On February 19, 2014, I received a "Courtesy Notice" from Columbia Borough Code Compliance Department. This was taped to my front door. The handwritten part was difficult to decipher, but appears to say, "Feeding of cats see sect. 403 D 9 keeping of pets Col Boro ordinance". The printed section, animal waste/outdoor feeding of animals, was check-marked. Also on the form it states that I must comply by February 20, 2014.
My work with the feral cat spay/neuter program began in the summer of 2012. With the help of the Lancaster County Cat Rescue organization, I successfully trapped 4 cats and drove them to the Humane League of Lancaster County. This was done on my day off from work, using my own time, vehicle, gas, and money to accomplish the task. I was able to spay 3 females and neuter one male. They all were given rabies shots and the male was treated for fleas. I signed a paper stating that I was their caregiver and detailing the importance of caring for the cats after the surgery. Lancaster County Cat Rescue also prefers that the colony continue to be cared for which includes feeding. I was able to immediately find a home for the youngest one of the four cats, leaving me with only three. Within a year another one was killed, I found her body in a gutter about a block from my home. I do not know if she was hit by a car or if someone deliberately killed her. That left me with 2 cats.
Over the next year, I found two kittens and surrendered both to the Humane League. They were too young for shots and too young to be neutered/spayed, so no doubt were euthanized. In November of 2013, I captured and surrendered a female cat to the SPCA of Lancaster at a cost to me of 45.00 dollars. This time I had purchased my own live trap (from Tractor Supply) in order to continue this program. All of the cat surrenders are documented, so there is a record of the transactions.
I had written to Mayor Lutz about the efforts and the feral cat problem within this Borough. I even went as far as to offer my assistance with beginning a local program. Columbia could recruit the help of local veterinarians in an effort to keep all the money in Columbia. Careful documentation could be used to track the progress of such a program. I remain willing to help spearhead a program for the borough.
My personal feelings about being issued a notice to stop feeding the cats are as follows:
My husband and I were both born in Columbia, giving us a right to be here. We both have paid property taxes here for many years. Even though our mortgage is paid, we continue to "rent" our property from Columbia Borough through property taxes. Now Columbia wants to be my landlord, telling me that I cannot put a dish of cat food out on my own property.
I walked on Walnut Street yesterday afternoon and I counted 9 separate piles of dog feces. On any given day there are that many piles at the River Park. Is there an ordinance about this, yes…is anyone enforcing that…apparently not. The deadly Parvo Virus was found on Perry Street in recent months, so one would think that citing those leaving dog feces behind would be imperative. But the time and effort is better spent on citing someone feeding 2 cats.
43 comments:
Thanks Cole for publishing my comment. I wanted to add that I spoke with a borough official today and I think his name was Osborne, at any rate he listened patiently to my story and was reasonable about the situation. Just want to give credit where credit is due.
Ask Osborne when the last time is that anyone every got a citation for dog crap ? Bottom line is that dog crap rule is not enforced - so in other words, this is no dog crap rule. Dog crap is allowed anywhere. It's just an old law on the books that never gets enforced. If they even cared the meter people could easily give fines for dog crap.
So, since dog crap doesn't matter, feeding cats should not matter either.
This is definitely an extreme case of animal discrimination !
All cat lover should be marching in the streets for equal rights !!
yep - Osborne likes to listen long and talk even longer - but he needs to listen a little less and talk a little less and spend a little more time actually enforcing some codes - like dog crap !
I think that you have a constitutional right to feed homeless cats - they are going to eat something somewhere - so what does it matter, really
Just a question- how or why would a Borough official be on your own property to see you had a dish of cat food outside? Isn't your property your own?
Is it illegal to feed stray or feral cats?
And I will agree, something needs to be don about dog owners who consistently do not pick up their doggie droppings. It is horrible, unsanitary, and no one wants to see this, smell this, or walk in this.
I myself was delayed today on North Second Street at the Columbia Historic Preservation Society, volunteering to clean up six large piles of dog feces on our sidewalk. My respect is for Columbia and our history, this history of disrespect needs to stop.
Visitors too Columbia do not need the aggravation, nor the citizens need this punishment either. With almost three thousand visitors to the museum in 2013, we are striving to make Columbia a destination of economic growth. With possible historic walking tours at the museum, let alone the Columbia Haunted Tour Company's tours in progress. We need a safe walk way for our tourists coming from all over the United States.
Please curb your dogs, or report a offender of this irresponsible act.
Thank you,
Chris Vera
Director, CHPS
hey - for all of those that think downtown Columbia is dead - 3000 visitors to the Historic Museum in 2013 is great ! How many were there before you started Chris ? - I don't remember seeing near the activity back then !! Great job Chris and keep up the good work !!
CG
there IS an ordinance about dog waste. go to Council mtg and INSIST THEY ENFORCE IT. PERIOD. i agree its ridiculous...the code officers SHOULD WALK the Locust St and downtown beat every day to enforce dog waste, trash, weeds. period. this dept is long overdue on an overhaul. there are hundreds of ordinances on the books that SHOULD BE ENFORCED. DAILY.
here's another problem. I'm telling you to go to Council and raise hell, you're telling me to go to Council and raise hell, we all complaining, but none of us are really serious about going to Council and raising hell, are we ?
or, how about if Mr. Cole runs around town with a petition and takes signatures in between the photo shoots !
