Iowa city suspends police killing feral cats after public outrage

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In Jefferson, Iowa, after public outrage and pressure from animal welfare organizations, city administrators suspended the city’s practice of trapping and fatally shooting feral cats on Thursday. A city ordinance permitted residents to use traps from the police department to capture the cats. Police officers would pick up the traps, determine if the cats were feral and shoot them.

According to WhotvNews, Jefferson City Councilman Matt Wetrich, stated feral cats can damage the ecosystem by killing millions of birds in the country and defended the idea of shooting cats. The cats shot had been deemed “unadoptable” while other cats had been moved to the animal shelter and made available to new homes.

The city code states officers can “humanely destroy feral cats,” but debate has increased whether shooting cats is humane. The Animal Rescue League of Iowa states the code also says this should not be a routine practice, however the ARL stated the Jefferson police use this method about once a month.

“If it’s their policy that you judge a cat you pick up to be unadoptable, that becomes routine” said Scott Wilson, the ARL’s Animal Welfare Coordinator.

The council argued that boarding cats in shelters and euthanizing them by more humane methods is more expensive than shooting them. The ARL, along with the Animal Protection and Education Charity, asked the city to implement spay, neuter and release programs which have been proven to be more effective.

“If you take the cats out of the community, more cats are going to fill the void; it’s just a natural function. If there’s a good environment for cats, cats are going to come in. Where if you have an existing colony that is not breeding, it’ll keep new cats from entering the colony, but the colony will slowly, over time, die out” said Wilson.

A city review could take 18 months to complete and get the new program operative.  For now the city is looking to temporarily house up to 30 cats and raise money for a new shelter.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. They can implement that program now. Can spay/neuter the cats when they are captured, then released. I find it hard to believe that they don’t have money for that. How about cutting some perks and taking care of the feral cat situation. Do is once, and am sure they would have less kittens the following season.

  2. So let me get this straight. Humans abandon their animals or don’t take care of animals when it’s our responsibility and when we can’t think of any rational way of helping animals, human’s kill them. Now does that make sense. It is our representatives responsibility to come up with wise plans for animals that does not always involve killing them.

  3. Another city in Iowa that has the brain power of a doorknob – Des Moines holds a dog hostage for two years for no reason, now Jefferson wants to kill feral cats for no reason – what the fuck is in the drinking water in Iowa – Matt Weitrch has the intelligence of a 25 watt bulb and wanted to punish innocent animals because of what irresponsible callous humans have done – open the door and let them go, dump them along the road, never spay/neuter – THIS is a human problem, not a cat problem – spay/neuter and return is a viable solution and Jefferson needs to implement it.

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