PACIFIC • The homeless cats of Pacific have a lot to purr about now. On Tuesday night, the Pacific Board of Aldermen voted 4-2 to allow for the capture, neutering/spaying and then return of the feral and stray cats into the community.
Passionate advocates of the trap, neuter/spay and return (TNR) program, who had been lobbying city officials, welcomed the vote with tears, laughter and hugs.
“The city of Pacific will lead the way for ... TNR,” exclaimed Tracie Quackenbush, executive director of the no-kill Open Door Animal Sanctuary in Jefferson County.
Quackenbush and Valerie Schweickhardt, who runs Metro Animal Resource Services and helps other communities with similar programs, both said they would apply to the city for permits to work together as sponsors of the neutering program. According to the ordinance, resident caretakers who feed and care for the colonies of feral and stray cats will report to and work with the organizational nonprofit sponsors.
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The decision wasn’t an easy one for city officials, who faced a community that was split on what to do about the population of up to 400 homeless cats and kittens that roam this town on the edge of suburbs and farms.
Some animal groups and residents who have been feeding the cats asked for the bill as a way to control the population. Advocates said it was more humane than killing the cats and also made sense to prevent a worse population explosion.
TNR has become a national movement and is in practice in ӣƵ and parts of ӣƵ and St. Charles counties.
Mayor Jeffrey Palmore said at the onset of discussion on Tuesday, “This is a very difficult subject. There are a lot of people on both sides. Believe me, I’ve gotten calls from both sides.”
Alderman Mike Pigg and Carol Johnson voted no. Pigg said many property owners don’t want the cats returned to neighborhoods because the animals damage property. Backers of TNR said neutering changes those behaviors.
Johnson and Pigg also said they thought the ordinance left some questions unanswered.
The current city ordinance allows for the city to capture feral cats, hold them for five days and then kill them. That still will apply for those deemed “nuisance” cats, but it also gives the option of having individuals act as caretakers of colonies for spayed and neutered outside cats. The ordinance also says that efforts must be made to capture the kittens before they are 8 weeks old so they can be tamed and adopted.
Those against TNR in Pacific said the cats had been destructive of their property, damaging motorcycle seats and cars. One man said a cat had acted aggressively and terrorized his dog.
B.J. Lawrence, a resident who pushed for the bill’s passage, said that private money was coming in to help pay for neutering and vaccinating the cats. In addition, about five people have stepped forward to adopt healthy cats to live in their barns, said Lawrence, who started Pacific Barn Cats to place nuisance cats with people with barns rather than kill them.Some of the cats in town are abandoned or lost strays. Others are ferals that have lived outside all their lives. Many make homes in colonies in the fields and woods.
Quackenbush said Open Door would be willing to spay, neuter and vaccinate the Pacific strays, cut their nails and give flea treatment, all for $25 a cat. She said she had trapped 49 cats in Pacific for spaying and neutering in just the last five weeks while aldermen had discussed the subject.
“These are God’s creatures and they didn’t ask to be born and they didn’t ask to be killed,” Quackenbush said.
