City to regulate feral cat feeding

Council committees shuffled mid-year

Mentor-on-the-Lake leaders largely agreed on the ordinance approved this week to address feral cats.

City Council voted 6-1 in favor of an amendment adding feral cats to the list of “nuisance health risk animals,” the feeding and/or harboring of which is prohibited. Others on the list are rats, raccoons, skunks, deer and coyotes.

However, the law goes into great detail making exception for feeding the felines if they are part of a colony under the care of a “qualified caregiver” who is sponsored and supervised by a registered animal welfare organization employing a trap-neuter-return program.

Also exempt are licensed trappers or permitted hunters actively baiting nuisance health risk animals in order to lawfully trap or harvest them.

“Although there is no easy answer to reducing the number of feral cats, this ordnance and the non-government/nonprofit organization is a humane and an effective long-term plan,” Council Vice President Preston Wolk said. “This is not a cure but a treatment. If cat colonies are monitored, controlled and breeding is prevented, the population will reduce through attrition over time. We couldn’t stand by without taking some action and this is the appropriate response to a growing problem.”

Feral cat colony caregivers are responsible for the following:

• Registering the colony with an animal welfare organization that is registered with the city

• Obtaining written approval of the owner of any property, or any authorized representative of the owner, to which the caregiver requires access to provide colony care

• Providing food and/or shelter only in the rear of the property, feeding on a regular schedule, and limiting food availability to one hour up to twice daily

• Obtaining proper medical attention for any colony that appears to require it

• Taking all appropriate and available steps to have the colony population spayed or neutered by a licensed veterinarian

• Taking all measures to vaccinate the colony population for rabies, preferably with a three-year vaccine, and to make a reasonable attempt to update the vaccinations as warranted and mandated by law

• Ear-tipping the left ear of a colony cat that has been vaccinated and spayed or neutered so that colony cats can be readily identified

• Taking all reasonable steps to: remove kittens from the colony after they have been weaned; place kittens in homes, foster homes, or reputable adoption organizations for the purpose of permanent placement; capture and spay the mother cat; resolve

“Although there is no easy answer to reducing the number of feral cats, this ordnance and the non-government/nonprofit organization is a humane and an effective long-term plan” — Council Vice President Preston Wolk

nuisance complaints resulting from the colony; remove non-feral cats from the colony to be placed in foster homes or otherwise adopted out; and reporting to the animal welfare organization any new stray or feral cats that have been added to the colony

Organizations that sponsor a colony are responsible for reporting quarterly on: Its location, the number and gender of all cats within the colony, a description and reproductive status of the individual cats, the number that died or otherwise ceased being a part of the colony, the number of kittens born to the colony cats and their disposition, the number of cats placed in animal shelters or in permanent homes as companions, the number of cats vaccinated, and those spayed or neutered under a TNR program.

In the event that a colony caregiver is unable or unwilling to continue in that role, he or she must notify the animal welfare organization immediately, which shall in turn notify the city. If no new caregiver assumes responsibility within 30 days, feeding of the colony has to cease.

If a caregiver fails to meet all the requirements, he or she will be notified of all deficiencies in writing and have 30 days to become compliant or resolve a nuisance. If not resolved in time, the registration may be revoked.

Penalties for violating the law range from a minor misdemeanor to a third-degree misdemeanor for subsequent violations.

“As with any new law, we will engage in a period of education with any offending residents and try to gain voluntary compliance on a case-by-case basis,” Police Chief John Gielink said.

Councilman Jim Lunder voted no.

“I dissented because the new ordinance was written in a way that, in my opinion, is unenforceable, and the language is very vague on who is going to administer this ordinance,” he said. He initially led the Ordinance Committee that was working on the law, but it was revised after he was replaced by Paul Morris in June. “There were three residents at the meeting … that also did not like the new ordinance and are also upset that I was kicked off the committee.”

Lunder was at the helm of the committee when the initial legislation was on the agenda in May. It was sent back to committee after the discovery that it was more far-reaching than intended, including a ban on feeding several kinds of birds, and regulating the placement of bird and squirrel feeders.

“There was a misunderstanding with all of the other animals and, when it was caught, it was already on the agenda,” said Lunder, who took responsibility for the oversight.

The extraneous language was from a Willowick law used to help craft the legislation.

Wolk said the removal was unrelated to the error. Committees are reviewed and assigned by the president and vice president of Council — normally in January — and all the committee assignments were changed in June.

“After some discussion, President of Council (Desirea) Thompson and I decided it would be best to restructure the committee assignments,” he said. “It became clear that personality conflicts were inhibiting fruitful discussion and problem-solving. We have seen that Paul Morris is an effective leader and that he was the right person to guide the ordinance committee.”

Thompson acknowledged the residents’ concerns and said she would propose a committee including members of the public to help provide potential revisions to the feral cat law.

“We have to keep the residents involved to make sure this program is working to benefit everyone,” she said.