Senate Bill No. 6
(By Senator Boley)
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[Introduced February 11, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Agriculture; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §19-20-26, relating
to the care and management of feral cats.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §19-20-26, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 20. DOGS AND CATS.
§19-20-26. Care and management of feral cats.
(a)
Intent. --
The intent of this section is to regulate the care and
management of feral cats in as much as there are no government or
privately operated facilities in the State of West Virginia to
manage these cats. The population of feral and homeless cats has
been increasing in the state at an uncontrollable rate and communities throughout West Virginia have determined that the
practice of trapping and euthanizing feral cats is not effective in
reducing their numbers. A present goal of (TNR) trap, neuter,
return is to decrease the number of cats in the environment and
thereby reduce feral cat predation on wildlife. The establishment
of programs for the care of feral and homeless cats that include
trap, neutering and returning feral cats to their habitats have
proven to be effective in reducing the number of cats and is more
humane than trapping and euthanizing. Benefits communities and the
general public health by placing cats in managed colonies,
vaccinating them against rabies, spaying and neutering them, and
with other efforts results in control of the population of feral
and homeless cats and other positive consequences.
(b)
Definitions. --
As used in this article the following terms mean:
(1) "Abandoned" means that an owner or caretaker has forsaken
a domesticated cat entirely, or has neglected or refused to provide
care and support of the cat.
(2) "Animal control officer" means any person employed or
appointed, who is authorized to investigate violations of laws and
regulations concerning animals, and to issue citations in
accordance with this code.
(3) "Caretaker" means any person who provides food, water and
shelter to otherwise care for a cat.
(4) "Domesticated cat" means a cat that is socialized to
humans and is appropriate as a companion for humans.
(5) "Eartipping" means straight-line cutting of a one fourth
inch tip of the left ear of a cat while the cat is anesthetized.
(6) "Feral cat" means a cat that exists in a wild or untamed
state, either due to birth or reversion to a wild state from
domestication. The usual and consistent characteristic of a feral
cat is extreme fear and resistance to contact with humans.
(7) "Nuisance" means disturbing the peace by habitually or
continually howling, crying or screaming, or the habitual and
significant destruction, desecration or soiling of property against
the wishes of the property owner.
(8) "Owner" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership,
association, trust, estate or any other legal entity.
(9) "Rescue group" is a for-profit or not-for-profit entity,
or collaboration of individuals with at least one of its purposes
being the adoption or placement of cats in homes with humans to
serve as companion animals.
(10) "Stray cat" means a cat that is regularly off the
property of the owner, is not under the physical control and
restraint of the owner and is not regularly provided with food or
monitoring of said owner.
(11) "Suitable shelter" means shelter that provides protection
from rain, sun and other elements, i.e. snow, cold, storms, etc., that is adequate to protect the health and safety of the cat.
(12) "TNR" means Trap, Neuter and Return.
(13) "TNR Program" means a program whose purpose it is to
trap, neuter or spay, vaccinate against rabies and return to the
location where they congregate.
(14) "Zoonotic disease" means those diseases transmittable to
humans from animals, including parasitic, bacterial, fungal and
viral diseases.
(c)
Responsibilities of owners of domesticated cats. --
(1) Owners of domesticated cats shall provide appropriate and
adequate food, water and shelter for their cats;
(2) The owner of a domesticated cat shall exercise reasonable
care to guard against the cat creating a nuisance;
(3) The owner of a sexually intact (not spayed or neutered)
domesticated cat shall not permit his or her cat to roam
unsupervised;
(4) An owner shall not abandon a domesticated cat.
(d)
Feral cat colonies. --
(1) Feral cat colonies shall be permitted and caretakers shall
be entitled to maintain them in accordance with the terms and
conditions of this section.
(2)Feral cat colonies shall be under the sponsorship of
appropriate approved TNR programs such as the "Save a Kitty Feral
Cat Program" based in Parkersburg, West Virginia, a nonprofit organization, established July, 2004, and approved to administer a
program. The sponsoring organization agrees to perform the
following responsibilities:
(A) Review and approve of colony caretakers;
(B) Help to resolve any complaints over the conduct of a
colony caretaker or of cats within a colony;
(C) Maintain records provided by colony caretakers on the size
and location of the colonies as well as the vaccination and
sterilization records of cats in the said colonies; and
(D) Report annually to the state or township on the following:
(i) Number of colonies in the township;
(ii) Total number of cats in colonies;
(iii) Number of cats and kittens spayed and neutered pursuant
to the TNR program; and
(iv) Number of cats and kittens placed in permanent homes.
(e)
Feral cat caretaker requirements. --
Caretakers are responsible for the
following:
(1) Registering the feral cat colony with the administrator of
the TNR program;
(2) Taking steps that are reasonably likely to result in the
vaccination of the colony population for rabies and making
reasonable efforts to update the vaccinations on cats that may be
recaptured;
(3) Taking steps that are reasonably likely to result in the spay/neuter, by a licensed veterinarian, of at least 90% of the
colony population.
(4) Providing the administrator with descriptions of each cat
in the colony and copies of documents evidencing that the cats have
been vaccinated and sterilized;
(5) Providing food, water and shelter for colony;
(6) Observing the colony cats at least twice per week and
keeping a record of any illnesses or unusual behavior noticed in
the colony cats requiring medical attention;
(7) Obtaining the approval of the owner of any property, to
which the caretaker requires access to provide colony care;
(8) Remove kittens from the colony after they have been weaned
and the placement of the kittens in homes or foster homes for the
purpose of subsequent permanent placement or sterilizing any
kittens prior to their return to the colony;
(9) Report annually in writing to the administrator on the
status of the colony, including data on the number and gender of
all cats in the colony, the number of cats that die or otherwise
ceased being a part of the colony during the year; the number of
kittens born to colony cats and their disposition and the number of
cats and kittens placed in permanent homes as companion cats; and
(10) Obtain proper medical attention for any colony cat that
appears to require it.
(f)
Colony cat requirements. --
(1) The left ear of a colony cat that has been spayed or
neutered and vaccinated shall be eartipped.
(2) A written description of the colony cats shall be
maintained and reported to the administrator with any changes.
(3) An animal control officer, who has trapped a cat whose
left ear has been tipped or which bears some other distinguishing
mark indicating that it belongs to a managed feral cat colony,
shall record the location of the trapping and then contact the
administrator of the program, who will then contact the caretaker.
If a trapped cat is brought to the animal shelter and is ear
tipped, the shelter shall record the location of trapping and
contact the administrator (or caretaker) to retrieve said cat.
(4) If the caretaker or sponsor of the program is not able to
immediately take custody of the cat, the officer shall transport
the cat to the local animal shelter. The caretaker or sponsor
shall be responsible for retrieving the cat from the shelter within
three business days or advising the shelter if the caretaker or
sponsor does not intend to retrieve the cat while indicating any
special circumstances involved.
(g)
Enforcement. --
The Township shall have the following rights:
(1) The right to seize or remove cats from a colony that have
not been vaccinated against rabies and which are demonstrating
signs of the disease;
(2) The right to seize or remove a cat from a colony that is
creating a nuisance as defined above and the caretaker and sponsor
have been given 60 days to remove and relocate the cat and have
failed to do so;
(3) The right to seize or remove a colony of cats when the
caretaker regularly fails to comply with the requirements of
subsection three of this section and the sponsor has not been able
to obtain a replacement or substitute caretaker within 60 days of
the township's notice to the sponsor or the caretaker's failure to
comply with this ordinance;
(4) The right of all animal control officers and police
officers to investigate any nuisance complaints of feral cats.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate and control the
management of feral and abandoned cats.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.