One of the feral cats the Sligers look
after sits in the neighbors' yard next to the Sliger's property
Thursday, March 5, 2015. The Sligers are trying to keep the feral cats
that live on their property. The Sligers say the city has given them
three weeks to get rid of the cats. (J. Tyler Klassen/The Elkhart Truth)
ELKHART — It’s the simple things in life, and for Marilyn Sliger, it’s the sight of the five cats in her backyard from the picture window at the rear of her home.
“What is so neat is to look out your window and see the cats frolicking,” she says. “It’s a beautiful sight.”
Frolicking to one can be a nuisance to another, though, and Sliger and husband Lewis, retirees, find themselves in a quandary. Elkhart police received a complaint about the felines — neighborhood cats the Sligers started feeding as kittens after the critters’ mother wandered off — and the couple might have to get rid of them or risk a fine of $100 per cat.
Though the Sligers regard the cats as creatures of the wild, or feral — a domestic animal born in the wild — the city views them as pets. And with the local ordinance limiting pets for any one household to four, the Sligers are over the limit, officials tell them. Setting aside the five cats, which generally stay outdoors, the Sligers have three house cats.
They’ve enlisted the support of the Elkhart County Feral Cat Coalition, an advocacy group that looks out for feral cats like those at the Sliger home. Elkhart City Councilman Brian Dickerson says he’d like city officials to take up consideration of an ordinance governing feral cats, potentially giving them space in the city, and plans to push the issue.
For now, though, the Sligers’ options are limited and a deadline to act is looming. An Elkhart Police Department animal control officer paid a visit about three weeks ago in response to a complaint and advised the Sligers that the cats have to go.
Marilyn Sliger has called around to pet shelters to see if any have space for the cats — Clara Bow, Cisco Kid, Bo Duke, Butter Ears and Tiger Boy. So far she’s had no luck, leaving the Humane Society of Elkhart County as the only option, where the critters would likely be euthanized.
“Animals don’t have any voice and we’re being a voice,” says Sliger, a former factory worker. “We’re speaking for these little babies. It breaks my heart I can’t keep all of them.”
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR FERAL CATS?
Not everyone has as charitable a view.
The complaints police received about Clara Bow and the rest stem in part from the cats’ activities in neighboring yards.
“They was urinating in the flower gardens, one of them said,” says Lewis Sliger, a retired trucker. They also dug up some flowers, apparently.
“They’re saying that they roam and we can’t keep them under control all the time,” Marilyn Sliger says.
Mayor Dick Moore argues that feral cat colonies — as advocated by the Elkhart County Feral Cat Coalition — don’t fit in densely populated areas. One of the issues is accountability for the cats’ actions when they do something they shouldn’t.
Feral cat advocates regard the animals — strays and cats born and reared with no human contact — as creatures of the wild, essentially. People like the Sligers, who provide food to such cats, aren’t owners but colony caretakers.
Accordingly, when feral cats wreak havoc in a neighbor’s yard resulting in a complaint, “the animal control officer’s hands are tied because the keeper will deny ownership,” Moore said in an email. “In the city, we must make the ownership of our pets a responsibility.”
Moore, who met with Elkhart County Feral Cat Coalition reps in late February, hinted at more problems if feral cat colonies are allowed within the city limits. The Sligers are upset, he acknowledged, “and if we allow by ordinance the feral cat colonies, many more will be upset,” he continued.
Coalition reps have asked Goshen officials to look into adopting a feral cat policy, according to Chris Bralick, the coalition president. Elkhart County’s animal ordinance, updated in 2009 and applicable to unincorporated areas, contains a provision allowing managed feral cat colonies, that is, colonies registered with groups like the feral cat coalition.
TRAP-NEUTER-RETURN
Proponents argue that feral cat colonies are a more humane way to deal with stray and abandoned cats and felines born in the wild. Otherwise, such cats would potentially face placement in animal shelters and ultimately, because they’re wild and don’t typically make good house pets, euthanasia.
Groups like the feral cat coalition tout a method called trap-neuter-return in caring for such animals.
The cats are trapped, neutered or spayed so they can’t reproduce, vaccinated against rabies and returned to their stomping grounds. A caretaker provides food, monitors their health, and eventually, the advocates say, their numbers will peter out through natural attrition.
Bralick says there are around 300 managed feral cat colonies in Elkhart County, including some in Elkhart. In the meeting with Moore, the mayor expressed concern that allowing colonies would result in an explosion in their numbers, she said.
Humane Society of Elkhart County Director Anne Reel, who backs efforts like the feral cat coalition’s, counters that notion. Ardent cat aficionados such as the Sligers will put forth the effort required to manage a colony, she said.
’LOVE THESE CATS’
The Sligers have had the five cats in their backyard fixed and vaccinated, per trap-neuter-return guidelines. The kitties are skittish animals, scampering off when strangers are present, though they’re marginally more comfortable with the Sligers.
“She’s scared to death,” says Lewis Sliger, holding Butter Ears. “Her heart’s going 100 mph.”
The cats generally remain outside, sleeping in a shed in the Sligers’ backyard. They sometimes wander a well-worn path in the snow to a shed behind the home next door, where they were born.
Marilyn Sliger, who never before got involved in the feral cat issue, notes ruefully that she’s suddenly thrust in the midst of controversy even though the cats aren’t hers. She just wanted to be kind and help the critters.
At any rate, a bond has formed. “I really love these cats,” she says.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment