July 11, 2007

Cat dispute highlights citywide problem
Woman seeks home for outdoor cats destined for trapping, removal

By KATHY GRAY
of The Chronicle

     A The Dalles woman has embarked on a crusade to find new homes for her estimated 19 cats before her landlord traps them as feral cats Thursday. She also wants to change the law that allows him to do it.
     Annette Spellman lives at Foley Lakes mobile home park where pets are not allowed under the lease agreement.
     When Spellman moved into the park five years ago, she had a stress disorder and had to have her dog prescribed to her by a doctor before the landlord would allow her to have it.
     “When I came in I saw puppies and dogs and cats — and we had cats,” Spellman said. “So we brought our cats, like everybody else. We figured they’re breaking it, why not us?”
     Since that time, Spellman has accumulated more outdoor cats.
     “Some are mine, some were born here and some just show up for dinner,” she said.
     While working on the pumphouse behind Spellman’s home, the landlord, Wes Pullen, discovered that the park has a lot of cats, despite the no-pet policy.
“Wes has a no-pet policy; the people working for him have a second policy: If Wes doesn’t see it, it’s OK,” Spellman said. “A lot of people in here have cats.”
     According to Spellman, Pullen hired a businessman to catch and euthanize what he saw as feral cats; however, Linda Pullen, Wes Pullen’s wife, said they were told the animals would be taken to farms.
     “She’s breaking a lot of park rules,” Linda Pullen said, “and so is everybody else. As long as they keep feeding the cats, they’ll keep multiplying. Nobody has tried to care for them, spay or neuter them, they just keep feeding them.”
     Wes Pullen was not available for comment.
     The trapping process is already under way, and Spellman has been trying over the course of more than a week to either halt the trapping or find homes for the cats she cares for. She has been investigating alternatives through Wasco County Animal Control, Home at Last and CatLink. She also urged Pullen to contact CatLink, which he did.
     She has also been hanging up flyers asking for homes for the cats, as well as making appeals on the radio and in the newspaper.
     “I was telling people if these cats leave here in traps, their future is not bright,” she said. “If they leave in carriers, I know they have a future.”
     Spellman contacted Brad Heinege, Wasco County’s animal control officer, and learned that the law is silent on the question of exterminating cats, as long as it is done on a person’s own property.
     “Basically, what I told her is that I go through this with a lot of people,” Heinege said Tuesday. “It is a problem in the whole community, not just at Foley Lakes, all over town.”
     Heinege has heard complaints from residents who may have several cats around the house that their neighbors are trapping their cats.
“It is a problem. It really is,” Heinege said. “Unfortunately, I don’t do anything with cats.”
     While county laws speak specifically to the maintenance, control and treatment of dogs, only two laws speak specifically to cats: animal cruelty laws and theft of a companion animal.
     “I explained to Annette, they’re not exactly stealing cats per se,” Heinege said. “They’re not trapping them on her property, so it’s not theft. They are trapping them off the property and trying to deal with the stray problem.”
While at Spellman’s house, Heinege said she received a call from the Oregon Humane Society, which suggested she keep the cats indoors for a while.
But Heinege said good intentions toward cats can sometimes spiral out of control.
     “Often what happens is people start out very well meaning, by taking them in and trying to either tame them or give them care, but there are so many, there are not enough homes,” he said. “That’s what CatLink and Home at Last are finding out. CatLink is doing the best it can with absolutely no inocme coming in.      It’s strictly donation.”
     Feral cats are a county-wide problem, Heinege said.
     “The county commission regularly receives calls regarding cats, and what can and can’t be done about them.”
     Complaints range from property damage, like scratching the hood of a new car or leaving droppings in the garden, or toms spraying on doors or inside cars, or uncared-for cats spreading disease to healthy pets.
     “Who’s responsible and who’s going to clean it up?” Heinege asked. It’s a no win. What’s the answer?“
     For outdoor pets, Heinege suggests putting an ID tag on a cat, or marking a clear or white flea collar with the owner’s phone number in permanent marker.
     “Even a family cat can act very fractious in a trap,” he said. “It can be hard to determine which cat is a pet and which is not.”
     Spellman would like to see the law changed. In the meantime, she is pursuing new homes for her cats.
     “CatLink is willing to help me,” she said. “But the only way they can help me is if people are willing to give one of the cats a home. CatLink will help spay and neuter them.”
     Spellman is regretful that the cats aren’t spayed and neutered now.
     “I just didn’t do it — like so many other people.”
     Spellman is asking people interested in adopting a cat to call her at 993-5657.