Carpentersville will license cats
Cats will now join dogs as family pets the village of Carpentersville wants licensed. The cost will be the same as for dogs - either $3 or $5 - and funds will go toward a program dedicated to reducing the number of wild cats on village streets.
Carpentersville is leading Kane County in its attention to cats that don't have owners and wander village streets. The wild cats are under closer inspection since board members laid out a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program at the Sept. 21 board meeting.
Cook County has a TNR program. So does the village of Hanover Park, and it's theirs after which Carpentersville modeled its ordinance. The hope is that communities nearby will also join in.
"You always need that one model," Trustee Pat Schultz said.
The pet licensing comes with a rabies vaccine requirement. The license will cost $3 for people registering with the village clerk between May 1 and July 1, then $5 after that.
The TNR program traps feral cats, neuters or spays them then returns them to where they were captured. The much shorter life of wild cats means entire colonies could disappear in just a year or so if they're no longer procreating, officials hope.
Village President Ed Ritter supported the change, citing the need to tackle a wild cat problem that Carpentersville, like many other communities, has.
"We think we've found a way to address the problem that makes everyone happy," Ritter said. "In the end, the problem gets solved and it happens in a humane way."
Schultz said her heart goes out to the people who think they're helping stray cats by feeding them. But she worries about the cats themselves.
"All their intentions are well-meaning, but sometimes good intentions turn out to be cruel intentions in the larger sense," Schultz said.
She hopes the TNR program will reduce the number of cats fending for themselves in an environment she describes as having all the odds against them.
There is no limit to the number of cats a person can have and those housing cats temporarily in a foster program are exempt from the licensing fees.