Corning's stray cat glut

Sep 05, 2008 (Red Bluff Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- GLW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Sep. 5--Note: The Tehama County Animal Shelter does not accept animals of any kind from within Corning city limits.

CORNING -- If you have a cat problem, better take care of it yourself.

The Olive City's animal control resources are geared toward dogs, with neither a cat shelter nor a trap-neuter-release program.

The city has considered both these ideas but one depends on the other, said police chief Tony Cardenas. A trap-neuter-release program would require facilities that the animal shelter, designed exclusively for dogs, cannot provide at this point.

As it stands the city has no concrete plans to introduce either, though the department's animal control division has received some calls about cats.

"We do get some complaints," Cardenas said.

When they do, the animal control department has cages that citizens can borrow themselves to trap cats. "You are required to dispose of the cat in a humane way" through euthanasia, said officer Tatia Dawley.

The city's animal control department will euthanize cats if they are sick or particularly ill, she said.

Cats also can be taken to the Tehama County Animal Shelter by the person who trapped the cat, said manager Scott Alsteen. There felines are kept for five days, as required by law, in the holding area where they are given shots and the staff determines whether or not the cats are suitable for adoption. Particularly feral cats can be euthanized, as well as cats with leukemia, which can be contagious.

Cats that meet requirements are immunized and held for 30 days or longer in the adoption site -- longer if they are kittens -- and if still unadopted are either euthanized or given to nonprofit organizations, Alsteen said.

The catch is a 70-person waiting list has been created to deal with the limited number of cages at the shelter.

The TCAS has only 12 cages for its cats and two of those cages are reserved for animal abuse victims under investigation by the police and the sheriff's departments.

Having trapped a cat and having nowhere to turn it over frustrates some, but state law dictates all cats be held for a five-day minimum at the shelter, he said.

"(Some) folks just don't want to get on the cat waiting list," Alsteen said.

Because cats occupy a non-domestic position under California law, county animal control is not obligated to deal with them, he said. The shelter accepts Corning cats but animal control will not send out officers to that area if a cat is discovered.

The complaints have never been more than "several a year" and the one study Corning City Manager Steve Kimbrough can recall found a cat shelter would not be cost efficient.

"At some point I'm sure the city will be building a new shelter," Kimbrough said. "Our past research (says) that it would take quite a bit to set up."

Second Chance Pet Rescue works in conjunction with Corning's animal control department. Its president, Debbie Eaglebarger, said studies show a trap-neuter-release plan could bring down the city's feline population and is needed in part because the Tehama County Animal shelter can not take all of Corning's cats.

"There are so many cats," she said. "We could get 50 cats in a day."

Though she has discussed the idea of a new shelter for the better part of her six-year tenure, Eaglebarger said the talks have been just that. A new shelter is something she does not expect for another five to 10 years. Eaglebarger has not worked a cat shelter so far and said she would be uncertain whether it would be better to neuter feral cats and release them from where they were picked up or to sponsor an adoption program like the city has for its dogs.

If the problem becomes unbearable for Corning residents, the best thing to do would be to talk to city representatives, she said.

"I think they realize this is a problem," she said. "If enough people complain, they're going to do something."

Staff Writer Geoff Johnson can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114, or at gjohnson@redbluffdailynews.com

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