Trailer park management demands residents kill feral cats
White Eagle mobile home park
Beginning the first of October we will begin an all out assault on all stray cats…So keep your one pet indoors…LAST WARNING…All residents can help clean up the stray cat problem by leaving a bowl of antifreeze out to poison these ever increasing problem…This stray cat problem if not eliminated will result in higher rents for all residents.
“WHITE EAGLE WOODS…LLC”
Demand to poison cats at trailer park
This is part of a notice sent to all residents of a trailer park in Reeds Spring, Missouri, USA.
The trailer park manager, Mark Rich denies sending out the letter. He does admit, though, that the residents of the trailer park are divided on the issue of feral cats which reflects society generally. Some people want to feed them and some want to kill them. The split in opinion has been like this for a long time but the truth is that killing feral cats is neither the solution nor is it moral behaviour. Quite rightly, some residents are up in arms about the letter. They see it as completely unacceptable.
The park manager says that Animal Control can’t really help and the Humane Society charge $40 per cat to remove them (I presume that means trap and relocate or euthanise).
The letter is fierce because it is effectively a demand to kill cats with severe consequences for those who don’t comply.
The letter must be a crime as it is a conspiracy to commit animal cruelty. It must be a violation of the state’s animal welfare laws or federal laws and if not the laws are no good.
Dead, presumed poisoned, cats have been found by the police investigating the matter. The police appear to be disinterested. We are told that they couldn’t tell what caused the cats’ deaths or prove that they were killed by someone.
However, it wouldn’t take much to do some tests on the cats to see if they were poisoned by antifreeze.
Sadly and typically this sort of crime goes unpunished. The difficulties in properly dealing with the “feral cat problem” remain unresolved. All the focus should be on proactive, preventative measures: stopping the breeding of cats through education to improve cat ownership standards.