Too many cats, ineffective rules pose problem in Rotterdam

Dan Lange didn’t object when his elderly neighbor put out a small bowl of food for the stray cats on Lucy Road about a year ago.

But he said one bowl of food turned into five and the neighbor began building small shelters for the strays. Pretty soon, what was only a few cats exploded to nearly two dozen, Lange said.

They yowl when they’re in heat, they defecate on adjacent properties and as untamed cat populations tend to do, they multiplied. Lange said the first litter of kittens was adopted by neighborhood residents, but he’s worried about what will happen to the next if something isn’t done soon.

“It’s a little sanctuary,” he said of his neighbor’s home. “But they’re not her cats.”

And that’s one of the reasons she hasn’t ran afoul of the town’s cat registration ordinance. The law requires Rotterdam cat owners to register their pets with the town or face a $25 fine for first time offenders.

The woman, 85-year-old Millie DiCaprio, acknowledges she puts dry food out for the cats in her car port, but disputes that they cause any disruption. She said she only started feeding them out of fear that they might starve otherwise.

“I don’t see what I’m doing wrong,” she said, “They just eat and run.”

In fact, DiCaprio said she tried to get the town to pick up the cats — about nine by her tally — but to no avail. She was told the only way to deal with the cats was to trap them and bring them to a shelter.

“Nobody would do anything about it,” she said. “Nobody would come and get them.”

Tim Longo, the town’s animal control officer, informed her Monday that the cats would be considered hers if she continues feeding them. He’s hoping the prospect of a fine compels her to stop.

“We’re going to tell her if you feed them you own them,” he said. “Either you stop feeding them or you take ownership.”

Limited resources

But the issue brings to light an ongoing problem in the town. Longo said there’s little he can do with stray cats, other than trap them and bring the animals to a shelter, which in turn would cost the town a fee of about $25.

Longo is aware of several derelict, unoccupied houses that host large feral cat populations. Only the town’s ordinance doesn’t allow him to do anything to combat them.

Eventually, Longo said these feral cats can pose a health hazard; about six months ago a resident who was feeding a feral cat was bitten.

“At one point, you have to stop and say we’ve got to get this thing under control,” he said.

Marquerite Pearson, a spokeswoman for the Animal Protective Foundation in Glenville, acknowledged the difficulty in regulating cats. She said the protective foundation tries to help the problem by offering low-cost neutering or spaying, but, “We just don’t have the resources and staffing to trap cats and bring them in.”

Town officials took a stab at reducing the feral cat population with the local law in 2001. The original legislation would have required cat owners to register their pets, keep them on their property or on a leash and would require mandatory spaying and neutering. But the law adopted in 2002 was greatly reduced in scope, instead forcing owners to pay a one-time registration fee of $5 for spayed or neutered cats and $35 for unaltered animals.

Fewer than three dozen cat owners registered with the law after it went into effect and town officials at the time expressed doubts about their ability to enforce it; only 15 cats were registered as of Monday, according to figures provided by the town clerk’s office.

“It’s not been enforced in my opinion,” said Kelly Rhinesmith, the resident who drafted the original stricter legislation, during last week’s Town Board meeting. “It has gone by the wayside.”

Cats, whether domesticated or feral, are not regulated by the state. Rick Georgeson, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said cats are regulated at the local level.

“They’re domestic animals,” he said. “It’s up to the municipality to deal with them.”

But that leaves residents like Lange in a quandary. He’s been told that cats are considered a “free roaming animal” like squirrels, but that it’s illegal to trap them to be released elsewhere as one could do with a rodent.

Lange would like to see a provision to Rotterdam’s cat law that would prevent people from feeding strays. He said town officials would certainly see his point if they had to contend what he does in his neighborhood.

“If they had 20 cats living in their neighbor’s yard they’d have the same opinion as me.”

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