Bounty on Cats? Mee-Ow!!!

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| Print | By | March 20, 2008 12:41 PM

The cat world was shocked to learn that a small town in Iowa decided to offer a $5 bounty on free-roaming cats, effective March 1st. The mayor of Randolph reported that the town was over-run with felines, and since they did not have a shelter, his solution was to pay the citizens to catch ‘em and (if not claimed), have a local veterinarian kill ‘em.

Outraged cat lovers expressed concern that better options for controlling stray and feral cats hadn’t been explored, such as a TNR (trap-neuter-return) program advocated by Alley Cat Allies (see petside's feral cats article for more info). They also felt that the bounty might encourage unscrupulous folks and cat-haters (who could hate a cat???) to catch pet felines, remove the collar and collect the money.

3-20 stray cat.jpg

On March 12, the plan was repealed. It seems an investigation of Mayor Vance Triveily showed that he was illegally operating as a shelter when he agreed to hold the strays in his home, the City Council said.

What do you think? Was this plan cruel, or is offering a reward to control ferals ok? Leave a comment and let me know.

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