For the residents of New Hills Condominiums, a mobile home community in southern Albert Lea, conversations about cats may be less focused on the new musical movie and more on the nuisance concerns associated with overpopulation.

The police department will team up with theHumane Society of Freeborn County to trap, neuter and spay and relocate the cats after members of the Albert Lea City Council received complaints about the population.

“I mean, there’s hundreds,” 6th Ward Councilor Al “Minnow” Brooks said at Monday night’s meeting.

He said the cat population was at the point where cats needed to be removed from the road to make it drivable.

“It ends up being just cats on top of one another,” Brooks said. “… It is that bad.”

Brooks could not be reached for further comment.

The Albert Lea Police Department was brought in about a month ago after receiving an email from Mayor Vern Rasmussen Jr., said Public Safety Director J.D. Carlson.

A woman in the neighborhood has been feeding the cats, Carlson said. According to Carlson, the woman said she gathers the cats and takes them to a farmer in Northwood. The woman has cooperated with officers, he said.

“We’re pretty familiar with how to handle cats from our partnership with Hartland,” Carlson said.

The Albert Lea Police Department assisted the city of Hartland in seizing 16 cats from a home there in November. The seizure came after months of contention between the city and resident Kim Jameson, who fed feral cats and housed more than the city’s two-pet ordinance.

The cats will be trapped in increments with help from the Humane Society of Freeborn County, Carlson said.

“The intention is to start trapping at a manageable pace,” Humane Society Director Christa DeBoer said. “… You can’t go in and trap 20 cats without a plan.”

The Humane Society would not typically relocate cats, DeBoer said, but in this case the police department wanted relocation.

“We’re helping law enforcement do it this way, this time,” DeBoer said.

She said the organization will spread word around that anyone who lives on an acreage or farm or needs mousers or garage cats could have a few more. Their new homes would be checked out ahead of time.

A New Hills resident will deliver 75 notification letters to the neighborhood that advises residents on when trapping will start, to avoid feeding the cats and to bring personal cats indoors so they are not accidentally trapped. Trapping will begin approximately a week after the letter is dispersed.

The letter will also tell residents that the Police Department will treat the cats with respect, Carlson said. He said the cats would not be euthanized.

The project will have to have an end date of sorts, DeBoer said.

“We do (trap, neuter, release) until the weather says, ‘No, you can’t do it any longer,’” DeBoer said. “… This may be something that we pick up again in the spring.”

 

‘Stop feeding the cats’

As of August, the Albert Lea Police Department had received almost 500 calls related to animal control this year. Medical calls, the second-highest, came in under 400.

“It’s probably our No. 1 call for service, animal control issues are,” Carlson said.

But oftentimes, the department is “handcuffed” as far as how they can respond, Carlson said. At times when the Humane Society is full, the response to an animal concern call is to advise the caller to leave the animal alone.

“We let ’em run wild down there because we have no place to put them,” he said.

If the animals are injured, Carlson said the officers take them to a veterinarian. While the vets are not obligated to service injured animals, he said, all the vets in the area have been helpful in animal emergencies.

Per city ordinance, single-family homes are allowed two cats and two dogs within city limits.

“One would argue that if you’re feeding them, that they automatically become yours,” Carlson said.

However, it is rare for individuals to be cited for what Carlson calls “quality of life” concerns — junk vehicles, refuse, grass length.

“We like to resolve those matters other ways rather than taking it through the court system,” Carlson said.

As of Thursday, no one was cited for the cat population. Carlson said he does not anticipate issuing citations, as the individuals feeding cats have been cooperative.

“(The) ultimate thing is, stop feeding the cats,” Carlson said. “That’s the biggest thing.”