The City of St. John’s is about to expand its efforts to reduce the cat population.

It offers a spay/neuter program in which it covers the cost of the veterinarian services as St. John’s is not unlike other cities in that the cat population has exploded.

The Humane Services department can do only about 140 spay/neuter operations a year, all of which are offered during a specific time period.

At the Committee of the Whole meeting yesterday, the councillor in charge of animal services, Maggie Burton, said it is time to expand the program.

It had been limited to households earning less than $25,000 a year but now the threshold has been increased to include those earning under $40,000.