City News
The Purrrfect Number: Council Weighs Restricting Cat Ownership in Missoula
The Missoula City Council hears about how to help dogs and cats get along -- with Missoulians.By Anne Medley, 1-13-09
Above: Ed Franceschina, Missoula County Animal Control supervisor, discusses a proposed cat ordinance limiting the number of cats per household within the city limits to no more than five without a permit or breeder's license. Below: Carol Bellin and her son Alex listen to Ed Franceschina outline the proposed cat ordinance for Missoula. Photos by Anne Medley.
The City Council got an earful Monday night on how the city might help cats and dogs get along better in Missoula. Not with each other—with Missoulians.
More than 40 people filled Council chambers, in part, to hear Ed Franceschina, Missoula County Animal Control supervisor, discuss a proposal to limit the number of cats per household within the city limits to five.
Also on the docket was a proposed amendment to the city dog ordinance that would require dogs be leashed for 200 yards from all trailheads, then be on so-called “voice restraint,” a proposal meant to reduce trailhead conflicts.
The council sent both ordinances back to committee for refinement. Council member Dave Strohmaier said the cat ordinance would likely go back to committee by the end of January or later.
See the proposed cat ordinance here and the dog amendments here.
Franceschina said a rise in negative human/cat encounters in Missoula last summer coupled with an increase in cats at large prompted the proposal. Stressing that other large cities in Montana (with the exception of Kalispell) have drafted ordinances limiting the number of cats per household, Franceschina suggested that households with more than five cats within the city limits obtain a breeder’s license or a multiple cat permit. The ordinance is modeled on the multiple dog permit currently on the books.
Many in the audience supported the idea of a cat ordinance, but some pointed out loopholes or had concerns, like Barbara Parker who wasn’t a fan of the ordinance’s call for home inspections prior to granting a multiple cat permit.
“I have a real problem with my house being inspected,” she said. “I have a problem with an officer coming into my home and passing judgment on whether my home is adequate [to house multiple cats]. Dog owners don’t have to have their homes inspected.”
Franceschina stressed that the primary goal was “to educate, not enforce.”
Missoula resident Carol Bellin noted “nowhere in your ordinance do you address feral cats,” a portion of the cat population that she and her 12-year-old son Alex, also in attendance, feel strongly about. Alex, a sixth-grader at Washington Middle School, researched feral cat colonies in Missoula for a class project last year, and his findings prompted his mom to take up their cause.
“Feral cats are unsocialized,” Carol Bellin said. “They’re not wild.”
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This proposal is asinine! This would give those in authoritative positions the ability to enter our homes and pass judgement, snoop about our private lives, and in general, intrude in yet one more way in something that doesn't concern them! I fail to see how limiting the number of cats or dogs in a household would alleviate any problems the city currently faces with canine and feline overpopulation. A weed control ordinance has done nothing to limit the growth of weeds within the city, but there the ordinance is, on the books, just another useless rule that our elected officials can point to as if to say "see, we are working!"