Ossining Fights Over Feral Cats

OSSINING, NY — Winter shelters for feral cats are creating controversy in Ossining. Eleven shelters for spayed or neutered feral cats were recently removed by village employees, citing village code.

The Cat Protection Council of Westchester has been stepping up the pressure ever since on social media.

There has been an active volunteer TNR program in the village for several years to deal with feral cats. That's trap-neuter-return (return because feral cats can't be trained to live indoors). The program also vaccinated the cats for rabies.

The program addresses the growing number of feral cats, which is a national problem. TNR and rabies shots are more effective than capturing and killing to reduce and stabilize populations of feral cats in a community, advocates say.

The council said a volunteer who feeds the cats got permission to put the shelters out behind two village buildings three years ago. But, they said, then a law that prohibits feeding wildlife on public property was invoked.

"Now eleven of Ossining's community cats are out in the cold," the Cat Protection Council posted on Facebook. "The cats need your voice to get their shelters back. It is a matter of survival. A prior administration gave permission to place the shelters for the cats. The new administration removed them per a new village code without consulting the caregiver or Ossining residents. We support following village codes, but putting the lives of innocent animals in danger is unacceptable. All the cats are spayed/neutered and vaccinated against rabies and are being cared for according to Trap-Neuter-Return guidelines."

Members of the Cat Protection Council said the village manager had refused to meet with them to discuss it.

The discussion made its way to a Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday night, and the village's policy will be a topic at the next village board work session Nov. 29, according to Mayor Victoria Gearity.

"All of us in Village government are learning more each day about feral cats and the trap/neuter/release program," she said.

PHOTO: cat/ Lanning Taliaferro