Roaming Cats

Started by JimH29 • 9 replies • 2386 views

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JimH29 (Florida)
Posts: 63

Posted:

Received this this morning in our monthly door to door HOA newsletter:

"Stray cats notice...Unfortunately there are stray cats roaming the neighborhood. If you have cats roaming, please take the necessary precautions to keep them enclosed in your residence. Traps, starting June 1, will be put out in hopes of controlling cats in our neighborhood."

BTW, I am not a cat owner.

Comments?

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

We did the same thing. There was a cat that when the owner moved away came back to our HOA and stayed. We all called it "Momma Cat". She had several litters of kittens before we were able to capture her with traps. (Humane traps). Once caught she was fixed and believe adopted by an owner. The kittens were then known as our HOA's moniker at the local rescue places. Know several people who adopted them.

So what is the problem? We worked with a local cat rescue place who worked in trapping the kittens. They did leave traps out but let everyone know. Having the cats/kittens roaming around was a bad situation. You don't want to start a cat colony. Luckily, we got ours under control. Otherwise, bad thing would have happened.

Plus we have some cities here that don't allow roaming cats. They have to be caged or leashed to be out. Animal Control is responsible for maintaining those type of laws/restrictions not the HOA.

Former HOA President

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

Good.

ArtL1 (Florida)
Posts: 140

Posted:

I think the concern is, there are at least 4 kinds of cats.

1) Indoor-only: The ones you never see outisde.
2) Indoor/outdoor: Their owners let them in/out at various times of day.
3) Outdoor: People "own" and feed them, but they live outdoors mostly or entirely.
4) Feral/Strays: They may roam the neighborhood and either totally fend for themselves or multiple homes may be putting food out for them.

If traps are used (and then what is done with the caught cats?), types 2 and 3 might be caught, and their owners may get a little upset.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

The OP doesn't say what will be done with caught cats, in our area animal control will take them to the county shelter if they don't have collars and tags. If the cats have collars then I think they try to contact the owner. As long as the OP's association is only removing strays (no collar/tag), then I'd be fine with that. Hopefully the association plans to act in accordance with local laws, for example here is what my county law says:

(1) When a domestic animal is at-large a person may seize such animal in a humane manner if the owner of the animal is unknown to the person and the owner of the animal is not identified by any form of identification. Any person, who finds a stray domestic animal, where the owner is unknown, shall relinquish custody to the animal services division or file a found animal report with the animal services division within two (2) calendar days after finding the animal. If the person desires to maintain the seized animal as their own, he/she shall maintain such animal for the time set forth in subsection (2) hereinafter.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

The reason for the clause in CC&R's for keeping the garage door closed is to deter people from leaving their garage door ajar to allow cats to roam freely.
We have an extensive overpopulation of feral cats, and the current method of trap, spay, neuter, release is not doing any good.

Refer to your CC&R'S and fine people for their nuisance.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By ArtL1 on 04/01/2018 5:31 PM
I think the concern is, there are at least 4 kinds of cats.

1) Indoor-only: The ones you never see outisde.
2) Indoor/outdoor: Their owners let them in/out at various times of day.
3) Outdoor: People "own" and feed them, but they live outdoors mostly or entirely.
4) Feral/Strays: They may roam the neighborhood and either totally fend for themselves or multiple homes may be putting food out for them.

If traps are used (and then what is done with the caught cats?), types 2 and 3 might be caught, and their owners may get a little upset.

Art called this one.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JimH29 on 04/01/2018 9:31 AM

Comments?

None

AdamD1 (Indiana)
Posts: 179

Posted:

At least they aren't going the antifreeze route!

JanetB2 (Colorado)
Posts: 4,219

Posted:

Depends on your CCR’s along with your local City, County, or State ordinances. In my area ordinances the cats are allowed to freely roam. In my area unless the CCR’s state otherwise to set traps potentially would be illegal violation of an owner’s rights. While I personally might disagree with free roaming animals ... have to follow the laws.

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