Animal-Related Ordinances – Out of Sight and Out of Mind?

When was the last time you checked your animal-related ordinances to confirm that they were keeping up with, and meeting the needs of, your ever-changing community? These ordinances are easy to overlook until you need them and then, unfortunately, the tools you need may not be there. Maine law provides broad authority to enact and enforce animal-related ordinances. 

We see in our state, municipalities that include within their borders urban, residential, industrial, rural, and agricultural areas. We also see municipalities entering into contract zones or approving conditional zoning ordinances as appropriate when faced with development projects. Our rapidly changing communities need animal-related ordinances that will keep up with the new realities. For example, the person who has for many years kept horses on his or her property that may have escaped from their fenced in area from time to time, finds that his or her property is now near a road with increased traffic—an escaped horse puts both the drivers of automobiles and the horses at risk. Or, how about the person that keeps their dogs tied outside all the time. While every municipality should consider having an ordinance that puts some parameters around this, especially in the heat of the summer and the frigid winters, what do you do about the barking? Maybe you rely on your noise ordinance, but will it be enough? 

New realities include how animals are viewed, especially pets. The pet business is growing and raking in billions of dollars, which evidences the evolving view of animals kept in the household. You may recall the outrage generated when the Town of Scarborough was discussing enacting ordinances that would ban dogs from certain of its beaches during certain times. Even though this was in response to an incident related to a bird and the IF&W threatened to fine the Town, members of the community demanded that the Town act proportionately. The Town created an Animal Control Advisory Committee who generated a report attempting to balance the environmental issues with the rights and needs of dog owners. 

Also for consideration: Do you allow residents to keep a small number of chickens, even in urban areas, to provide eggs to the family? Does your ordinance contain reasonable requirements for dog day care and boarding facilities, a service used by so many people? 

Finally and importantly, are your animal-related ordinances humane and actually help you get the results you wish to achieve? Do they impose the punishment on the right party—the person violating the ordinance as opposed to the animals he or she is supposed to care for? Do you have the tools you need?

Neighborhood Cats

“The phrase ‘domestic cats’ is an oxymoron.” —George Will

Municipalities must deal with a wide variety of issues involving animals, from dangerous dogs to animals on highways, alive and dead. Funds for the Animal Control Officer (ACO) are limited due to budget constraints and the ACO may not be experienced in dealing with certain issues, such as the problems involving feral or so-called neighborhood cats. 

First, though, some brief background information on neighborhood cats generally.

Although a rough number, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that about 85% of owned cats are spayed or neutered, while only 2% of unowned or semi-owned cats (what we refer to as “neighborhood cats”) are spayed or neutered. These estimates also attribute about 80% of all kittens born each year to neighborhood cats.

There is, however, a way to spay or neuter these neighborhood cats (and vaccinate them), reducing the number of neighborhood cats born each year and, in turn, reducing their overall number over time. In “Return to Field” (RTF) programs, healthy, unowned cats are sterilized, ear tipped, vaccinated, and put back where they are found. Part of the rationale behind this approach is that these cats know how to survive on their own, so there is no need to euthanize them to avoid future suffering. This approach also helps reduce the financial and emotional burdens on shelters in having to euthanize healthy cats.

Similar programs, such as “Trap, Neuter, and Release” (TNR), which also includes spaying, are widely used throughout the country and offer another humane way to manage neighborhood cats. Should you decide to pursue a TNR program, you may find that there are resources in your community that are ready, willing, and able to help—animal rescue groups, wildlife agencies, and maybe just individual volunteers. The trapping part needs to be managed diligently—checking traps no less than once a day, and more often in cold or hot weather, is important to ensuring a humane process.

The HSUS guide Managing Community Cats, A Guide for Municipal Leaders contains a lot of useful information about which neighborhood cat population control methods have worked, those that have not worked, and where you might find funding in the form of grants or otherwise to help support your RTF/TNR efforts.

The Neighborhood Cats TNR Handbook contains detailed information about how to set up a TNR program, with potential funding sources found on page 151. 

As Mark Twain once said: “If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.”