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Wright Twp. Mulls Action Against Free-Roaming Cats: Responding to Complaints, Supervisors Are Eyeing Possible Ordinances.

Posted on: Monday, 20 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By Rory Sweeney, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

Feb. 20--WRIGHT TWP. -- Anthony Zvirblis sees cats all the time, stalking and killing wildlife in his yard. At night, when he and his wife are trying to sleep, he hears those same cats crying and fighting. He chases them away, but they come back.

Worse yet, new ones keep showing up.

Now he's had enough of the free-roaming felines.

In December, Zvirblis wrote a letter to township supervisors, urging them to enact laws to crack down on domestic cats allowed to go outdoors unrestricted.

He envisions ordinances that mirror regulations for dogs, including licensing and registration, confining cats to their owners' property and limiting how many one person can own. He sent a follow-up letter in January.

The board is paying attention. At the January and February meetings, it acknowledged Zvirblis' concerns and released a statement reminding residents that pets cannot "run at large" or defile public property.

"We're going to go through our ordinances and see what we have," said Daniel Frascella, a board member. "We thought we have something on the books."

If none exists, the board will create one, he said.

"If we have to pass an ordinance that people have to curb their cats like they curb their dogs, then we'll pass it," he said.

He said a few pet owners might have to be cited before residents start confining their animals.

"The sad part is the good are going to suffer for the bad," he said. "Some people do care and others turn around and say, 'If it happens, it happens and I ain't worried about it.'"

The township, which does not have an animal control officer, would likely look to the county or state for help rounding up strays, Frascella said.

Zvirblis is particularly concerned the cats might kill off the forest creatures he enjoys watching frolic in his back yard.

"I've seen (cats) carrying chipmunks in their mouths and clumps of bird feathers from birds they've killed," he said.

Frascella is less worried about wiping out the wildlife.

"I'm looking out my kitchen window and there must be seven or eight birds flying around in the pine trees and about five or six chippies," he said Thursday. He estimated there were also about four squirrels "swinging from one tree to the other tree."

But sometimes the uppity mammals need to be knocked down a peg or two. That's when a prowling pussycat might become helpful, he said.

"He was doing a service, keeping the chipmunks away from my house."

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

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Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

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