In 2003, the City of Sparks ceased its animal control services and entered into an Interlocal agreement with Washoe County to perform animal services on behalf of Sparks. Washoe County currently performs animal control services by and through the Washoe County Regional Animal Control Services (WCRAS).

On April 28, 2015 the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners amended the Washoe County Code (WCC), Chapter 55 relating to the managed care of feral cats[1] (Hereinafter "Washoe County’s feral cat program"). Despite the 2003 Interlocal agreement to provide animal control services to Sparks, WCRAS will perform neither field supervisory nor field enforcement functions over the animals that comprise Washoe County's feral cat program.[2]

The feral cat colonies codified by Washoe County’s feral cat program offer food, water and shelter to a concentrated group of wild and unsocialized feral cats. The constantly available food and water set out in the feral cat colonies attracts other high risk species of animals that are known transmitters of rabies and other diseases that create a danger to the health, safety and welfare of the residents and businesses that surround a feral cat colony. Nevada’s Department of Wildlife (NDOW) is “seriously concerned” about the transmission of diseases by feral cats to humans and Nevada’s wildlife population.[3]

This ordinance is intended to prohibit the creation and maintenance of a high risk land use that endangers the properties that support and surround a feral cat colony.[4]

Fundamentals of Washoe County's Feral Cat Program

Feral cat colonies: A “feral cat colony” is defined as, “…a group of cats that congregate, more or less, together as a unit. Although not every cat in a feral cat colony may be feral, any non-feral cats that congregate with a colony shall be deemed to be a part of it”.[1]

Caretakers: Washoe County's feral cat program permits the creation, maintenance and management of feral cat colonies by private, citizen volunteers called “Caretakers” - along with a sponsoring, non-governmental organization.[2] The citizen volunteer/Caretaker provides food, water and shelter to, or otherwise cares for, a feral cat colony.[3] Despite their caretaker role, citizen “Caretakers” are not considered “Owners” of either the feral cats, the feral cat colonies or the structures that serve as shelters for the feral cats.[4]

Feral cats: Feral cat colonies are populated primarily by a concentrated group of wild, unsocialized feral cats. A “feral cat” is defined by Washoe County as, a cat “That is born in the wild; or that is a formerly owned cat that has been abandoned and is no longer socialized”.[5]

Washoe County's Feral Cat Program's Negative Impact on

Surrounding Lands in Sparks

The cornerstone for Washoe County's feral cat colony program is the free and unobstructed use of the public, private and commercial land that surrounds a feral cat colony. Feral cats are admittedly, “free roaming”[6] and at least one study has found that the average range of a feral cat can be up to 149 acres, with one cat covering a distance of over 1,350 acres.[7] The difference in impact of stray cats intermittently dispersed throughout the community compared to the concentration of feral cats in a colony results in a far greater likelihood of disease transmission within the colony and thereafter into the surrounding parcels within our community.

By allowing feral cats the unrestricted freedom to roam upon the private, commercial and public lands surrounding a feral cat colony, Washoe County's feral cat program denigrates the real and personal property rights of all landowners in Sparks. Unlike other animals in Sparks whose locations are regulated because of their impact upon adjoining properties, feral cat colonies are neither prohibited nor regulated by Spark's zoning laws.

A)           Feral Cat Colonies Attract “High Risk” Species of Animals Known to Transmit

            Rabies (Vectors and Reservoirs)[8]

Washoe County's Feral Cat Program requires citizen volunteers/Caretakers to provide food, water and shelter to feral cats residing in a feral cat colony. This food/water source (especially in times of drought when food and water are at a premium) becomes "free food" not only for the feral cats, but for the other feral, “high risk” animals that are in the vicinity of the feral cat colony.

This attraction and resulting concentration of wild animals to the food in feral cat colonies is a phenomenon that occurs nationwide and has been extensively studied and documented. Indeed, the "free" food contained within a feral cat colony is such an attraction to other feral animals that it has actually changed the traditional migratory patterns of those animals.[9]

“High Risk Species” are wild animals that are either considered Vectors or "Reservoirs" for rabies. In Sparks, these animals typically include bats, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, squirrels, mice and rats. Due to the competitive animal nature for the free food set out in the feral cat colony (combined with contacting the different animal feces spread throughout the colony), feral cats are at a far greater risk of contracting and thereafter spreading diseases throughout the community.

