Stray cat rescue or neighborhood nuisance?

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Memo to city residents who have been feeding stray cats: The health department wants you to take the next step.
According to Olivia Farrow, assistant commissioner for the Division of Environmental Health, the city’s Animal Control bureau has begun investigating citizens’ complaints about individuals who have been providing stray cats with food, water and shelter, but who have not yet become officially involved with the Trap-Neuter-Return program, or TNR.
Under the auspices of the program, individuals can register to provide food, water and shelter to one or more stray cats in their neighborhood, but must also agree to trap the cats and bring them in for low-cost spay-neuter services at participating locations. The cats, once sterilized, are then returned to the participants, who can release them back into the area where they were found.
The program, which operates in the interest of keeping down the feral cat population, is active in Baltimore City. Registration in the TNR program is free; however, the costs of spay/neuter must be borne by the individual participant in the program. Baltimore City does not require a permit for individuals to participate in the TNR program; however, Farrow noted, officials from zoning “must approve most structures erected on your property.”
Although cat lovers may feel they are helping stray cats by feeding, watering or providing shelter, said Farrow, if they are not registered in the program and are not having the animals sterilized, they are simply creating more of a problem in the neighborhood.
“It has to be done in a way that is responsible,” she said. “People who just leave food out for cats can also attract rats.”
Encouraging unaltered cats to congregate in one area also creates more of an opportunity for mating, and for perpetuating the breeding cycle, she added.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, in seven years, one cat and her young can produce 420,000 kittens.
On the street, the cats suffer from hunger, cold and disease—their life expectancy is less than half that of an indoor cat.
Those who are feeding, watering and/or providing shelter, and who have not registered as an active TNR participant, Farrow noted, can be cited and fined for health violations, as well as for violations concerning unpermitted structures in back yards.
Animal Control officers are supplied with lists of official TNR participants. TNR cats are instantly recognizable because of ‘ear-tipping,’ the veterinary personnel’s practice of surgically notching the cats’ ears while still under anesthesia. The practice allows cat caretakers and Animal Control personnel to know which cats have been treated and which have not.
The Maryland SPCA, Maryland Feline Society, Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, and Alley Cat Allies all offer free community outreach and humane education programs, and will offer the low-cost spay/neuter clinics required as part of the TNR program for outdoor stray and feral cats.
Workshops provided by the three organizations provide cat colony caretakers with information on safe care for outdoor cats and on the importance of stopping the cycle of breeding The program also addresses the construction of inexpensive shelters, and other information. Sessions are held as follows:
Maryland SPCA, 3300 Falls Road:
Wednesday, May 7, 7 p.m.
Wednesday June 4, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, July 2, 7 p.m.
Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), 301 Stockholm Street
Thursday, May 15, 7 p.m.
Thursday, June 19, 7 p.m.
Thursday, July 17, 7 p.m.
(Reservatons are requested, but not required.) Info: www.alleycat.org/baltimore, alleycat@alleycat.org, 240-482-1988.
Additional note: Individuals with pet cats (indoor or outdoor) should also note that Baltimore City requires dogs and cats to have current rabies vaccinations and have City licenses. Info: Bureau of Animal Control at 410-396-4688. All animal problems should be called into 311.