Feral cat law takes effect

Animal welfare group to hold event for education, colony registration

If you’re feeding feral or stray cats in Mentor and haven’t yet signed up to do so, there’s a meeting for you.

Mentor Community Cats will be hosting an open forum 6:30 to 8 p.m., April 24 in the Village Room at Mentor Public Library, 8215 Mentor Ave.

The group was selected as an animal welfare organization to manage cat colonies, as defined in the city’s ordinance amendment addressing feral cats. The new law took effect April 7.

The meeting will provide an overview of how the policy affects residents and caregivers, and of the trap-neuter-return program. The group also will register TNR’d colonies and those who need to implement the program.

An estimated 30 colonies already are registered and are in compliance with the ordinance, Mentor Community Cats President April Haviland said.

“Per the new legislation, feral cat caregivers must register with an approved organization such as ours in order to keep feeding,” she said. “Our role in this process is to help Mentor residents trap, neuter, vaccinate and return feral cats to combat the overpopulation problem. We feel that this legislation is a great compromise, because it doesn’t ban feeding entirely but rather encourages responsible, humane colony care.”

The ordinance amendment, passed March 7,

adds feral cats to the list of “nuisance health-risk animals” that people are prohibited from feeding or harboring. However, it provides extensive circumstances under which a registered feral cat colony caretaker can continue the practice without penalty.

The community group also will have the duty of reporting colony statistics to the city on a regular basis.

“We will not be providing addresses or contact information of our caregivers, but the city will be kept up-to-date with how many cats we are aware of, who has been vetted, who has been adopted or taken to a rescue, etc.,” Haviland said. “Basically, we want to be able to show them the positive effects TNR can have on a community.”

As of now, Mentor Community Cats is the only cityapproved animal welfare organization.

“We encourage other groups to submit their application and join the cause,” she said.

The ordinance is intended to provide for the proper and humane management of feral and stray

cats in order to avoid their breeding, the transmission of infectious diseases, and to preserve native wildlife species populations from excessive hunting by feral and stray cats via the management of same through the use of a TNR program, the law says.

“The purpose of providing more oversight is to ensure success, not punish failure,” City Manager Ken Filipiak has said.