COLUSA, CA (MPG) – In Colusa’s downtown and quiet neighborhoods, people are never far from stray or feral cats. The overpopulation of cats has been a problem for city leaders for some time but was mitigated somewhat by the Colusa County Animal Shelter, who took in nearly 600 cats a year since 2020 but found homes for only a select few. Unadoptable cats are euthanized, officials said.
Now that the county shelter has stopped taking in feral, lost, and abandoned cats, the Colusa City Council is looking to strengthen its local ordinance to make people more accountable for allowing feral cat colonies to exist.
For decades, controversy abounded over the best way to manage nuisance animals, whether cat colonies created by well-meaning individuals or roosters and chickens roaming through quiet neighborhoods, Colusa officials said.
City Manager Jesse Cain said he’s not sure where the City Council should even begin, but that it was time to face the problem and update the city’s animal ordinance.
“We can literally talk about this all night,” Cain told the City Council, at their first meeting in August.
The council gave Cain direction for him and the city attorney to draft a new version of the ordinance that “adds teeth” to existing laws, which already prohibits residents for having unaltered adult cats over four months old to be outside.
City officials said the current ordinance has animal prohibitions but no method for Colusa County Animal Control, with whom they contract, to enforce them.
“The whole thing needs to be looked at and completely redone,” Cain said. “We need to look at every aspect of it, make it easy to follow, and easy to understand.”
Council members said they want an ordinance like those of the cites of Marysville or Williams, which places restrictions on feeding stray cats outdoors or maintaining a feral colony without a proper TNR (trap, neuter, and release) permit, and makes animal violations a misdemeanor – subject to a criminal charge or administrative fines.
“I’ve heard that Williams’ (ordinance) is fantastic,” said Councilman Daniel Vaca. “I’ve heard that it is working for them.”
Vaca said in the past year, he has noticed that the cat population has become out of control in Colusa.
“We have people just dump bags of cat food in their backyards,” Vaca said. “They have 50, 60, 70 cats in their yards. That’s not taking care of a cat. Yes, you are feeding them, but that is not really taking care of an animal.”
According to animal control, stray, lost, and feral (descendants of strays that are not tame) often lead short, miserable lives, with adult females producing up to three unwanted litters of kittens each year. Feral cats also carry diseases to humans and pets and wreak havoc on populations of birds and other wildlife, officials said.
Colusa officials said a stricter ordinance may stop people from dumping cat food outside, which also adds to a rat problem and attracts other unwelcome wildlife, such as raccoons and skunks.
“We have to do something,” Vaca said. “It is a call I get a lot.”
The City Council requested Cain to research and draft an updated animal ordinance, which will require a minimum of two public hearings before it can become law.