Frederick County, Maryland Code of Ordinances, Chapter 1-5: Animals and Fowl, are resulting in fines to citizens and the death of cats at our animal control facility. The laws prohibit cats from being at-large (leash laws) allowing for impoundment by animal control officers, service fees and cost of veterinary care to owners to reclaim cats and require licenses for all cats.
Laws mandating that cats be kept either indoors or on leashes increase the number of cats killed in our local shelter. The number one documented cause of death for all cats in the U.S. is being killed in animal pounds and shelters. Leash laws send even more cats into a system in which over 70% of all cats are killed nationally.
Cat leash laws have fatal consequences for cats. They operate on the principal that any cat found loose outdoors should be brought to an animal pound or shelter where the cat has little chance of survival. Any cat not wearing a leash is a visible target for animal control. Even indoor-only cats who have escaped are at risk of being impounded and killed. Leash laws are especially lethal for feral cats, who do not have traditional "owners" to leash them and whose natural habitat is outdoors. Leash laws allow animal control to pick them up and bring them to the shelter where virtually 100% of them will be killed. Feral cats are unsocialized, timid and fearful of humans, and therefore not adoptable and cannot be placed on the adoption floor at Frederick County Animal Control.
Cats are not dogs and should be treated accordingly. Animal damage control laws were enacted in the U.S. primarily to compensate for dogs killing livestock and to protect against rabies, which at the time had no preventive vaccine or post-exposure treatment. Cats, at most, can cause only trivial damage to humans and their property. Rabies, meanwhile, has been virtually eradicated from cat and dog populations; no human has died after being bitten by an infected cat in over thirty years. Since leash laws are intended to protect against significant harm, there is no justification for leashing cats.
In addition to reducing our county cat euthanasia rates, changing county ordinances would support Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage (TNRM) of cats in our communities. TNRM is a program through which free-roaming "unowned" cats are trapped, spayed and neutered, vaccinated for rabies, then returned to the outdoor locations where they were found under the care of a committed caregiver that provides food and water, shelter, and continuing medical care. It is the most humane and effective method available to end our cat overpopulation crisis. Currently, Frederick County code and ordinances reduce the effectiveness of TNRM and are problematic to community cat caregivers. Specifically excluding caregivers from the definition of "owner" and exempting community cats from "leash laws" and licensing requirements would remove barriers to TNRM. Fines and impoundment work against both cats and citizens of our county.
Sign the petition today and tell the Frederick County Council to change ordinances relating to at-large "leash" laws, impoundment, and licensing for cats.
