The New York Post reports on a North Carolina town called Cary where the administrators have imposed a cat leash law for more than 50 years, which may surprise many people. Even today, it is highly unusual for a local authority to impose a cat leash law on its residents.
But in Cary it illegal for residents to allow their dogs and cats to be off a leash or lead if they are not on their owner’s property. To put that another way, the town requires that all dogs and cats be on a leash or lead if they are in public places or on land or buildings belonging to someone other than the cat’s owner. Violations of this bylaw invite fines ranging from $20-$250 depending on the number of times the owner is in violation of the regulations.
I don’t need to go over the usual ground on the reasons why this restriction was introduced many years ago. It is to protect wildlife and domestic cats. But it is interesting to ask why this town North Carolina decided to impose this restriction so many years ago. Was there something to protect North Carolina? A certain species of animal that this local authority wanted to protect? We don’t know but even today there are very few local jurisdictions which impose leash laws on their residents.
The New York Post say that Cary is “cracking down on free-roaming cats”. That’s not entirely correct because the statement implies that the town has recently begun to crack down on free-roaming cats when, as mentioned, this law has been in place for more than 50 years.
As you might imagine, when this old but at the same time modern leash law was discussed on Facebook it caused quite a stir. This happened when the town’s Animal Services reminded its residents on their Facebook page that “cats must be leashed when not on their owner’s property.” It would seem that the bylaw has been in place for so long that its residents had forgotten about it. This may imply that the law is being enforced rather poorly which would be understandable. This is the big issue with this kind of law. They are difficult to enforce if not impossible and certainly impractical. It requires voluntary compliance by the residents.
The newspaper reports that Cary’s Animal Services receives about 1000 telephone calls every year about feral cats and stray cats and kittens.
