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Culpeper supervisor balks at bringing animal-control ordinance in line with state statutes in protest over including feral animals among companion pets Date published: 10/18/2008
BY DONNIE JOHNSTON
It started out as a routine housekeeping item, a means by which Culpeper County could bring local animal-control ordinances in line with state statutes. But the proposed changes have Supervisor Tom Underwood refusing to vote yes--as a matter of principle--while County Attorney Roy Thorpe insists that adopting the new guidelines is necessary. "The major problem is that the ordinance has a feral cat defined as a companion animal," Underwood said. "Why would I vote for that?" Underwood, who owns a large farm in the Reva area, said people drop cats at his gate all the time and that many of them are wild. "Suppose my dog kills one of those cats," he argued. "Since I am responsible for my dog's actions, I could be convicted of a felony." That scenario may seem far-fetched, but the controversial state law, which was passed in 2005 and amended last winter, has already created headlines in the Richmond area. In August, Keith Copi, a legally licensed exterminator, was convicted in Henrico County District Court of misdemeanor animal cruelty after capturing and humanely euthanizing (using a carbon-dioxide chamber) three feral cats from a colony in or near an abandoned house that was to be renovated. Copi received a 12-month sentence and a $250 fine on each of the three charges, with the jail sentences suspended. An animal-control officer in Lynchburg also found himself in trouble after he shot and killed several dogs that were killing goats in a city graveyard. He escaped arrest because the dogs were declared to be attacking livestock, which is covered under state statutes. Underwood doesn't want to see the same thing happen to some unsuspecting Culpeper resident or animal-control officer. So when the issue came up at the Board of Supervisors meeting last week, he asked that "feral" cats and dogs be eliminated from the language in the local ordinance. "I'm not defining a feral cat as a companion animal," Underwood said. Underwood made his reservations known following a public hearing on the matter during which no one spoke. His fellow supervisors then decided to table the matter for 30 days so Thorpe could investigate further.
I recently trapped a feral tom that had been intruding on my two outdoor neutered cats' territory and stealing their food. I spoke with Spotsylvania and Stafford animal shelters and neither would help me. I even spoke with Fredericksburg City Police; no go. I eventually talked the overfilled no-kill shelter into taking it as a favor for a $5 fee. I gave them $10 for being the only show in town that knew what it was doing. But, they are relocating to Spotsylvania sometime early this year. What then?
In other words, City law has rendered those residents who cannot afford the cost of expensive third-party extermination services helpless. Such economically-discriminated against residents must be able to either afford the cost of private extermination services or they must put up with feral animals, possibly harboring infectious diseases, taking up residence on their properties, rummaging through their trash, and attacking, as well as stealing food from, their pets. This is dangerous policy.
Current animal contorl law in Fredericksburg City is an embarrassment. It has made trapping any animal without a license illegal. It shares a pound with Stafford for adoption purposes only; the Stafford pound will not take an animal captured within Fredericksburg or donated by a Fredericksburg resident. Animal control will not trap an animal that is on your property unless is is acting strangely; rummaging your trash and taking up residence under your porch is considered normal behavior.
If it appears uncared for, doesn't have a collar, and continues to come onto your property, then it should be trapped and either adopted by yourself and given the necessary shots or turned over to either a no-kill shelter or the pound. If you can't adopt it, and if you don't have a pound and if the no-kill shelter won't take the animal because there's no room (e.g. City of Fredericksburg), then the animal should be killed. By any means necessary, the more humanely the better. It should never be released.
No, feral cats are not adoptable, but neither should they be abused (gassing is NOT considered humane ANYWHERE), mistreated, or killed simply because the public has not taken the time to do their homework.
The fact is that feral cats were ONCE domestic animals, and it's OUR fault they are now free-roaming and unapproachable... so quit taking it out on the cats, and look to yourselves for humane solutions like TNR. Also: the incidence of disease in ferals is the same as in owned cats.
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