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Ownership

post #1 of 12
3/1/04 at 1:08pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, my question is: what is considered "ownership"? My township has an ordinance against allowing your cats to become a problem for your neighbors. I have a small feral colony that lives in 2 neighbors yards but come to my yard to eat. I'm slowly TNR'ing. Are these now my cats since I'm spending the money to have them neutered and doctored? Since they're feral (they all started as kittens so I know they're not drop-offs or strays), I call myself a custodian, not an owner.

Sandy
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post #2 of 12
3/1/04 at 2:38pm
Sandy, you'll probably have to tell Mark what township you live in. I encountered the same situation a few years ago in the German town I live in, and was told that since I was feeding the cats and paying for their medical care, I was legally their owner, regardless of the fact that they had been feral or abandoned. Some other towns in our county have no regulations whatsoever regarding ferals.
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post #3 of 12
3/1/04 at 2:51pm
Hey Sandy...Just a thought...but if these feral cats are causing your neighbors issues...you can always build an enclosed shelter for them. I have links to a couple of really cool ideas that allow the cats to live "outdoors" but they are essentually "contained".

Katie
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post #4 of 12
3/2/04 at 6:00am
Quote:
Originally posted by Sweets
Ok, my question is: what is considered "ownership"? My township has an ordinance against allowing your cats to become a problem for your neighbors. I have a small feral colony that lives in 2 neighbors yards but come to my yard to eat. I'm slowly TNR'ing. Are these now my cats since I'm spending the money to have them neutered and doctored? Since they're feral (they all started as kittens so I know they're not drop-offs or strays), I call myself a custodian, not an owner.

Sandy
Can you advise which Township you are in? Thanks
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post #5 of 12
3/2/04 at 6:52am
Thread Starter 
Sorry. I'm in Woodbridge Township, NJ.

I personally don't feel the cats are creating any major problems. Since I started feeding them, they haven't gotten into the garbage. They avoid people and there are no dogs in the immediate vicinity. When the couple on my right moved in, she threatened to call Animal Control because she had a sandbox for her daughters and the obvious happened. But her kids are no longer playing in sandboxes. The cats live among the junk cars/boats/trucks her husband has collected in their backyard. They also live in a shack of a shed in the neighbor's yard behind me.

Its a relatively small colony...about 7 cats.

Sandy
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post #6 of 12
3/25/04 at 9:48am
Thread Starter 
Any info yet Mark??
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post #7 of 12
3/25/04 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Sweets
Any info yet Mark??
Yep. But its on my PC at work. Thought I had finished this one. Answer tomorrow!
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post #8 of 12
4/2/04 at 1:59pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Kumpf
Yep. But its on my PC at work. Thought I had finished this one. Answer tomorrow!
YOOHOOOO!! Mark??
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post #9 of 12
4/21/04 at 4:29am
I have the same question...I have the same problem. I TNR and vaccinated two 7 month old kittens and have cared for them since 6 weeks. My neighbor wants to trap them and send them to the spca because they are pooping in his yard. Are they considered my animals since I neutered,vaccinated,de-flea and feed these guys? I am in New Castle County, DE.
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post #10 of 12
4/21/04 at 6:20am
trippysgirl..I know this doesn't answer your question about "ownership"..but is there a way you can help your neighbor by confining these guys to your yard? I have also heard of people using cat detterents (like mothballs) but I think that is more for flower beds then yards.

Katie
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post #11 of 12
4/21/04 at 1:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweets
Since they're feral (they all started as kittens so I know they're not drop-offs or strays), I call myself a custodian, not an owner.

Sandy
Hi Sandy, and All,

I'm not a lawyer, and I'm (obviously) not Mark either. But here's one take on it. If you take animals to a veterinarian, and if you are known to provide food for them, and sometimes shelter, you COULD be considered, under the law, to be an owner of them. Yes, that's really unfair, in my personal opinion, but that's how it's often seen. If you can convince a local rescue organization to consider unowned cats as "theirs" you probably would be in a better position. Also, if you can consistently work on teaching your neighbors WHY the cats need help and why YOU happen to be helping them (and, um, incidentally, how THEY could help), you will be less likely to need to worry about any definition. (It's like the old "good fences make good neighbors" argument: Let people see that you're willing to listen and to work with them to resolve problems, and that way the law doesn't have to come into play at all.

The trouble is that most law that I have ever seen doesn't "see" feral animals at all; it's owned, or wild, nothing in between. (So, you could, maybe, say, well, the law doesn't APPLY to feral cats . . . . Hmmmmm.)
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post #12 of 12
4/22/04 at 7:14am
Hmmm...good idea. We live in townhomes so we're pretty much on top of eachother. It's hard to confine them when our yards are so small. The mothball idea is good.
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