COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — The Council Bluffs City Council is working on an ordinance that would make it easier to address the city's stray cat population.
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The council advanced a measure that would allow animal welfare groups to trap, neuter and then release feral cats.
Councilman Joe DiSalvo says they had to carve out exceptions to existing ordinances that would allow the rescues to release cats back into neighborhoods.
"If they were to do this program and then drop this animal back out wherever that would be considered abandonment," DiSalvo said.
Pastor Kim Crummer told KMTV he doesn't mind the strays that roam his Fairmont Park neighborhood and says he sees them regularly, but animal welfare groups worry about them.
Amanda Guidero, vice president of the board for Stray to Spay, says feral cats cause several problems in communities.
"I mean, the obvious reasons are they defecate in gardens and they create messes. People know that they have an ecological impact with hunting birds," she said.
Guidero says there are still some details to work out, including where cats would be released after the program is complete.
"What does that look like because cats do try to return home," she said, explaining that releasing them into a new neighborhood could be a problem.
Another concern: how to trap the cats without running afoul of other city restrictions.
"Right now it seems like there's still some penalties for community members feeding community cats. And so what does it look like for them? We do have to feed and get a pattern in order to successfully trap them," Guidero said.
DiSalvo says the ordinance must balance the interests of residents on both sides of the issue.
"Then we don't want the rights of the people who disapprove of the cats to be infringed upon because of the people that love the stray cats," he said said.
Guidero says that over time the program reduces the population, freeing up shelter space and alleviating the suffering of animals.
A final decision is expected before the end of the summer.
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