County administrators say volunteers must remove feral cats and their shelters by Christmas Day

For four years, three women, one of whom is Maryanne Maxwell, have been caring for feral cats in Wheeling, West Virginia. They feed them and have provided makeshift shelters for them. The shelters are obviously particularly important at this time of year.

Feral cats and their shelters must be removed by Christmas Day

They pay for cat food and veterinary care out of their own pockets. They could hardly be more conscientious citizens. Although the report on WTRF.com does not mention that they are managing a TNR program ,which may be the problem. There is no mention of vaccinations under a TNR program.

The Ohio County Health Department Administrator, Howard Gamble has decided unequivocally without discussion or any attempt to negotiate (as I understand it) that the feral cats and their shelters must be removed by Christmas Day otherwise a contracted agency or Animal Control will remove them. This must mean death for these cats.

Ohio county west Virginia map

The ladies don’t understand why the local authority has suddenly decided to come down on them like a ton of bricks in such a devastating manner. They say that there has never been a problem or any complaints until now. Someone complained and the cats have to go.

“It’s going to be really cold, and it’s going to break our hearts to think that their beds are going to be taken away,” said Maxwell.

Gamble said:

“They can’t stay there with the number one risk which is rabies. There’s no guarantee that the cats that are sitting there are completely vaccinated and harmless,”

Am I correct in saying that if the ladies were running a TNR program the cats would have been vaccinated against rabies? Is it too late to do this? Couldn’t there have been a discussion and some help provided by the local authority to resolve the matter in a more humane and reasonable way?

The ladies are working their socks off to find homes for the cats. This implies, incidentally, that the cats are not feral but semi-feral or semi-domesticated. All the more reason perhaps to find a humane solution rather than hand down threats of euthanasia.

Gamble’s fear is rabies. I understand that because he has to protect the community. However, rabies is very rare in outside cats. The best way forward is for the authorities to work with Maxwell and her colleagues. I hope that they do so in the interests of the cats involved.




12 thoughts on “County administrators say volunteers must remove feral cats and their shelters by Christmas Day”

  1. The author of the best comment will receive an Amazon gift of their choice at Christmas! Please comment as they can add to the article and pass on your valuable experience.
  2. My copy of Gerhold & Jessup is PDF. Therefore no link (I mentioned this in my previous post, but you edited it out for some reason). However, I’m happy to list the exact reference, and you should be able to google it:

    “Zoonotic Diseases Associated with Free-Roaming Cats”, R. W. Gerhold & D. A. Jessup; 2012, Blackwell Verlag GmBH–Zoonosis and Public Health

    Extensive references listed in the appendix for further reading, as well.

    In closing, I’ll mention that when you alter others’ arguments and/or censor them, all you accomplish is to spotlight your own lack of credibility. If you had cogent counter-arguments, you wouldn’t have to do that.

  3. He provided sources for his figures: Gerhold & Jessup, Journal of Zoonosis and Public Health, 2012, Centers for Disease Control website, 2012-2013. Feel free to research for yourself. My copy of the Zoonosis and Public Health article is in PDF–I can’t give you the link, but I can provide the reference. The CDC articles are easily googled and you can get the link for yourself. Next question.

  4. It means that the individual must receive PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylactic) inoculation because the risk that rabies have been transmitted to such persons is too great to not treat it. With the onset of symptoms, it’s too late–survival is highly unlikely.

Leave a Comment

follow it link and logo