001Order the special meeting of the city council at 4:30 p.m. Council Chambers Marks or turned in? >> No, sir. >> Okay. Item three, conduct a workshop on a trap and release program for feral cats in the city of Memphis. >> Yes, sir. for Mayor and Council. Uh Chief Mai is going to discuss a new program that he's considering for the animal patrol and I'll kick it over to him. Mayor, city council Mike L, chief of police. Um find a little packet on a program that our animal control officers have been uh discussing. We've been debating back and forth. Obviously you can see we do have a cat problem in the city and an alternative we are no kill shelter. So a solution uh to do this would be the TNBR which is basically trap neuter
002spay vaccinate and then return program and today basically we would go and trap cats feral cats if they're microchipped and or have a tag give those back to their owner but if they are straight feral collect those cats working with best friends um transport the cats like once a month or anything like what type of uh schedule we have bringing them down to Houston. They would then do their surgical spay, neuter for every cat we brought down there as well as vaccinate and then the same all in the same day bringing them back and under their um rules and all that would re-release them uh identified by clipping one of the ears with a so you can identify. So you run the traps again. Uh you find an animal that's already has a clipped ear.
003You already know it's already been vaccinated, spayed, neutered. Um grows, it's free. Um stops the population growing um because they're spayed and neutered, vaccinated. Um so any type of uh cat does bite somebody like that, we know that these cats are vaccinated. Um these are we do have um like right now the cats are not and so they're constantly repopulating left and right and but this would severely decrease that population. They u some of the other positives um the males once they are neutered uh their territory and then fighting and all that significantly goes down. The only thing is, yes, we're re-releasing them, but if we were to trap them, they're in our shelter and we just have to adopt them out as feral cats, which we do now to some persons. Every once I
004get a call from somebody in the county, I need a barn cat. These can still be released that way, but now they're not repopulating randomly. So, that's that's pretty much the biggest positive. And I also mentioned the con is yes, we're putting them back out there, but >> over time though >> over time it will start decreasing and and should do that. The packet that I got you uh was from the best friends on their website about the program at the end. It does have a lot of cities and counties that are participating in this already. Um the cost would basically be is us trapping the time to trap couple traps and then the time the AC officer has to drive down there sit with them while they're doing the surgeries and then drive back.
005Um >> we have to pay for the surgery. >> No sir. That that's that the only cost would be our time trapping, our time driving and our time driving back. Uh the surgeries are done by their their professional veterary students and so forth at best friends >> and our officers are the ones that kind of really looked into this and you know >> we looked into >> obviously are willing to >> and since we had been with best friends for several years talking to them uh the ACOS went down there and spoke with them in person and then forward us to their website and then that's why I read and copy and pasted a lot of the the pros and the hunts on there just to go back and forth on this program. biggest thing
006is we're staying away from the no kill side because we do get complaints on cats and new litters of cats being brought up and uh we're trying to stay away from that no kill side is this is I think one of the better options of that when you u catch these cats and and you taking Houston to get them fixed and bring them back uh where will you let them out at? So, they're supposed to under under their guidelines from Best Friends since this is their program document where each cat was trapped at, picked up at, and that's we're supposed to release them in that general area. >> Or can you release them to where somebody may want them like for a barn cat or something? Correct. Yeah. >> Just not sitting back at the
007shelter basically. Hey, we do we do have a we can make a list cuz we're not going to trap all month long and keep them all month. We call down the Houston, hey, we would like to schedule the surgeries on the 30th. We would start trapping 10 days prior to we may only get five cats or 30 cats. They didn't have a limit on that either. They have some that bring in 20 cats to 60 cats, different cities. >> So, we would just depends on what we trap. And then we would trap for maybe 10 days. run document trap one was a brown male just our normal descriptions that we do now when we pick up an animal location we can go trap out here 200 malpine um picked up which ones go down there
