(Spencer)– Ongoing issues with stray animals, more specifically cats, has the city of Spencer considering some changes to its nuisance ordinance.
City Manager Kevin Robinson told the city council Monday evening the current ordinance requires any animal that’s kept in the city to belong to someone as a pet, otherwise it’s defined as being a nuisance and could be subject to being put down if it’s deemed to have issues preventing it from being adopted as a pet. As a result, Robinson says trap, neuter and release programs being utilized in a number of communities to control feril cat populations currently isn’t suitable for Spencer…
“What happens in a cycle is an animal is trapped, neutered and released and it’s typically released right back to where it was trapped. Let me back up to what I said the very role of our government is: it’s property rights and nuisance enforcement. What happens in TNR program is when you have code like we have, the cat goes back right to the place that the Police Department picked it up. That owner calls city hall and says hey, not my cat. The cat’s back. There begins the process again.”
Robinson says there’s also a gap in the city’s ordinance pertaining to nuisance animals in commercial areas…
“So it’s next to a business that serves food, it has walk in traffic, and it’s impacting the ability to do business for them. And so part of the enforcement aspect of whether it’s law enforcement or the planning department, which is where nuisances are taken care of, there’s some gaps we feel on the commercial side of things we want to recommend to the council.”
Robinson says the discussions are likely going to be passionate as people have strong feelings on both sides of the issue…
“Currently, our role is enforcement of property rights and nuisances. That’s where we currently sit. I would guess this conversation would probably take four to six plus months to navigate. It’s a very passionate topic that people have.”
Robinson says he plans to formally bring the issue to the council in 30 to 60 days. In the meantime council members are reviewing the current city code. People for Pets in Spencer recently held a TNR event in the city, however Robinson says that was done strictly by that organization and that the city didn’t contract for the service.