The adverse impact that a feral cat colony has on surrounding Sparks landowners is that high risk animals - that may not have been in the vicinity originally - will be attracted to a feral cat colony and will cross - and perhaps take up residence upon - the land surrounding the feral cat colony. Obviously this would pose a danger to landowners, their families, guests, invitees and customers who could come into physical contact with one of the numerous “High Risk Species” of animals that is known to be a transmitter of rabies.

Washoe County’s feral cat program recognizes that domestic, non-feral cats congregate with feral cats.[10] Due to the propensity of diseases brought about by other feral, high risk species invading an established feral cat colony, the risk that domesticated cats may become infected with diseased fleas or rabies through fights, bites and scratches remains high. Infected domesticated cats then return home to spread these diseases to their human hosts.

As noted below, the scenario concerning Sparks' citizens contracting either rabies or some other potentially deadly disease from a feral cat is neither hyperbole nor conjecture. Unfortunately, medical examinations have not been performed on deceased feral cats in Washoe County to determine whether these animals expired due to natural causes or from diseases such as rabies. Contracting and spreading diseases by feral cats is a very real possibility for Sparks’ citizens because communities throughout the United States - with feral cat programs similar to that enacted by Washoe County - have encountered numerous cases of diseases from feral cats.

B)            Diseases: Wild animals to feral cats/feral cats to Sparks' citizens

Diseases are typically transmitted by feral cats to humans and domesticated animals through bites, scratches and infected fleas as well as through feral cat feces.

Feral cats are at a greater risk of contracting diseases from other wild animals because feral cats fight with other feral cats/animals and/or consume diseased animals.[11] Common diseases that afflict housecats (that are presumably monitored and provided regular medical treatment by their owners) also afflict feral cats. However, these diseases are more readily contracted and thereafter spread by feral cats due to the fact that their free roaming ranges and lack of daily supervision and regular medical care is not available for a wild, undomesticated animal.

Diseases contracted and spread by feral cats include rabies, toxoplasmosis, plague, tularemia, murine typhus,[12] feline leukemia virus (FELV), feline immunodeficiency virus, (FIV), upper respiratory infections,[13] tape worms, ring worms, urinary tract infections, fleas (bubonic plague), kidney disease (Chronic kidney failure is the most common cause of death in older cats), conjunctivitis, cat flu, ear mites, feline leukemia virus, Lyme disease, abscess from animal bites or scratches, toothache and tooth decay.[14]

C)            Diseases Contracted and Spread by Feral Cats Is an Increasing Problem Throughout the United States

In late 2014, nearly two dozen feral cats infected with salmonella were euthanized in Eugene, Oregon.[15] Three months later a boy in Sallisaw, Oklahoma was bitten by a feral cat with rabies.[16]  During the Spring and Summer of this year, a family of 8 were treated for rabies after being bitten by a rabid feral cat in Georgia[17] and a group of 9 people were treated for rabies in Florida after they were exposed/bitten by a rabid feral cat.[18]

Last July a cat in Mendocino County, California tested positive for rabies near Fort Bragg[19] and in June of last year a feral cat with rabies was found near a local high school in Charles County Maryland.[20]  Also in June of last year, 1) a trapped stray cat tested positive for rabies in Brooklyn Park, Maryland,[21] 2) a stray cat tested positive for rabies after biting a citizen in Spotsylvania County, Virginia,[22] 3) a rabid feral cat came out of the woods and bit 2 people in Thomas County, Georgia[23] and 4) a feral cat tested positive for rabies after biting its Caretaker in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[24]

