Bird control.
How about squirrels?
Squirrel control.
Posted on 07/02/2009 7:44:31 PM PDT by Chet 99
65-Year-Old Woman Faces Jail Time For Feeding Cats
Amanda Peabody
Published 07/02/2009 - 6:29 p.m. CST
Katherine Varjian, 65, had been feeding feral cats, or felines that are not under her ownership, in her Beverly Hills neighborhood for the past 12 years. The Beverly Hills Municipal Court will now decide whether or not her actions are within the confines of the law.
Varjian was feeding between 20 and 30 cats daily in the alley behind the 100-200 blocks of Palm, Maple and Oakhurst Drives. She was issued citations twice for this behavior – first in January of this year, then again in February. The violation is considered a misdemeanor by the City and will be heard by Beverly Hills criminal court. The charge carries with it a possible six months of jail time and a $1,000 fine.
The problem lies in a deleted code (5-2-104, subdivision B and C).
In an effort to streamline practices when handling animal control, the City retained the City of Los Angeles’ Animal Services Department for certain animal care and control services, consequently adopting their ordinances.
“As part of the adoption of the Los Angeles animal control regulations, provisions of the Beverly Hills Municipal Code that were designed to prevent the feeding of animals (including stray and feral cats) in such a manner that attracts coyotes and other predatory animals or otherwise endangers the health, safety and welfare of the general public, were inadvertently deleted,” said Cheryl Burnett, City spokeswoman
The code explicitly prohibits the feeding of feral cats and dogs on any public property, any property that is open to the pubic or any private property is not completely enclosed by a secured wall.
It is under this omitted code that Varjian has been charged.
Although Varjian has taken what is argued as excellent care of these cats – routinely spaying, neutering and adopting out kittens through various local organizations – her actions have also created a nuisance in the neighborhood, said local residents.
“(Varjian’s feeding of the feral cats) is a big problem that is not being looked at realistically,” said resident Darian Bojeaux. “The food brings coyotes to the neighborhood. Neighbors have had to clean up (excess food). It brings roaches and I am afraid for my own pets.”
Bojeaux and several other neighbors organized a petition against Varjian, asking her to stop feeding the alleged feral cats; 30-40 signatures were secured.
“Varjian has spayed and neutered at her own expense countless feral cats and has probably done more in the City to control the homeless cat population,” said Ben Lehrer, president of Kitten Rescue (www.kittenrescue.org), an organization that rescues stray, abandoned or sheltered cats and kittens that are slated for euthanasia from the surrounding area.
According to Lehrer, Varjian has adopted out over 120 cats and kittens, a vast majority from her neighborhood, he says.
The court will now decide whether or not to proceed with charges against Varjian in a hearing slated for Aug. 7 at 1:30 p.m. Counsel for Varjian has requested dismissal of the case (two counts were dismissed at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing) based on the grounds that Varjian has been charged against a non-existent code.
The City Council will be addressing an urgency ordinance either correcting the omission or clarifying its non-presence at the July 7 meeting.
Bird control.
How about squirrels?
Squirrel control.
Some day you are going to kill someone's pet and then you will be dealing with an angry human and not a 10 pound animal. Have fun with that.
Protecting your property from a housecat - LOL.
Ever hear of animal control? If they are such a problem they will take care of it AND also educate the lady that supposedly feeds them. That would be the responsible thing to do.
Bubonic plague. It nearly wiped out Europe in the Middle Ages.
As do most people who view the world only in black and white, you have mistakenly labeled me a “liberal”. I am very definitely NOT a liberal, but I have a heart. Unlike the HE-man wannabe, which would be you. I don’t CARE that you describe the feral cats you killed, by L-rd knows what method (probably cruelly), as diseased and full of ticks. Are you also a veterinarian? If someone were hurting, full of parasites and likely abused in the past, they might be kind of testy, too.
The cats should have given to the charge of a reliable animal rescue organization, instead of using them to boost your obviously low self-image of manhood.
And, as others have pointed out, you may have trapped and killed someone’s pet. Now, if you had laid a finger on either of my 2 cats—both of which are indoors-only—you would be in a world of hurt. I once punched a vet across the room when he mishandled a cat of mine which had just had orthopedic surgery in another clinic. I had warned him not to touch the cat’s back legs, and then the imbecile tried to pull my cat out of the carrier BY her back legs. Bad move. He neither listened to my request not to touch her back legs, nor stopped when I shouted to stop as she screamed in pain. That’s when I did what I had to do, and never bothered with that idiot again.
You would probably find a long-lost brother in this sorry excuse for a vet, big “man”. Blam-blam-blam is the only way you can figure out to deal with any problem.
Does this fall into the “No good deed goes unpunished” file?
Oh h*ll yeah.
Aside from my dog, she has now become the love of my life.
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