008and they did do all their surgeries vaccinate clip their ear and then re-release in that same general area if we have a list of persons that are wanting that which we would push towards hey barn cats that are uh spayneuter and vaccinated will be way better than just a cat that's not >> yeah you have a lot better adoption rate too >> what will this u do with the ordinance that that we have I know that our city ordinance said that u uh we can't abandon any animal in the city limits uh that would be fall upon a cruelty to an animal and and everything so once we take possession we take possession when we catch and then we come back and we put them back out in the community. >> And that's kind of
009like if we do get approval to move forward on that, we would have to rewrite the ordinance a little bit >> under our program because these cats will be identified as that. Most of the time the cats, they're already living out there and that's just kind of what we're trying to So the cats are already living out there um many of them and now we're just trying to make it better where we can vaccinate and then stop the reproduction of that. Um, >> so this is what the workshop is for for us to re I guess consider changing the ordinance. >> Well, first is is this program good for the city of Navasota and and us? And if you say yes, then that's the first step. Then after that, I re look at the ordinance
010because yes, we would have to adapt the ordinance to this new program. >> I'd imagine one of these other cities would probably share their ordinance maybe. >> Right. Correct. But we just need to, hey, this is an idea we we got thrown at us and yay or nay. Is this something for the city to do to help the cat population? And then if so, then yes. And I need to go back to the ordinance. But I didn't want to do nothing first. I'm just first step and then the second step and then we would start the program once we're all thumbsed up on everything. >> What have you heard from other cities that have had this program? I can see here at city hall it probably makes sense you see a bunch of cats running
011around that they're probably just feral or alleycats whatever. Um but in a neighborhood where you know I've got a white and black cat that walks across my you know front porch every what every day five times a day. I don't know if that belongs to somebody or not. So, if you pick it up and then you find out that there's no chip and the assumption would be that it is somebody else's cat, then we're going to go ahead and the owner of the cat may be missing their animal for a week or whatever it takes for you to capture it, have it at the shelter, take it to Houston, get the surgery, and then you bring it back. I'm just I'm curious how many residents find that their cats that they own are missing and
012have now become a part of this process and now have their ear clipped. >> I didn't hear I didn't see anything on that anybody's complaining that their cat got picked up and do that. Most of them you know it is is you're not supposed to at large is a violation and then microchipped and so forth. This will guarantee that the animal is now spayed, neutered, and vaccinated if uh they didn't have that, which that's another requirement in the ordinance. They have to be rabies vaccinated. Um the other thing, the some of the positives where people were felt better because now they know this cat that was running around their house in the middle of the night and all that if they did scratch or bite their kid, this one does have the vaccinations in it.
013in and if it was trapped or captured in like a neighborhood that Josh is talking about, it would be released in that same area. >> Correct. >> So, it's quite likely it may >> but as but as we do now when we trap or we get called out and we have a loose animal or something, we post on Facebook like the one the other day was immediately picked up by the owner. Uh we would still do that. Hey, we found this and usually put the date, the time, general area at the intersection of these two streets. Well, that's my it it spreads around on social media and they're up there picking it up. And then we would still check, hey, does it have the vaccination? Is it spayneutered? It's running at large. They got a
014couple issues to talk about at that point. In your study on this, uh, is it any surrounding counties that have, uh, had problems with, uh, more cats coming into the community once they found out Navasota is picking up cats, taking them to Houston, and getting them fixed, using us as a dropping off point. >> I didn't see any of that where the uptick picked up. Uh, cuz most of them noticed the populations actually dwindled because then the, uh, reproduction slows down, the rate of that slows down. So they didn't really notice the uptick of dumps, basically call it. We get them, we're going to get them here a lot. We're more rural. People just drop them off. Dogs, mainly more dogs. We don't really see as many cats thrown out like that. But our local
015area is the closest one. I know McGomery County and McGomery were posted on their website. Uh everything to the east of us u is on this program. And then there's some the larger cities, Houston and Dallas, Austin and Waco, San Antonio and all that are part of this program. Uh they didn't list obviously every single city a part of it has go ahead. >> Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Uh I guess if if we're going to this is a workshop for council, but are you if you if you want to say something I need to come to the mic and identify yourself and give your address, please. >> Uh thank you. I agree with Josh. You know, there's a lot of cats that cross my property. I don't know
