Mt. Prospect residents say feral cat population not getting any smaller

Lisa Pacini was flipping through some papers at the kitchen table when her dog, Moxi, bolted to a window and started yelping.

Deep scratch marks on the sill show Moxi has done this before.

"It's the cats," Pacini said. "They are everywhere."

Pacini has lived on the 300 block of South Elmhurst Avenue in Mount Prospect for 18 years. For about a year, the man next door has been feeding feral cats on his back porch, a few feet from Pacini's driveway and backyard.

At first there was one cat. Today, Pacini says, more than 10 cats swing by daily for food. And when they're done eating, they don't exactly leave.

The cats hide in the bushes, poop in her yard and fight on her driveway. They ruined her wicker patio furniture, and Pacini has wrapped her remaining furniture in large tarps.

But not only is her neighbor not breaking any laws, he is an approved Cook County feral cat colony caretaker.

Trapping the cats - having them neutered, inoculated and even microchipped, and then released back into the neighborhood - is meant to manage the population humanely while diminishing it over time.

Experts say simply removing the cats won't work - cats are territorial, and where one cat is forcibly removed another will move in to take its place. A neutered cat, however, still has its place in the colony but because it can't reproduce, the colony should shrink.

Any feral kittens found in the colony are removed and given to shelters to be trained as domestic cats.

Feral cat experts say the system isn't without flaws, but it's the only one that has a chance of reducing the number of feral cats.

Last week, Mount Prospect reported 44 registered cat colonies. They average five or six cats apiece, with the largest around 30 cats and the smallest at one.

The Cook County ordinance allowing registered cat colonies was adopted in 2007 after health officials feared rabies would spread to the cat population and then to humans, said Dr. Donna Alexander, administrator of Cook County's department of animal and rabies control.

Between November 2007 and October 2009, 3,563 cats - or about 1,700 per year - have been spayed or neutered. Left alone, they would have produced 70,000 kittens, Alexander estimates.

"When we first started tracking the cats, 70 percent of the females were pregnant," she added.

Serena Fried is president of the Feral Feline Project, a nonprofit group that tracks, spays and neuters cats in the Northwest suburbs. In 2007, Fried's group tracked 150 cats. In 2009, that figure was 300.

Despite the increase, she is convinced the colonies are having the desired effect.

"In a few years, the numbers will diminish, the system is working," she said.

She cautions that ferals will never disappear completely. "There will always be feral cats. They are a part of our environment."

An exact count of feral cats in Cook County is impossible because different volunteer groups count and sterilize the cats - at no cost to the taxpayer, Alexander says.

Fried thinks Mount Prospect probably has more like 100 cat colonies and maybe 600 feral cats altogether. Still, she urges residents to give the program more time to work.

The Mount Prospect neighbors, however, say they're done waiting. They are pushing the village board to either end feral cat feeding or at least require caretakers to ensure the cats stay off neighboring properties.

"It is difficult to mow the yard, to garden, to raise flowers, host yard parties, talk to neighbors over the back fence and do any of the other things that homeowners in other areas of Mount Prospect can enjoy doing," said Lindsey and Scott Limbers in a letter to trustees.

Mount Prospect trustees spent three hours talking about the topic last week and may be one of the first municipalities to toughen feral cat rules.

No decision has been made, but many trustees sympathize with Pacini and her neighbors.

"There has to be a better way to deal with this," said Trustee Paul Hoefert. "I really feel for these people. I can't imagine having 10 cats roaming around my neighborhood."

Under the current Cook County ordinance, Pacini's neighbor has followed all the rules - his feral cats have been trapped, neutered and vaccinated.

"I want you to know, I didn't mean to upset the neighborhood," Gerry Stone said at a Mount Prospect board meeting last week. "We are just trying to bring this problem to a close."

Stone declined to comment further on the situation.

Experts suggest caretakers can buy outdoor litter boxes. Neighbors can buy automatic sensory sprinklers or an ultrasonic alarm to keep the cats away.

Julie Filipic, of the 300 block of South Pine Street, said people who feed feral cats should figure out a way to keep them in their own yard. Neighbors like herself shouldn't have to buy anything, she argued.

"This shouldn't be my problem," Filipic said. "I shouldn't have to deal with cats that I didn't bring to the area."