Cat advocates concerned about desert dumping
Feral felines increasingly being left behind without food or water
Advocates for feral cats say unwanted animals are increasingly being dropped off in the desert without food or water by people who don’t want them in their neighborhoods, instead of working with a trap, neuter and release program or bringing them into a pet shelter.
“A lot of people don’t understand that if they don’t want the cat or kittens, they should take them to the humane society. The city has a voucher program where it costs you nothing, the county does not,” said Nisa Sutton, who chairs Feline Friends, a Humane Society of Yuma membership committee.
“So what happens is, people say ‘it’s not my cat, I’m not going to pay $20 to the humane society, to bring it in. So they do a shortcut where they trap the cat and dump them in the desert, without any regard to the cat’s welfare.”
Feline Friends is devoted to “trap, neuter and release” efforts throughout Yuma County, which sterilize feral cats before releasing them back into the area they were living, which proponents say deters other cats, usually not sterilized, from moving into the same area.
Christina Hollinger, another volunteer with Feline Friends, said people, including cat owners have told her they have been “relocating” feral cats and kittens on their own. “It’s horrifying to think. We rescued one kitten, we still have the trap, from a guy who routinely takes them to the desert,” she said.
“A whole bunch of people took them to the 7E dump. And this isn’t hearsay, they told us that! Oh my God!”
Cases of animal abandonment or cruelty can be prosecuted under state law, but it can be difficult to do from a citizen’s complaint unless there’s very specific evidence, such as photos or videos of the suspected incident.
Yuma County Administrator Susan Thorpe said, “If (residents) have something that they do think is animal cruelty, they should contact the sheriff’s office dispatch, which would create a work order to our animal control to investigate to see if there is something we have control over or we have statutory authority to deal with. Most of the time with cats they’re considered free-roaming animals.
“Arizona law does not require leashing of cats, they’re pretty much allowed to run loose, whether they’re domesticated or feral. Because most laws don’t apply to cats, especially feral cats, there really aren’t any statutes on the books on what counties can or must do. Some of the cities have a program where they encourage trap, neuter and release, but the county does not, unless the board would be able to adopt something, we wouldn’t be able to deal with that.”
Feral cat colonies draw complaints from some residents for urinating or defecating in yards or sidewalks, fighting, reducing or eliminating native wildlife in an area, and unchecked population growth when the cats aren’t sterilized. Often they are fed by one or more residents in the area who don’t want to see them starve, or by other food sources.
Yuma County Sheriff’s
Office Capt. Eben Bratcher said the department will investigate animal cruelty claims, but he’s not certain whether relocating or dumping cats who don’t have an owner reaches that level.
He pointed to ARS 132910, the state’s anti-animal cruelty law. Some sections criminalize killing or cruelty to animals which are in the custody of the suspect or another person, particularly service animals. Others apply to a person’s conduct against “any animal,” such as “intentionally and knowingly subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment,” or “intentionally or knowingly subjects any animal under the person’s custody or control to cruel neglect or abandonment that results in serious physical injury to the animal.”
These and some other offenses in the animal cruelty section are listed as class 6 felonies, which can draw sentences of one to two years and a fine of $150,000. Others are class 1 misdemeanors, which have a maximum sentence of 6 months and a $2,500 fine. Under some circumstances a judge can downgrade a class 6 felony conviction to a class 1 misdemeanor for sentencing purposes.
Alfonso Zavala, a sheriff’s department spokesman, said he didn’t want to go into details about what kind of evidence the department would need to be able to investigate a claim of animals being dumped in the desert.
“I’m going to hold back on giving any information on what kind of information we’re looking for, but if a person that makes this kind of report has any kind of evidence, we ask for them to turn over that evidence to the sheriff’s office or to animal control, so they can investigate what’s going on,” he said.
It’s not a matter of the department giving animal-related cases a lower priority, he said. “I think our track record show we don’t have any tolerance for animal cruelty, it’s just a matter of if, when, where, why and what we got. It’s a case-bycase.”
Hollinger and Sutton said Yuma County offering the same kind of vouchers as the city of Yuma could be part of the solution.
