(holly zade – flickr)
With the spaying and neutering of feral cats in the Village of Saugerties well underway, just this past week, the village’s designated cat trapper nabbed two adult cats and five kittens.
One resident wants to know why, in the eyes of the law, cats are treated differently than dogs. She sees inconsistency.
Market Street resident Nancy Campbell dropped village officials an email, citing a recent Saugerties Times story about feral cats as the impetus for her note. Though she called the program for feral cats “a step in the right direction,” she wanted to know why dogs have to be leashed or kept in a yard while cats were allowed to room free and do their business where ever they liked.
“We can’t bring them (dogs) in parks because of the possibility of them leaving ‘souvenirs,’ on the fields,” said Campbell. “Yet it’s fine for cats to do their business wherever they want on private property.”
Cats do not bury their poop, and they tended to do it in people’s yards, creating a “stench (that) is unbelievable” in private gardens. She suggested cat owners be required to keep their pets on their own property.
The matter was aired at the July 18 meeting of the village trustees. The solons agreed that Campbell had a good point. Trustee Vincent Buono said the village would be hard-pressed to require that cats be leashed. “But I can’t disagree (with Campbell), but I don’t know what the solution is,” Buono said.
Trustee Terry Parisian conceded said that people shouldn’t let cats wander off their property. While there was no way to enforce such a law, he added a plea for amity. “People should be good neighbors,” Parisian said.
If dogs and cats alike were required to be licensed and kept on the owners property, a code could be enforced if the dogs and cats alike are required to be microchipped. With a microchip, an off porch cats owner could be fined. There are leashes and harness for cats. It is safer for cats to be kept at home, indoors. But, the problem is that owners often think of cats as disposable pets. Just get another and then blame someone else for the demise of the cat.
Cats, like dogs, can be incredibly destructive of other peoples property, well being, and extremely lethal to local small mammals and birds. They are both domesticated species and when left to go feral, very destructive of ecosystems and public health. Dogs and cats alike should be required to be licensed, including neutering prior to the first litter. They both alike should be required to stay on property and under control when off property. Screened porches work well for cats and are called catios. They can be creatively done and include the whole family in the process. For more background on the science and management plans, try here. I love their well documented information https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/trap-neuter-release/