I wanted my first article to be about corrupt cops but there was an article in the local newspaper that motivated me to write this blog instead.

Lets talk about the feral cat issue in upstate New York, not that it only exists in upstate New York as the problem seems to be rampant nation wide.

About a year ago I went before the town board of Catskill New York in regards to the issue of what I percieve as an epidemic of feral cats. Cats who have not been spay or nuetered, abandoned cats and ones born in the wild have colonized areas all over the two counties and have been directly involved with motor vehicle accidents on roadways, rabbies issues with livestock and households and staff infectious deseases. One fellow citizen was very receptive to my ideas but the board dismissed me as if I were mad for requesting that they do something about the issue.It was very aggrivating.

The laws are pretty clear but local officials and law enforcement shirk their duties and responsabilities in regaurds to it. As stated in article 26 of Aggriculture and Marketing laws of New York,  1. A person is guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals when, with no justifiable purpose,  he  or she  intentionally kills or intentionally causes serious physical injury to a companion animal with aggravated cruelty.   For  the purposes  of  this section, "aggravated cruelty" shall mean conduct which:  (i) is intended to cause  extreme  physical  pain; or (ii) is done or carried out in an especially depraved or sadistic manner.
  2. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit or interfere in any way with anyone lawfully engaged in hunting,  trapping, or fishing, as provided in article eleven of the environmental conservation  law,  the  dispatch  of  rabid or diseased animals, as provided in article twenty-one of the public health law, or the dispatch of  animals posing  a  threat to human safety or other animals, where such action is otherwise legally  authorized,  or  any  properly  conducted  scientific tests,  experiments,  or  investigations  involving  the  use  of living animals, performed or conducted in laboratories or institutions approved for such purposes by the commissioner  of  health  pursuant  to  section three hundred fifty-three of this article.   3. Aggravated cruelty to animals is a felony. A defendant convicted of this offense shall be sentenced pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision one  of  section 55.10 of the penal law provided, however, that any term of imprisonment imposed for violation of this section shall be  a  definite sentence, which may not exceed two years. A  person  being  the  owner  or possessor, or having charge or custody of an animal, who  abandons  such animal,  or  leaves  it to die in a street, road or public place, or who allows such animal, if it become disabled, to lie in  a  public  street, road or public place more than three hours after he receives notice that it  is  left  disabled,  is  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  punishable  by imprisonment  for  not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by both.

Judges here slap the wrists of said offender who abuse animals and they dont even think about picking up any abandonment offenders most likely because they themselves are guilty of the same violation. Whats wrong with our system that Laws that are in black and white have become grey and fuzzy?

The albany times union printed an article up called "Rensselear County warns of rabid cats" by Kenneth Crowe the II. It outlines how the Rensselear county Health Department had to issue a health alert for rabbies in a suburban community. Here we have our children, we have our own wandering pets, our neighbors, our wives, our very selves threatened by rampant outbreaks of rabbies from a controlable issue. Truth is we have no one to blame but ourselves. Cats are not indigeonous animals to the americas. Honoestly, niether are anglo saxtons and truth be told they are running rampant in the americas as well. Hopefully without rabbies. But they have been known to promulgate other known infectious diseases to one another, to include stupidity.

Most municipalities humane solution to the abundance of cats is to kill them. This is the acting directive for most county Department of Health agencies. This blanket erradication is supposed to be for the benifit of man but by doing such inhumane attrocities to a problem that man created, are we not partacing in the erradication of our own morals and ethics to the point of desensatization of all value of life and nature? When I called up the acting director for New York States Department of Aggriculture in regards to the issue, he stated that legislators had no place to put those laws so they threw them in their section. They don't care about the laws and don't enforce them even though it is jurisdictional. He pawned it of on county Health. If the people with jurisdiction of the laws don't enforce them how are we to hold local officials accountable as well? Seriously, in the grand scheme, poop rolls down hill and if you aint doing your job get the hell out and let some one who will do it.

The article that spured me to do this article first was "Seized pets hurled off bridge to their deaths" by Omar Marrero. It chronicles a dire issue in Puerto Rico where a housing project decided to change its policy on pets. Because of the mandate the local government paid animal control for the proper disposal of all the pets. They siezed roughly 50 or so, and sedated them in front of the children that owened them. The animal control agency that was hire to do the job then took the animals to a 50 foot bridge and threw them over the bridge while they were sedated. Some of the animals made it to shore only to be killed by oncoming traffic. The cost to the taxpayer was $60 for each animal and another $100 for each trip. HUD who sent the grant for the housing said, " We have a rule allowing local owned housing authorities to set pet rules but this does not grant authority for blanket bans and mass confiscations."

I only ask, what has HUD in its Federal capacity done in regards to the housing authority? Personally I would assume they would need to start an investigation into the Housing Authorities personel who launched the blanket seazure. The article seems to point out that no one really did anything. this is a gross form of misconduct all around and people need to be held accountable. At the very least we are talking $50,000 and 50 years jail for the Housing Authority Personel and the Animal Control Persons Responsible and their Supervisors. What happend? The Mayor said they were re reviewing the contract.
Petty and ridiculous for the gross violation to human morals and animal rights. Gross incompitence is not an excuse. Guilt is Guilt throw the book at them and maybe it will hit their head and knock some sense into them.

So those are the problems. What are the solutions? For me, I think that the Department of Agriculture needs to start respecting the Laws that are Jurisdictionaly theirs. They need to start making local municipalities hold violators responsible for their actions as the law clearly states. If those Judges and Municipalities defer that regulation, the Department of Aggriculture can hold them responsible in leu of. They can decrease grant funding to municipalities who abscone the laws, among a list of other things I am sure. New York needs to promulgate a state wide spay/ nuetering initiative for Feral cats. TNR programs have been god sends to other states such as florida and california. Non-Profit orginazations that work with this type of issue need to be deputized by either local governments or the Department of Agriculture to enforce these laws and to catch neuter and release (to local feral farms) all of the ferals in any given county and be granted proper funding with stringent regulations in regards to the information. GPS tracking of migration patterns, a database with pictures of the cats caught and medical info, food shelter and healthcare. All paid for with grants and donations. Ignoring the problem does not make it go away. Landlords who bring eviction proceedings through local courts should be able to sue for the cost of proper disposal of any abandoned pets and should be able to charge tenants with violations of the law and have them fined and jailed for pet abandonment. Any landlords who shirk this should be charged as well. The Fine amount and the jail time should increase times 5 to get peoples attention.

It may take a little bit of time, but the long term results definitely have a better out look then they currently are projected as being.