Cat homeowners should now maintain their pet on a leash in Waconia after town council up to date an ordinance that, previous to Monday’s vote, solely utilized to dogs. The metropolis council ordinance requires cat homeowners to maintain their pets on their property with a fence or a leash and clear up their waste in parks and on different residents’ yards.
City Administrator Shane Fineran informed Fox 9 the ordinance was a response to “issues residents have.”
The new statute requires cat homeowners to both microchip or maintain identification tags on their feline mates. Cat homeowners should additionally clear up their pets’ droppings on their very own property inside seven days.
Violating the cat leash regulation is a petty misdemeanor underneath metropolis regulation.
Alley Cat Allies, a Maryland-based nonprofit that advocates for low-cost spaying and neutering insurance policies, warned Waconia City Council members that the leash regulation would unfairly goal residents who take care of strays and different neighborhood cats.
“We need Waconia to know that dogs and cats are very totally different animals with very totally different relationships to individuals and our communities,” the organization’s leaders wrote. “Cats can’t be slapdash inserted into legal guidelines tailor-made to dog-related issues.”
The group requested town council to as a substitute take into account a trap-neuter-return operation if its members have been involved about rising populations of cats open air. That method, Alley Cat Allies leaders say, town can head off any sudden growth in stray cats and extra simply management the animals already inside its limits.
