Excerpt from the DE Animal Welfare Task Force Public Hearing 11-29-13: "More than 100 people attended the first public hearing of the state’s animal welfare task force. The task force, which has been meeting since August, is made up of state legislators and representatives from each shelter – Georgetown SPCA, Kent County SPCA, Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary, Delaware Humane and Faithful Friends. Task force chairwoman Sen. Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere, said the goal of the meetings and hearings is to improve animal welfare in the state. During the Nov. 29 hearing in Legislative Hall in Dover, enforcement of shelter standards, feral cat populations and quality of life for pets were among the major concerns. Feral cats a problem William Fowler of Kent County said many people drive by his 100-acre farm near Viola and drop off cats. “They seem to think it’s a good place to drop a cat,” Fowler said. “We do what we can, but with 14 or 15 cats, the costs add up.” Fowler suggested the task force consider subsidizing residents who end up taking in stray cats. He said he has trapped kittens to get them fixed, but in many cases, one is missed and that results in more kittens. “I would like to see some sort of solution,” Fowler said. Mark Legett of Greenwood operates a nuisance animal removal company on Delmarva and often works with homeowners to remove skunks, raccoons, and more and more, feral cats. “I run into a lot of feral cats,” Legett said. “And, in 90 percent of my investigations, I find within 10 houses someone is feeding feral cats.” He said these cats can do as much damage to property as a raccoon. They also carry diseases, such as rabies, he said. Currently in Delaware, the skunk is the largest carrier of disease, but feral cats are No. 2. Legett and others called for more rabies vaccine clinics and better record-keeping methods for vaccines. Legett predicts in the next 10 years, cats will overtake skunks, and then the state will have to reconsider how to treat feral cats. “There is no law for or against cats,” Legett said. “The state needs to do something.” Legett said a public education campaign could help educate residents not to feed wild cats. Even if a cat is trapped and neutered, most shelters will not take in a stray cat because they are already overcrowded. “There is not an animals shelter in the state right now that will take a cat,” Elestine Cooper of Kent County said. “That’s never happened in all my 50 years.”
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 22:39:40 +0000
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