very much a dog town, which is great, but we know there’s so many wonderful cats here.”
Tineke Kippers, organizer of Yellowknife’s Pussycats Ball Cat Show, told Cabin Radio she simply wanted to give cats “a moment to shine.”
The show, co-hosted by the Northern Mosaic Network and NWT SPCA at the city’s Elks Lodge on Thursday night, placed cats front and centre.
Dozens of people showed up to see the cats, with entry by donation and half of the proceeds going to the SPCA.
“Cats are wonderful pets too,” Kippers said. “Sometimes they don’t always have super great PR, but hopefully we can change that tonight.”
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The “in-cat” portion of the night included a cat show and costume contest before moving on to the virtual portion, in which photos were shared from an online contest for those cats who weren’t able to make it out.
While organizers had planned for the NWT SPCA to bring adoptable cats and kittens to the show, the shelter had no cats that needed homes at the time. Instead, attendees were shown photos of adoptable cats from FAARS, a rescue organization in Alberta that has partnered with the NWT SPCA.
“There’s a huge overpopulation of cats in Alberta, so we help out where we can,” said Nicole Spencer, an NWT SPCA representative at the show. Unlike dog overpopulation, there’s no cat problem in the territory, Spencer added. “So when people lose their cats, they’re looking for a kitten or another cat … there’s just not a lot of extra cats around.”
The cat show’s 11 entrants were judged on their uniqueness, personality, colouring, show presence and biographies. The costume contest was awarded based on applause.
The event was sponsored by Yellowknife Books, The Crooked Whisker and Borealis Pets, all of whom supplied prizes for the cat show winners.
