Feral cats raise animal control concerns in Columbia

Columbia's large number of rentals leads to more abandoned pets.

By Maggie Niemiec

Published April 27, 2009

The ticketing of a Columbia woman has sparked a heated discussion about animal control in the city.

Kathy Coble, 49, who lives on Jefferson Street, was cited for feeding a colony of feral cats outside her home. According to a city ordinance, residences are not allowed to keep, harbor or own more than four dogs or cats.

Environmental Health Manager Gerry Worley said the growing number of people in the community has increased the number of pets being released into the city. As director of animal control in Columbia, Worley has received thousands of requests from citizens in need of assistance with animals.

Worley said feral cats, unlike strays, are wild and anti-social and will do their best to avoid contact with people.

Coble has lived on Jefferson Street for a little more than five years, and she said this is the first time she had been approached about feeding the cats.

"So far, I'm the only one that's being charged, and my understanding is it's because animal control acts on complaints," Coble said.

Coble's lawyer, Connie Sullivan, disputes the charge, which could cost her client upt to $500 or up to 30 days in jail. She said she has filed a motion to dismiss the citation based on the idea that the ordinance is invalid.

Sullivan will argue that the ordinance is void due to vagueness before a judge Tuesday.

"'Own' has probably the same meaning to most people that it does legally, but there are no definitions in the ordinance of 'keep' and 'harbor,'" Sullivan said.

Sullivan said part of the problem is animal control's lack of authority. She said the Central Missouri Humane Society also has an inadequate amount of space to care for the animals they pick up, which adds to the problem.

Christina McCullen volunteers with Spay Neuter and Protect, a branch of Columbia Second Chance that addresses the feral cat colonies. SNAP has a veterinarian who offers a special rate for spaying and neutering. Male cats are charged $25, and female cats are charged $35.

"We would hope to spay and neuter the cats, start to vaccinate them and slowly get the number of cats under control," McCullen said.

Due to the large number of rental properties in Columbia, the city tends to have more than the average number of abandoned pets and pets that are not spayed or neutered.

"Anytime you have people that are less economically advantaged, you're going to have more trouble with people getting their pets spayed and neutered," McCullen said.

Coble paid for the fixing of feral cats out of her own pocket for years.

"If she had not been spaying and neutering these cats for all these years, there would have been hundreds of them running around," McCullen said.

McCullen cares for a large colony of feral cats located behind some fast food restaurants in Columbia. Since joining SNAP two and a half years ago, McCullen and the other caretakers have spayed or neutered more than 300 animals.

Columbia Second Chance, unlike the Humane Society, has a 100 percent adoption policy and takes in only as many animals as they can hold.

"The Humane Society is an open door facility and we take anything that walks in," Central Missouri Humane Society spokeswoman Heather Duren-Stubbs said said. "Last year, we served 53 different communities."

Duren-Stubbs also said the Humane Society offers low-cost spaying and neutering.

She said neutering and spaying animals is the only way to avoid overpopulation problems.