016who they belong to. I don't want a cat. I don't have a cat. never will. But I sure enjoy that they uh you know get my mice and my snakes >> and you know so I do like that. But my question I guess becomes uh you're talking about a program over in Houston chief. So, you know, that's a good hour, probably hour and a half to get there, then sit and wait while these surgeries take place, and then another hour and a half or so to drive back from Houston on a good day. What about&m? They they have one of the largest, most prominent veterinary medicine schools in the entire country. Do they have any options like this? So, that that's my question. >> Thank you. that I don't know&m does have a program, but
017uh getting the schedule. This one's a dedicated strictly to this program. We can call them up next week and say we're bringing 20 cats in. We've brought&m down after request maybe twice in the last couple years to do a spayneuter program. And then uh if we did spay neuters locally, it's between $60 and $120 per animal. I think my only other question that pops in my head and this is get beaten going down a rabbit hole, a rabbit trail. I don't really want to, but if people notice that there are cats that have their ears clicked, then they would know that those are the ones that are homeless and probably would be like, "Oh, look, they all live down here, so I'm going to start pouring fill out down here." Has have other cities seen
018something like that? And how do you address that if that happens? So they did uh some of the cities did notice where their citizens were going to their general city park and noticed the clip deer cats were more approachable then and they thought it was a good thing but it's sort of you're not supposed to feed wildlife cuz then what happens they start getting closer to humans and so forth. That's I guess would be something that are we going to tell them don't feed the cats. Uh but that that is something I read on there. Yes. Um, I think it was San Antonio or Austin, one of the areas, they did notice that the people were less scared of them because they saw the clipped ones, they knew they were vaccinated. And of course, people
019are going to throw out I know a couple of them in town now that put food out there um to feed the stray cats. The only thing this would prevent was the mass reproduction of more cats to continue feeding. Um, but I did see that. Yes, that was one thing that people noticed. the cats were in their central park area and um they released them there. Same thing for rats, mice, uh birds and stuff the cats were going after, but people were starting to feed them as they do other animals, the birds. >> Yeah, >> you got a river, you feed the alligators and things like fish and all that. So, I don't know how you prevent cuz we got we have that going on right now. And I know and then they call us,
020hey, we just think one cat I used to feed now has nine more cats here. Can y'all come pick them up now? Well, you fed them. So that's your responsibility. But oh no, this was a stray the whole time. Never. So that that is our Well, we could have done one cat. Now we're having to do 10 cats. >> And I believe the question Josh a little bit you had about the clipped ear. I know my neighbor had a problem with cats and he took them and paid for himself to have them neutered and and all and the vet clip their ears. So it must I think it's a standard. It is >> once they do it they they do it. rather >> it's this group or somebody or >> someone else >> that is
021a standard if you go in there and saying this is not my cat this is not my personal home cat this is a stray that I want to get done that's the standard to cut that ear because of the large amount of uh cities and stuff that in Texas that do that >> before you roll it out you could have kind of some public awareness you know and kind of let people know what's going on >> oh yeah I mean it's a big >> say you know these some dos and these are some do nots and >> things like that would probably be helpful. >> Yeah, with that deal with feeding the cats. I've got three around my house that I buy cat food every month and they're not my cats but I feed them
022because they do keep snakes and they're rat snakes, but and then they're going to grow to, you know, 36 cats in a couple months and then all that. This would just decrease that down to keep them at keep them at three. I know there's another question in the >> uh Pat Gruner 721 Johnson. Um I've I've trapped cats for 10 years and I just take them and get them fixed. The only problem is there's an ordinance that you're supposed to have them vaccinated every year. You will never trap a cat more than one time. So, you're going to have to relax on that a little bit. At least they've been neutered and they were vaccinated one time. Ironically, just came from the vet this afternoon, picked up two that I trapped at 5:30 this morning.
