Activists gather at city hall ahead of third reading on feeding ban ordinance, leash law change - Oil City News

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An activist at City Hall ahead of the City Council’s third reading of a proposed feeding ban (Gregory Hirst)

CASPER, Wyo— Citizens gathered on Election Day, August 18, outside Casper City Hall ahead of the city council’s third reading changes to the city’s animal control ordinances that would, among other measures, ban residents from feeding certain forms of wildlife, including cats, and increase the time frame in which citizens can legally tether their dogs.

The changes were ultimately tabled at the August 18 meeting.

The feeding ban is being considered as a measure against expanding feral and stray cat populations in Casper. Police Chief Chief McPheeters told the city council that Metro Animal Control had captured 941 cats in 2019, most of which had to be euthanized.

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“We’ve been trying to find a humane alternative…” one activist said. “Starvation is a cruel thing to do, and it does not help with population control. They continue to reproduce and get more desperate for food and actually become more of a nuisance… there will be an increase in wildlife being hunted.” She added that neutered and spayed cats fight and roam less.

Citizen groups have proposed TNR (trap, neuter and return) programs as alternative to feeding bans, which they say are cruel and ineffective.

McPheeters told the city council that to spay or neuter 941 cats would have cost about $90,000 in veterinarian bills.

Jamie Jenkins, a key organizer of the local movement, said some TNR groups had been able to get grant money from organizations like Pet Smart Charities and Pet Co to enact the programs. The problem with stray cats reflects a national trend.

Jenkins added that City Councilman Ken Bates had been responsive and sympathetic to the group’s concerns.

One activist said there was veterinarian in Jackson with a mobile TNR clinic that also provided vouchers to other clinics to help with the costs.

Laura Arelleno-Briats has been has been reaching out veterinary clinics and Casper Animal Medical center, and has taken stray cats to clinics herself in the past.

“This has been a grass-roots movement, and Alley Cat Allies [a national TNR activist group] has been there to support us,” she said.

She said she wishes city funds could be used to fund the program, but acknowledged it wasn’t viable given coming the city’s uncertain fiscal future.

Caroline Kirsh, another activist, said a combination of private and city funds could cover those costs. “I do think the city should contribute some.“ She said it was an issue of civic safety. “Having the cats continue to breed causes issues as far as wildlife is concerned….I think there is support enough in the community that portion could be raised in community funds.”

She added the police should consider the cost of enforcing the ban versus the cost of spay-and-neuter programs. “Taking people to court is expensive, having officers spend their time on something like [enforcing the ban] rather than on actual crime is expensive.”

Other activists activist said they thought the city council had been acting on assumptions and needed to study the issue more. Ultimately, the activists just wanted to see the ordinance tabled for the time being.

“We’ve only had two weeks to organize,” Jenkins said, adding that she’d missed the council’s first and second readings.

Councilman Bates addresses activists at City Hall ahead of the City Council’s third reading of a proposed wildlife feeding ban (Gregory Hirst)

Another proposed change drawing ire was an extension on time a dog could be tethered from 2 hours to 10 hours.

“Both of the changes need to be rejected,” Kirsh said. “Tethering dogs all day is just inappropriate as well. The Humane society has evidence they’ve published that shows that tethering dogs makes them more aggressive and dangerous, which leads to further tethering and puts the community at risk, especially children. Dogs aren’t born that way, we teach them to be aggressive.”

Linda Terrell said “We worked for two years to change the law to two-hours with stipulations so the dog was safe. Now [the city council] is saying they want to put it back to ten hours, because they’re getting pushback from the community from people who can’t afford to fence their yard and have no choice but to tether their dog, which I disagree with.”