District 4 County Supervisor Tony Reyes, who’s represented San Luis and the south county on the county Board of Supervisors for 19 years, said feral cat overpopulation has never been brought to him as an urgent concern in his district, and doesn’t remember consideration of vouchers or any other kind of county involvement reaching the board level.
He said he’s not certain vouchers would be a good idea, even if they could be done by the county. “There’s a downside to that, you know, in that people who are provided vouchers can get into abusing them, or using that as work,” he said.
He said state law puts many restrictions on what actions county governments can take, and he’s not sure whether these sort of vouchers would be considered an illegal “gift” from the government.
“We run on a very rigid state statute so we would have to check and make sure if that was even possible, but I suppose if the problem came up to a point where some of our constituency needed it badly we would have to step in and do something, but right now, we don’t seem to have any of that. That could change at any time.”
District 3 County Supervisor Darren Simmons, who took office in January and represents a district which includes the Foothills and the east county, said feral cat colonies haven’t been brought up as an issue except regarding one county-owned mobile home, which has since been boarded up.
“Unless somebody’s feeding them. If you want to get rid of the cats, don’t feed them!” he said. “I understand, you know, they’re just trying to take care of the animals so they don’t starve.”
Simmons did see the issue come up while he was deputy and commander in the sheriff’s office in the east county for more than 20 years before being elected. “It comes up, and then it kind of dies down. Every now and then it’ll come up on the radar, people complain about them, and then it dies down. But the answer, I really don’t know what it is.”
Sutton said county leaders are not seeing the scale of the problem of the feral feline issue. “It’s a big issue, and the county is just different from the city, and I don’t know how we can get the county to understand feral cats are a problem in the county as well. The city? I get grant money from the city, to get cats fixed, they don’t charge us. It’s free.” she said.
“And our group does fundraising, and anybody from the county who wants a feral cat fixed, we do it for free. And that includes a rabies shot, and they get their ear notched,” where a small portion of the tip of one ear is removed so the animal can be identified as one that’s been sterilized and re-released.
“But when you’ve got someone that doesn’t want cats, they’re going to dispose of them, they’re going to treat them like trash,” she added.
ARS 11-1013 requires counties to maintain an animal pound or contract with an organization which will maintain the facility for them. Stray dogs must be impounded, but impoundment of stray cats is optional under the law.
Yuma County’s animal control services, which are overseen by the county’s health district, is budgeted for $438,754 under the preliminary budget for fiscal 2017-18, which begins July 1. This is the same dollar amount as was budgeted 2016-17.
This includes salaries and supplies for 4.5 employees and a $150,000 contract with the Humane Society of Yuma for kenneling services. HSOY is only paid for the impoundment and care of dogs under that contract, not cats.
Annette Lagunas, executive director of HSOY, said there is a real problem with overpopulation of feral cats in the county. “The feral cat population is an overwhelming issue for Yuma County, there are thousands upon thousands of them,” she said, and no single agency is equipped to tackle it.
She said the best solution is to trap, neuter and release as many feral cats as possible, returning them to their habitat so as not to create the “vacuum effect,” where if a cat is removed entirely and euthanized, others will move in to share the resources available in that area, whether it’s a resident feeding the cats or some other food source.
“Once you remove a cat through euthanasia, there are 10 more cats coming in right behind them,” she said.
But it has to be done on a massive scale to really be effective, she said. In 2016 the humane society trapped, neutered and released 543 feral cats. “We need to do 4,000 trap, neuter and releases a year, that’s where we need to be. To get there, everybody needs to be involved, city government, county government, the community, everyone,” she said.
It works if most feral cat colonies in the area are included, she said. “Some areas have become very, very aggressive with their TNR programs, putting people everywhere to do it. Communities that have been able to accomplish this have seen drastic results, like empty cat rooms.”
A new herd of cats doesn’t usually move in once all the sterilized cats have died, she said, because “all of those who were looking for another place to go will have found another place to live.”
Information about the Feline Friends trap, neuter and release program is available at www.hsoyuma.com, by emailing felinefriends@hsoyuma.com or calling (928) 782-1621 ext. 355.