Town of Salina, NY -- Feral cat rescuers in the town of Salina are one step closer to changing a law that puts them at risk of being fined if the felines cause problems in the neighborhood. Linda Young, who operates KittyCorner, a cat rescue and adoption organization in Liverpool, has been working with Town Councilor V. James Magnarelli...
View full sizeLinda Young, the director of KittyCorner in Liverpool, is working with Town of Salina officials on changing a law to protect feral cat rescuers from being fined if the felines cause problems.Town of Salina, NY -- Feral cat rescuers in the town of Salina are one step closer to changing a law that puts them at risk of being fined if the felines cause problems in the neighborhood.
Linda Young, who operates KittyCorner, a cat rescue and adoption organization in Liverpool, has been working with Town Councilor V. James Magnarelli and Town Attorney Robert Ventre on making changes to the existing law.
“We spent weeks going through the law line by line,” said Young, who also worked with other cat rescuers and supporters in proposing changes to the law.
The need for the change arose when Linda Smith, of Garden City Drive, town of Salina, was fined $400 in January because the feral cats she cared for defecated on her neighbors’ lawns and damaged their property.
Young and others felt the law hurt those who were trying to help the problem.
“After the Linda Smith trial, we saw that something really needed to be done,” Young said. “A group of us got together to see how we could improve things, not for ourselves necessarily, but for the whole community.”
Ventre went through the proposed changes during a public hearing at Monday night’s town board meeting. The proposed law would redefine who is identified as an owner of a feline. It also states that a feral cat colony caretaker in compliance with the Feral Cat Code is not an owner. These changes safeguard feral caretakers from being fined.
The Feral Cat Code includes that each feral cat colony should be registered with an authorized agency, the cats should be spayed/neutered and also vaccinated.
Young said the proposed changes will help control the cat population and KittyCorner would act as the lead agency in monitoring the feral cat population in the town of Salina.
“I’ve supported this for several reasons,” Magnarelli said. “I believe it’s a more humane way to decrease the population of cats that is overcoming the town of Salina and it’s less costly for the town.”
The town will hold another public hearing on the proposed changes to the law at its meeting Sept. 13.