The 2 Wetumpka ladies apprehended in 2015 for feeding feral cats in the location are no longer being prosecuted after an Elmore County judge approved city district attorneys’ intents to withdraw the cases.
Mary Alston, 61, and Beverly Roberts, 85, were apprehended by Wetumpka policeman last summer season when they discovered the ladies feeding cats near the local court house. City authorities had actually already notified Roberts that she might be apprehended if she fed cats at the court house and informed Alston that early morning to stop setting out traps.
Their arrests triggered a nationwide stir amongst animal rights supporters and shone a spotlight on trap-neuter-return, a method accepted by lots of cities to lower feral cat populations by feeding and repairing untamed felines
The Wetumpka ladies were both charged with third-degree criminal trespassing.
A Wetumpka local judge discovered the 2 ladies guilty in December after a daylong trial and sentenced both to 2 years not being watched probation. Attorneys for the ladies appealed the case to circuit court.
On Wednesday, Elmore County Circuit Court Judge J. Amanda Baxley authorized district attorneys’ movements to nolle prosse, or no longer pursue, the cases versus Alston and Roberts, court records revealed.
Wetumpka district attorneys did not offer a factor for stopping the cases and Baxley did not state why she was approving the movements.
Following the ladies’s arrests, Elmore County authorities said the cats had actually ended up being a pricey problem which Roberts and Alston made the issue even worse. However, Alston and Roberts said their efforts might have assisted manage the surplus cat population.
Video of the arrests of the 2 ladies drew condemnation to the town of Wetumpka, a riverside neighborhood north of Montgomery best understood for its legal hotel-casino. In the face of the outrage, city authorities persevered, generating an outdoors district attorney and scheduling an all-day hearing on the misdemeanor charges.
