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Friday, September 11, 2009

Ind. Gov't. - "Terre Haute bans feeding unsterilized cats"

That is the headline to a brief AP story on the Indianapolis Star website this afternoon that reports:

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Giving food or water to feral cats that have not been spayed or neutered is now illegal in Terre Haute.

The new ordinance also increases the city license fee for an unsterilized cat or dog to $100, up from the current $25. Licenses for pets that have been spayed or neutered will cost $5.

Okay, does this mean that before you can be charged, the city must capture the cat that you have set out food or water for and check to see if it has been spayed or neutered?

And how can you tell if a female cat has been spayed? According to this article on eHow:

In order to control the quickly growing cat population, many folks choose to have their pets spayed. If you adopt a stray cat, however, sometimes it can be difficult to determine if spaying has already taken place. It is already difficult to determine if a male cat has been neutered, but it can be extremely difficult to determine if a female cat has been spayed. * * *

Even vets can have a difficult time determining if a female cat has been spayed. The scar can heal so well, it becomes invisible to the naked eye. In this case, sometimes a cat is found spayed when they open her up to perform the surgery and find no uterus.

Determining if a male cat has been neutered is somewhat easier (at least in theory), according to this companion article, but the "cat will likely protest. Wear gloves or wrap your cat safely and snugly in a towel."

The Terre-Haute Tribune-Star gives a much better description of the ordinance in its story today, reported by Arthur Foulkes. The story begins:

The Terre Haute City Council voted 7-1 Thursday night to pass a revised animal control ordinance that sets standards for handling “cat colonies” in the city.

According to the amended ordinance, it is now against the law to provide food, water or shelter to a colony of “free-roaming cats” unless the colony is “managed” and registered with the proper city officials. It is also unlawful to feed, provide water or shelter to free-roaming cats except as part of a “trap, neuter and return” program.

Trap, neuter and return refers to catching a stray cat, having it “sterilized” at a veterinarian’s office and then returned to its colony.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 11, 2009 04:26 PM
Posted to Indiana Government