Marcy Britton, described as an ‘animal welfare activist’ says that TNR (trap-neuter-release of feral cats) has turned her property into a feral cat colony. She says that it does more harm than good and her home has lost value.
“It’s a gruesome, inhumane, illegal, thing to do to any animal…”
The city of Albuquerque has been supporting TNR for seven years.
“Cats are not wildlife. Our city is not a cat sanctuary..”
“It’s disgusting. I mean you come home from work and there are cats on your porch. They get hit by cars. They get poisoned. This is where I live. My property value has been reduced…”
Britton has sued the Mayor of the city and the Director of Animal Welfare Department. Her complaint as stated in the court document is:
COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES FOR INVERSE CONDEMNATION AND TRESPASS AND FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
What is ‘inverse condemnation’? It describes the situation where, in this instance, the local government takes private property but fails to pay compensation.
Comment: It is a hopeless case. It has no chance of success. None at all. This has nothing to do with inverse condemnation. It seems that Britton is concerned that her property has lost value or that is what she believes. This, I would suggest, is the main reason for her suing the government. So there is a commercial reason behind this. Perhaps she has plans to sell the property. She’d be hard pressed to prove that her property has lost value because of the presence of feral cats.
Animal Welfare say the program is working. TNR is the only way to deal with feral cats humanely and if Britton wants to fix the problem of feral cats she should lobby the city to provide education to cat owners to try and make them more responsible. Irresponsible cat owners are the root source of the problem. TNR is a reaction to that core problem.
Right off the bat I would consider the property one I would favor to buy… so it’s just a matter of who you talk to. Debating what you categorize an animal is just playing a semantics game. They’re still animals at risk and even more in need than those that aren’t domesticated, because we caused their existence in the first place and should take responsibility for them, not turn our backs because at some point we want a windfall profit on resale of the property. I’d welcome the opportunity to help and steward as many cats as possible, and a property that has them is a plus to me, so I might pay handsomely for it, or at least as much as any other parcel.