According to a Pioneer Press article (their site may not redirect properly), Doug Edge of North St. Paul is facing a possible fine and jail time for having local feral cats sterilized and vaccinated. He has been charged with two misdemeanors for “letting an animal run at large.” According to the city, the fact that Edge puts food out for the cats as well as traps them to take them in for sterilization and immunizations before releasing them means that he owns them.

I wonder if the city has tallied what the cost to them would run if Mr. Edge called their animal control officer to remove each feline as it came onto his property? He is obviously doing a job they are failing at. The average animal control officer’s wage, taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, is $14.57 per hour. Edge is working for free. Maybe he should send them a bill.

From the Humane Society’s website, the average cost of caring for and housing one animal can be $900. The Humane Society is not run on tax money, but does receive payment from the city for services and impound housing. Another cost that they are spared by Doug Edge, first, because he so kindly takes care of some of the immediate needs of these cats, like food and disease prevention, rather than call and complain, and second, by preventing them from having more litters of feral cats that would have the same basic needs.

Feral cats are not pets, and generally cannot be conditioned to trust enough to become pets. They are wild. The reason there are so many? Human stupidity and cruelty. And even more human stupidity is being shown by the City of North St. Paul. They have leveled charges at a man for being compassionate and for helping his community, and judging from the Pioneer Press article, they had to really twist the meaning of a law that exists for other reasons to do so.

Many thanks to Doug and Annette Edge. I hope they continue to fight this. In case you are wondering, the program they work through to help the cats is Animal Ark.