023>> And uh I do it all the time because they reward me, as Dia said, they reward me with snakes and rats and mice. I don't ask for these cats. They've just shown up. They come from four and five blocks away cuz I see them. But, you know, it's just to me the humane thing to do. I don't want inside the >> population in the process. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's just kind of a way to to give back. And the vet, they they know me. They they just I know what days they take them and I just have to get them early and pick them up at 4:00. And but I just know one thing and that's once you've had a cat in a trap, you'll never trap them again. The vet will tell
024you that as well. So anyway, it's not >> when you bring them back, do you just let them back out at your house or you just >> mine it's protected. It's got a high fence so that the dogs can't get to them and they know and then in the winter I put things out. They they can come on my screen porch for the from the weather and I put different heated blankets and things. I'm just I'm just an old fool, you know. But, you know, I can't help it. I feel sorry for them. just show up and there's two or three people in my neighborhood that feed them and I know when they're out of town that I'm going to see extra numbers at my house, I just watch the bowls. I have to make
025sure the food's all gone though by about 9:00 because I have another visitor that comes about 3:00 and 4 in the morning, Mr. Skunk, and they love the cat food. So, I'll always take make sure that the cat food is gone. But anyway, I I think this is if I just looked on online, Brennham does this. Uh, College Station does this. Uh, I didn't realize until I started reading today, if I've lived in the city of Hutto, I would be guilty of a crime because until they changed their law, if you let one go again, you know, you're in trouble. And so, uh, I thought, golly, I never thought about that. I thought I was doing the right thing by just trying to keep the cat population in my neighborhood down. And but anyway, that's
026I just wanted to add once you get them vaccinated one time, they always clip the ear where I go. That that helps animal control and they're looking at them through field glasses. If they see that notched ear from far away, they don't waste their time. They can go after the other ones. So anyway, I'm not an expert on it. I can just tell you from my experience. Uh there is a huge huge overpopulation problem of cats in this city. They're they're everywhere. It's just sad. But you just do what you can where you can with what you can. And anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I just like that there is an available organization that not just willing to do it. >> That's the one we've been part of for several years that has
027helped us at the shelter and they they do help us with the um spayneuters of our other adopted animals here and there. >> Yeah, they can only do >> on the cat side. they will do unlimited amount and then when we have dogs and stuff and we're going to adopt those out for pets and so forth, >> they uh we schedule, you know, one or two a month to go down there for that since it is free because the cost is very expensive for SP. >> Well, I I think I think everybody's right. I think we recognize that there's an issue and if this is a way that we can do it that doesn't affect our budget bottom line by very much uh certainly something we can try and if it turns out it's not
028a good idea we can not do it. >> That's true. So, our suggestion, mayor and council, would be uh not hearing any any negative or concern significant concerns about it. Um, we'll work with legal counsel on any amendment that might be necessary to our current ordinances. Um, and we will either bring that back at a future meeting or we will convey if legal council says there's not a change needed for some reason, then we we will make sure we communicate that. Uh, and then we'll we'll work on the logistics of putting the program in place and getting publicity out. >> Working from there. >> One quick question here. U, which ear is cliff? Is this a right or left ear? >> I I just kind of want to know is >> Yeah, I think it's
029a left ear. >> Right. Okay. And just watching cats. I want to just see which side there's a couple in town already like that, but it's uh they about a quarter of it. It's on the left ear. >> No. >> Yeah. >> They are yours. >> I kind of know a cat's that smart that they won't get trapped a second time. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. You're never going to see a barrel. They'll be from a very far. >> It's they're growing. I mean, street smarts and they we've been in this metal thing before. We know what happens. No, they're not going back in that metal thing again. And so >> I already have mine loaded. But >> Mark, >> sounds like a good idea to me. >> We just wanted to come it again.
030Just wanted to bring you to you to just kind of look at the potential, you know, look at the potential negativity. There are some communities where there are residents that that speak out against a program like this because they feel like once you trap them, let's get rid of them. The reality is there there's very few options for us that would be getting rid of them that don't involve killing them. And so if if we want to continue down the path that we have for ourselves, then this is seems like a good option for us. All right, think that's it. Certainly. Anything else? Thank you, Chief. >> Thank you, Mike. And we