In May of last year a feral kitten was found dead due to rabies in Shelton, Connecticut.[25] Unfortunately, feral kittens with rabies represent one of the greatest health dangers to children due to a child’s propensity to pick up and play with the kittens. In Humboldt County, California an 8 year old child actually survived rabies after contracting it from a feral kitten,[26] 3 people were bitten by a rabid feral kitten in Union Township, New Jersey[27] and 13 people, including veterinary staff, were treated after coming into contact with a rabid feral kitten near Middletown, Delaware.[28]

In May, 2015 a rabid bat was discovered in Washoe County,[29] which means that feral cats in Washoe County face a very real threat of contracting rabies; just like so many feral cats throughout the United States. In September, 2015, a chipmunk at Taylor Creek Visitor Center in South Shore Lake Tahoe tested positive for the highly infectious bacterial disease, bubonic plague. This disease is transmitted to feral cats either through infected fleas or contact with feral rodents such as chipmunks and squirrels. The current threat of diseases - and the corresponding potential for the spread of those diseases by feral cats, exacerbates the negative impacts on the properties that surround Washoe County's feral cat program.

D)           Certain “Nuisance Behavior” That Will Be Perpetrated upon Sparks' Citizens/businesses Associated with Feral Cat Colonies

Perhaps the most striking and offensive negative land use to adjacent properties associated with Washoe County's feral cat program is the nuisance behavior that will be perpetrated upon Sparks' residents and businesses. Typically these nuisances center around the large numbers of feral cats using residential lawns, gardens and business flower gardens as bathrooms while also causing damage to parked vehicles, boats and trailers. Once again, these examples are taken from communities throughout the United States that have had to contend with - and suffer through - the daily nuisances associated with feral cat programs similar to that recently enacted by Washoe County.

In Fredericksburg, Virginia it was the stench of feral cat urine and feces, coupled with animals injured through in-fighting, and the, "cacophony of hisses and cat fights".[30] In St. Bernard, Ohio, the "unbearable odor" of feral cat bodily waste was so bad that the residents of a neighborhood could not sleep with their windows open.[31]

In Orange County, California, the neighbors were upset with the extraordinary number of feral kittens that were populating their neighborhood due to an ineffective “Fix and release program” that had been instituted without the neighbors' knowledge.[32] In Parry Sound, Canada, the Town Council finally had enough of the increasing population of feral cats that were causing damage to their constituents' property and vehicles.[33] Finally, an owner of backyard chickens in the Gulf Coast complained about the numerous feral cats that were attacking and killing her chickens.[34]

E)        Negative Impact/Unsustainable Predation on Sensitive Wildlife

Another adverse impact that Washoe County’s feral cat program has on surrounding lands is the destruction of natural wildlife. During the course of this proposed ordinance, several non-profit groups and organizations have voiced their support for banning Washoe County’s feral cat program in Sparks because of the negative impact feral cat colonies have upon the surrounding native species of wildlife.

Biologist Stanley H. Faeth notes that, “The scientific evidence is overwhelming and incontrovertible. Free-roaming cats, especially feral cats, have devastating effects on wildlife and pose human health risks.” Professor Faeth estimates that the number of birds, mammals and reptiles killed every year by feral cats in the United States would fill 19 Olympic sized swimming pools.[35]

Set out in its July 22, 2015 letter to the Sparks City Council,[36] the American Bird Conservancy supported the instant zoning code amendment and noted several scientific studies that confirmed the damage to wildlife caused by cats. This damage included the extinction of 33 species and the annual killing of approximately 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals.

In its August 10, 2015 letter to Sparks Mayor Martini and the Sparks City Council,[37] the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also supported the instant zoning code amendment and noted that free roaming cats kill countless birds and wildlife. PETA indicated that one of the primary reasons behind the predation is because natural wildlife is not equipped to deal with free roaming cats as predators.[38]

Comments have also been provided to the Sparks City Council from the Nevada Department of Wildlife supporting the instant zoning code amendment because of the adverse impact feral cats program have on native wildlife and sensitive habitat.[39]

The City Council may vote to accept the ordinance as presented; disapprove the Ordinance as presented and allow Washoe County’s Feral Cat Program to exist in Sparks; or give staff direction to revise the Ordinance with appropriate land use and distance restrictions.

First reading only.