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SALT LAKE CITY — One lawmaker wants to shoot 'em. And now another wants to round 'em up.
Feral cats, it seems, are wanted dead and alive.
Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, has introduced SB57 into the Utah Legislature to allow organizations or individuals to set up community cat colonies. They would be sort of safe havens where free-roaming cats could be dropped off to be sterilized and vaccinated. Each cat would have a quarter-inch clipped from its ear before being returned to where it was found.
Sponsors of a cat colony would have to keep records on each animal. Cats in the colony would be exempt from the mandatory three-day shelter holding period.
Meantime, Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, earlier unleashed HB210 which would make it legal to shoot and kill feral cats.
That bill has yet to have a legislative committee hearing.
Animal shelters support Stowell's proposal. Shawni M. Larrabee, director of Salt Lake County Animal Services, said the high number of cats being trapped and killed in animal shelters "makes it clear that catch and kill is not effective. (Trap-neuter-return) is the only program that has been shown to result in a decrease in the number of animals entering shelters."
She said the number of cats entering Salt Lake Animal Services from Salt Lake City dropped 20 percent between 2006 and 2010 since TNR program has become established.
That decrease led animal services officials to further study the phenomenon and direct more resources to the unincorporated county to seek similar results, she said.
"SB57 would be a major step forward for TNR and would be a great help to our agency," Larrabee said.
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com
