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Beachwood's Feral Cat Plan

Many people recently saw a story on WKYC on May 8, 2007, regarding a resident who has been feeding feral cats in Beachwood. The City received a number of phone calls and e-mails about the issue, and we have responded to all of them. We appreciate members of the public taking the time to express their views, even if it is to question the City's actions.

First, we understand the resident's very well-intentioned desire to feed and care for feral cats and to help have them spayed and neutered to reduce their population. She is using a well known approach called TNR or "Trap, Neuter, Release," which some suggest solves the feral cat problem by reducing their numbers. Others suggest a "Trap, Neuter and Remove" plan which relocates feral cats to more appropriate non-residential areas. No one questions the resident's humane motives, but, despite her efforts over a number of years, the trapping, neutering and releasing approach has apparently not worked.

Moreover, her good deeds, like many good deeds, can have unanticipated negative side effects. The resident's cat feeding attracts a colony of approximately 20 cats, sometimes more. She lives in a single family residential neighborhood in Beachwood, with lot sizes of less than an acre. Inevitably, the presence of that many cats affects her neighbors. Were she living in a more rural area, her activities would probably not have been a problem. Based on a complaint from a neighbor—who reported offensive odor and cat droppings, and also reported that the feral cats were in his yard and entering his garage (sometimes with "presents" of dead mice and birds)—the City and the County Health Department investigated. They found that the odor and cat droppings were a hazard and a nuisance, and asked the resident to stop attracting the cats to the area by feeding them. In addition, the cats could also be a health danger to domestic cats who are allowed outside.

In any community setting, the rights and responsibilities of all members of the community must be recognized and respected. This is a situation where those rights and responsibilities are in conflict. We believe the resident has a responsibility to respect the rights of her neighbors, despite her desire to aid the feral cats.

The City and the Health Department had been working with the resident and her son in an effort to resolve this matter long before the local news media chose to present only one side of the story. Unfortunately, the news media did not report that the resident had agreed to stop feeding the cats on the advice of the Cleveland APL. The City has never threatened to arrest her, as many people inferred from the WKYC story. The City offered WKYC a complete copy of its file on the issue and an opportunity to speak with the Mayor and our Law Department before the story ran. The day after the story ran, in a further effort to address the resident's desire to see the feral cats properly cared for and to respect the rights of neighbors to the safe and quiet enjoyment of their homes, we presented a proposal to the resident that would have a volunteer from a Geauga County no-kill shelter help to trap the cats and taken to a better suited location for ongoing feeding and care. We hope she takes up this offer so that the problem can be resolved in the best interest of the resident, her neighbors and the cats. We will continue to work with the resident and others to achieve that goal.

  
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