CG
how about a few dog crap parks around town where dogs go to crap - like for example the hole in the ground across from Stover's - plant some bushes and trees and let the dogs go down in there to do their thing - or some area down by the river where the councilwoman takes her doggy - and since the code guys don't want to give citations - put them in charge of cleaning up the crap
start a "community contest" - and give out a reward of $5.00 ( paid for by the borough) - for anyone that can bring a picture to the borough showing the owner and the dog crapping, and hang the pictures in the Borough window with a sign that says "if this is you, come in and pay $50.00 and we'll take the picture down "
ha ha !
great idea to make the code guys clean it up. put it in the new job description for the new code guy we are looking to hire. part of your job is to give citations for dog do do and part of your job is to clean up the do do. I bet he starts giving more citations !!!! in any event it is borough ground and the borough should be cleaning it up more often if then cant enforce it
I just took the first one. Check out today's post, "What I saw recently."
:-)
Thanks for your comment, Chris.
cool ! - now go ask the Mayor if you can hang it on window of Borough Hall and start spreading word on the streets that if you are caught on camera it is going to public knowledge ! and watch people with dogs start walking by Borough Hall looking to see if their picture us hanging there !!
Parts of Locust Street are an obstacle course.
Right - start citing, or clean up the mess.
Glad I could help get the word out.
Good points. I like the job description.
Yes, enforce the codes - uniformly and consistently.
Code enforcement is intermittent and arbitrary.
You made a lot of pertinent points that needed to be made. Good information.
Not a bad idea. I wonder if it would work.
they do it with the Megan's list offenders and I bet some of them leave town when they see their picture hanging there
me thinks a pile of dog dirt on the steps of the borough office may get some action
there ARE cameras downtown..they could maybe identify people and fine them...they do NOT need another code officer. the ones they have DON"T do the job they should. this is a disgrace and WE the taxpayers should insist that the Boro bring the codes dept up to snuff, hold em accountable, and tell em NO you can NOT hire anymore codes officers UNTIL the ones you have do their job. WE HAVE ORDINANCES ON THE BOOKS...USE THEM...ENFORCE THEM...DOG SHIT IS A HUGE PROBLEM AND A HEALTH HAZARD. what doesn't the boro understand?
you know its a crime everywhere you walk downtown is piles of dog waste on sidewalks everywhere. WHY isn't the code guys handing out fines? they have cameras. maybe people in the boro need to step up and if you see it....TAKE A PIC WITH UR PHONE AND GIVE IT TO EM. never mind. that won't work. retaliation. no one wants to get involved. then codes must do their job.
That might work.
I agree - Codes could do a better job.
If I can see problems when I walk through town, why can't they? Time for them to get out of the truck and hoof it a bit, take a look around.
well - all things considered - I think the best solution is to make the code guys responsible to shovel up the dog crap. It's a very easy job and they are walking around town anyway ( or they should be ) If every code guy is given a certain radius and held responsible to walk that route every morning and shovel up any crap that he sees it really wouldn't cost the Borough all that much to keep the streets clean. The code guys can be looking out for other problems while they are carrying a little baggy and a little shovel and cleaning up the crap each and every morning on their way to work. They can be proud to be a part of the solution and proud to have clean streets. They are paid well and we the tax payers have to fund their activities so it is high time that we demand that cleaning up dog crap is part of their job description no matter who they are !! ( and by the way - they can also give out citations if they prefer that over cleaning it )
CG
you gotta understand - this is winter and snow is everywhere - how can you expect people with dogs to climb up on snow banks to shovel poo poo - the only place for the poor animal to crap is on a snow pile and the animal does not like that any more then you do - then when the snow melts it all shows up a once - give it a few weeks and it will not be as big of a problem when the grass is green and more bushes to shove it under
https://www.google.com/search?q=no+dog+poop+sign&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=wQAMU5ieIPPisATxpYKwDQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1093&bih=497
Can we get back to the cats? Unless it is on Borough property- it is not illegal to feed feral or stray cats.
News 8 WGAL just aired a story about a spay neuter program in Cumberland County PA. I stand by my right to place a bowl of food or water on my own property to feed a feral cat that I paid to have spayed/neutered.
Codes does need to hand out more fines so that people get the message.
They need to get out of the office and out of the truck.
Right
Sounds reasonable.
Doesn't the borough have an ordinance?
I couldn't get the link to work.
I want to thank the person who commented about it not being illegal to feed a stray cat on one's property. What is done when you break the borough code? Does it then become illegal? I'm trying to understand how it can possibly be illegal by any stretch. Our former neighbors had a cat that ran all over the neighborhood. He wore a collar with tags, so we knew who he belonged to. That cat would perch on our fence or in a flower pot and watch me through the kitchen window. He would come inside our house on occasion. To my knowledge no one ever complained. As I recall, I do not think that he was neutered, so that was irresponsible on their part. What is the difference with a cat being kept like that and the cats that I feed? The difference is that I made the effort to be responsible and have them "fixed".
How can it be illegal to feed a stray cat when it is legal to grow fresh garden vegetables that stay rats, rabbits, birds, and groundhogs eat ?
that's different - feeding a stray cat is like welfare - it creates a dependency - stray cats need to work hard to either find their own mice in town - or else migrate out to the wild countryside where then can find fresh field and barn mice
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