One Lacombe city councillor is pushing for cats to be licensed.

Coun. Chris Ross submitted a notice of motion proposing that council direct administration “to investigate a bylaw for the licensing of cats, and propose options for Council’s consideration.”

“When running for council, you can hear many complaints of cats going into adjacent properties and part of the natural instinct of a cat is to dig in people’s flowerbeds, and …  can create some tension between neighbours in different ways,” Ross said.

Ross envisions a system where cats are microchipped, making it easier to return them to their owners.

“There’s a lack of responsibility that needs to be addressed. There’s a cost to the city to deal with these animals and if you can get them back to the owners by being (identified), that actually saves money.”