Dallas’s community cats may gain protection under the city’s animal code pending a May vote. (Pict4life/Unsplash).
Dallas’s community cats are currently unprotected under the city’s animal code. Residents are trying to change that.
In Dallas, outdoor cats are as much a part of the community as its non-feline residents. These strays are carefully managed in designated colonies and are non-feral, meaning they’re used to being around humans. Neighbors have banded together over the years to take care of the affectionately dubbed “community cats,” which have all been neutered or spayed to control the population. Meri Dahlke, who owns the Ten Bells Tavern, told NBCDFW that she’s been helping to take care of the beloved felines for 15 years. Part of Dahlke’s mission now includes persuading North Dallas to provide community cats with protection under its Chapter 7 animal code.
As Dahlke told the outlet, “The city the size of Dallas should have something in place already,” but it doesn’t. The current code only extends to feral cats, which are defined as being rarely seen and avoiding human contact. Sure, community cats may not come out to greet everyone who passes by, but they don’t avoid humans and aren’t considered feral, so they should have their own classification. Because of this oversight in the code, issues have cropped up regarding the trap-neuter-release process used to provide community cats with the care needed to live safely in their outdoor colonies.
Chad West, a North Texas Dallas City Council member, said there was a problem recently where someone residing in the Bishop Arts District thought that the cats needed to be released elsewhere after being trapped and neutered or spayed. West is on board with revising the city’s code to prevent community cats from being accidentally relocated in the future. “There’s a lot of confusion, and what this ordinance revision is going to do is clear up confusion,” he said. West added that, “The cleanup that we’re attempting to do here is to provide a legal system and education for the community on what to do with community cats.”
The Dallas City Council is set to vote on the issue in May
On Tuesday, the Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life committee was briefed on a request to update the Chapter 7 animal code with new language outlining the difference between community and feral cats. In addition to updating this definition, requests were also made to clarify that it would be considered an offense to trap one of these felines with the intention of euthanizing or relocating it. Speaking with the Dallas Observer, Chad West said, “This would help define those guidelines for those who are trapping and those who are property owners as far as what they can and cannot do, because right now it’s unclear to them.”
West understands there are more pressing issues in the city, but “it’s a quality-of-life issue” for these cats to not be as protected as they can be. He thanked the “Dallas Animal Services and our advocates for getting us to the point where we’re ready to push this ordinance forward.” The Dallas City Council will officially vote on the ordinance at the end of May. Though it’s a long wait, Meri Dahlke hopes it will be worth it. “I think it’s just a good education process, and to me, honestly, it’s just the right thing to do. It’s creatures in need,” she said.
