“We have not had enough public opinion being heard.”Įventually the commissioners voted to adopt the new Animal Control Ordinance without additional revisions, with Commissioners Jones, Dean Kicklighter, and Helen Stone dissenting.There is a lot of debate about this one right now. “The county would save money by implementing TNVR,” Jones said.
“We have a lot of seniors in our community that can’t deal with these cats running around,” Odell said.Ĭommissioner James “Jay” Jones spoke in favor of establishing a TNVR program, while expressing a desire for more community input on the topic.
This sentiment was echoed by Commissioner Tabitha Odell. “I have to deal with cats defecating and urinating on my garage and around my front door,” said Sandfly resident Patti Miller, asserting that people who feed feral cats encourage their presence. Other audience members wanted the county to mitigate impacts of feral-cat communities. “We need to add something that specifically addresses TNVR.” Emmy Pointer, who supported further revising the ordinance. “We all want the same thing here, which is less feral cats,” said Dr.
Harper expressed willingness to allow private organizations to undertake TNVR programs, but some public speakers didn’t feel that would adequately address the problem. Several audience members at Friday’s meeting advocated for the county to adopt a trap-neuter-vaccinate-release (TNVR) program for feral cats, which was also called for at the Jan. “We need to change the way we approach feral cats.” “We intake a lot of cats, and we’ve taken in cats, a lot of cats, for a long time, and there hasn’t been really any change in the amount of cats,” Harper said, noting that Animal Services took in 2,636 stray cats in 2018 and 2,407 in 2019. Jake Harper, Chatham County’s director of Animal Services, provided an overview of the ordinance’s new provisions to the commissioners, acknowledging that revisions regarding feral cats drew the most public interest. The new ordinance’s revisions include decreasing the rabies-vaccination age requirement for pets from six months to 14 weeks, establishing a limit on the number of dogs per household to 10 per acre, and decriminalizing the feeding of cats on public property, among other changes included in the agenda packet for Friday’s County Commissioners’ meeting.ĭr. The Chatham Board of Commissioners voted to repeal and replace the county’s Animal Control Ordinance in a 6-3 vote at their biweekly meeting Friday, after hearing impassioned comments from the public about feral cats.Īs previously reported, the County Commissioners first considered updating the Animal Control Ordinance in December, and then hosted a public forum about this topic on Jan.
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