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Village adopts ordinance banning intentional feeding of feral and wild animals
Summary
After resident complaints about a large feral cat population and related nuisance issues, the board approved an ordinance prohibiting knowingly or recklessly leaving food outdoors to attract feral, stray or wild animals in specified village areas.
The Village of East Troy board approved Ordinance 20 25-O5 Thursday to add a prohibition on knowingly or recklessly feeding feral, stray or wild animals and on leaving food outdoors that would attract those animals.
Police Chief (name not stated) described multiple complaints from a resident on Saint Peters Road about feces, damage to a backyard pond filtration system and ill kittens; the chief said earlier trapping efforts removed about 40 cats in Sterling Oaks but that animal-shelter capacity is limited. The chief told the board the recommended ordinance language would make it an offense to “knowingly or recklessly leave food or any other type of feed outdoors to attract the animals.”
Trustees and residents discussed whether the rule would apply to outdoor pet cats; the chief said existing “animal at large” rules already apply and that cats that regularly leave their owner’s yard can be cited. Several trustees favored the second version of the proposed ordinance, which prohibits leaving food outdoors and targets intentional or reckless feeding that sustains feral populations.
The board voted to adopt the second version of the ordinance. Trustees asked that enforcement and any citations be tracked and reported in future staff reports; staff said they would include that information. The ordinance is intended to reduce food, water and shelter that sustain feral populations and to lower associated health and nuisance problems in neighborhoods identified by multiple complaints.
