City waives hold period for feral cats

As a measure to save money, provide for rehoming of feral cats and potentially lower euthanizations, the city of Graham approved a temporary waiver of the three-day holding period with the Humane Society of Young County.

The Graham City Council spoke with City Manager Eric Garretty and Animal Control Officer Mike Watts during their meeting Thursday, July 17. 

“Previously, feral cats were held by the Humane Society of Young County under an agreement currently in force,” Garretty said. “The Humane Society has unilaterally decided to no longer honor its obligation to house feral cats.” 

The animal control officer entered into an agreement with a local veterinary clinic to house the captured feral cats. Watts requested Wednesday, July 9 to the city manager to waive the three-day holding period for feral cats as part of a new program.

“With this program, feral cats could be released to persons living outside the city,” Watts said in the request. “The cats would then be homed and cared for in a country setting.”

An issue of boarding space at the clinic where the city is housing feral cats was raised. Feral cats would be released to households in the countryside who have volunteered to accept cats of this type.

“If a waiver is provided, a feral cat captured by the city would be sent directly to a person on the barn cat list without the city incurring the cost of housing the cat during the waiting period,” Watts said.

The city ordinance requires a three-day hold for cats that are not wearing a tag or collar when the owner is unknown. The average hold of a feral cat costs $28 per cat per day.

In an instance where a feral cat could not be rehomed under the program, the city must follow the existing ordinance which states if the feral cat is not adopted or rehomed after the three-day waiting period, the city may order the euthanization of the feral cat.

The animal control officer spoke in the meeting last week and stated that five or six individuals are interested in the barn cat program. He said the heat of the summer makes it difficult to capture cats.

“Because of the heat, I don’t target cats because it’s just not considered humane for them to be in a trap in this weather without water,” Watts said. “Since I’ve come on board, I’ve very rarely targeted cats. I would target a large collection of cats in a neighborhood. If I’m getting complaints from that neighborhood of destructive behavior from those cats, then I would make a small, quick target in that area.”

The city manager said that he and the animal control officer work to achieve a balance of animals and feral cats as a health and safety concern.

“In the summertime, we had to make some allowances. But we’re not out there saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to round up these cats and haul them off, just as a matter of principle,’” Garretty said. “The flip side of that is, when we get citizens having concerns about feral cats, ...Mike and I have a duty to act on it. That’s part of our responsibility for maintaining animal control.” 

The city council will have to revisit the contract with HSYC during their budget workshop scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. Garrretty said feral cats are “currently out of the proposal” and he is uncertain what will happen with that contract.

“We don’t want to go in and modify the ordinance until we know exactly where we’re going to land,” he said. “This 90-day period gives us the ability to at least do something that is more efficient we think, but with the understanding that in 90 days, we’re going to come back to you and say, ‘Well, we don’t need to do anything,’ or ‘We need to do an ordinance modification and here’s what we’re going to do.’” 

The city council spoke previously regarding the renewal of the service agreement with HSYC regarding the provision of care from the city’s animal control department. 

The council directed the city manager to request HSYC amend its bylaws to include the animal control officer as an ex-officio member of the HSYC Board of Directors. 

Amanda Schupbach, HSYC Vice President, spoke at the city council meeting Thursday, June 26 and stated the board voted Tuesday, June 24 not to add a position for the animal control officer.

During that meeting, council member Shana Wolfe voted to approve the contract while Mayor Alex Heartfield moved to table its approval until the council had the opportunity to review and meet with the animal control officer. The motion to table was approved.

HSYC requested an $11,000 increase in the amount provided to the shelter from the city, from $36,000 to $47,000, due to rising operational expenses.