A woman in our county was bitten by a feral cat that she had been feeding. After several days of observation the cat died and was later confirmed to have rabies. There are three other cats that were part of the same litter, hung around with the rabid cat, and were fed by the same woman. Our animal control officer will only attempt to capture dogs. The DEC says that they cannot help us to capture the animals because they do not capture cats. We found a “Critter Control” business that initially agreed to capture the cats so that we could take them to be euthanized. They backed out because cats are not included in their license. How do other counties handle this?

We had a rabies positive feral cat last summer in Yates County.  Our ACO assisted the farm owner by providing traps so that the remainder of the colony living on and around the porch could be captured and euthanized.  The ACO then transported the cats to a local veterinarian for euthanasia and we paid for the cost of euthanasia.

Wayne County had the same issue with our township ACO refusing to animals other than dogs. We ended up having to hire Per-diem “Rabid Animal Responders” to call out to deal with non-dog animals for our Rabies program.

There is no clean cut answer. Initial they are considered her cats if she has taken them up by feeding them. We would suggest that she get a live trap and trap them then take them to the vet to be put down, specifically if the women is already being treated. This way to keep any exposure to the same person, but all and all there is no clean cut way to deal with cats.

If someone is feeding feral cats we consider that person as the owner. She is feeding them that is why they are coming around her place. We would try to make her responsible for costs of capturing the cats. We do have a few people in our county that do wildlife control and they in the past have captured cats.

I would respond that there is no way (other than testing) of knowing that the other 3 cats have rabies. The town where the cats resided could release print and/or social media messages regarding avoiding contact with wild animals (including feral cats) and even maybe inform the community of the situation. If the other 3 cats have rabies they will die within a short period.

In Steuben County, PH utilizes an animal control officer who would and does handle this.  Given she is an animal control officer and not a dog control officer, she takes care of both dog and cat problems.  Licensure is not an issue as she is a contract employee and paid by us.

The Niagara County rabies team discussed the presented scenario. Our response would be Education. We would educate the residents that, if they are feeding the stray cats then they take ownership of them. And therefore the owner is responsible for seeing that they get the required rabies shot for them.  Also, in WNY, there is a group called Feral Cat Focus that might help with cats in a situation like this. There may be other similar such organizations in other parts of the state.

It is the same situation everywhere.  Nuisance trappers are not licensed to trap cats.  Dog control officers, also do not handle cat calls.  Have you tried your Humane Society.  My only other suggestion is the woman bitten could set traps, then have them euthanized (but I don’t know who you would have euthanize them, possibly a vet).  Cats are difficult to trap as you know.  There is no good answer for this because there are no laws concerning cats.

Our County Animal Control Officer will go out to catch cats for us.

Yes cats are a complex issue and it’s certainly very concerning when rabies manifest in feral cat colony. Under NYS Ag & Markets law municipalities are responsible for dog control. Seems like in my 20 year career that every municipality in Chautauqua County have gone from “Animal Control’ mode to “Dog Control” only. The reason is money as it’s expensive to house and euthanize nuisance animals captured which includes cats. The Chautauqua County’s Environmental Health Unit attempts to trap “feral”/“stray cats” when involved in a potential rabies exposures as we maintain several live traps purchased with rabies grant monies. We use the cheapest cat food available to bait the trap and rely on bite victims to monitor the trap. Once a correct cat is captured we collect the cat and depending on the cats “personality” and health we decide either to have the cat euthanized by a contracted veterinarian for testing or surrendered to the Humane Society for confinement. Note: All staff involved in the collection of rabies specimens have pre-exposure rabies shots as well as a rabies titer is drawn ~ every 2 years. I’m OK with sharing my response.

Our position in cases like this is that the woman feeding cats is responsible for them, no different than if she owned them, and be advised she could be subject to any expenses related to animal capture service. Not always well received, and we would not let that deter our response. These instances are justification for “animal control officers” rather than just dog control officers, but we have not been able to win that battle either. We are fortunate to have a number of dog control officials who would assist if requested, despite working in other Towns. You may also find other wildlife captor providers with proper license for such work, they are out there. In interim woman could be advised that by continuing to feed remaining cats than she is responsible for getting them vaccinated or captured and euthanized. Possible to locate a local Operation Wildcat or similar group to capture cats who may vaccinate and spay / neuter cats, donation from woman would be appropriate. Best however would be for the cats to be eradicated. For interim, woman should monitor remaining cats for at least 10 days if possible to rule out rabies exposure, discontinue feeding them. Is residence rural or in neighborhood with homes in close proximity? Advise informing neighbors of situation and encourage precautions be taken to avoid cats. Don’t see this helping much, sorry. Would like to hear other responses, but not disclose County that provided this one.

This is outside my area of responsibility for the Health Department but I offer the following: The only time I have heard of people trapping feral cats was to neuter or spay them. The animals have one ear clipped and are then released back to their community. I don’t know if these types of people or organizations will help you trap the cats if they will be euthanized.

The same issue persists here. Town animal control officers operate under a dogs-only policy when picking up animals at large.  People can surrender cats to them, but they don’t round up or capture feral cats.  Private nuisance trappers also generally won’t trap cats for a multitude of reasons including the blurred line between owned and feral with potential liability/lawsuits.  Locally there are private groups or individuals that will trap these animals for health checks and neutering, but they are not professionals that can be hired.  There is basically no municipal or professional pathway to resolve issues such as this; enlisting the assistance of a volunteer group is the best option.

In Chenango County we occasionally run into this issue. Few municipalities employ an animal control agent and many DCOs decline, and have no jurisdiction, when cats are involved. Our response has always been on a case by case basis. This has ranged from utilizing third parties, making the owner collect the cats and finally, where there is an imminent threat, we have collected them ourselves. None of these are ideal. Unfortunately there is a lack of trained persons with the authority to do this task.

Westchester County DOH has dealt with similar situations in the past. We have a nuisance wildlife trapper under contract we would use.  Reach out to other nuisance wildlife trappers. Another option is capture and 6 month quarantine.  Contact cat rescue groups  who may be willing to do this instead of euthanizing. Also, the ACO can trap cats….see code below: (See Word Doc. named “Westchester County Code on Rabies” In “Member Query – Animal Control” folder to see code).

We have had similar issues in Schenectady, anyone able to find a solution to this concern?

Sorry, I have no advice on this.  When similar occurrences had happened in our county, the person who is feeding the cats takes responsibility to capture them and have them euthanized by a vet.