Public Works Committee calls for no feral animal feeding

It’s going to rub some residents the wrong way, but Belgium’s Public Works Committee has a solution to limiting the number of feral cats at the village dump.

Eric and Rachel Curtain told the Village Board in August that they have been working since May to keep a group of 16 to 18 feral cats at the dump from growing. They have been trying to trap the cats, spay and neuter them and return them to the dump. The thought is that the cats will defend their territory from other felines and they won’t reproduce.

They have been trying to trap the cats, but the Curtains sometimes get raccoons instead.

Their efforts included feeding the cats.

Public Works Director Dan Birenbaum said Eric Curtain has put out food for the furry felines.

“There are 11 plates of cat food laying there every night,” Birenbaum said.

“You go there between 5:30 and 6:30 and the cats come out like the field of dreams on the baseball field. There they are.”

By winter, Birenbaum said Curtain wants to build a shelter for the cats with straw behind the salt shed.

Birenbaum said the village doesn’t plow  certain areas of the dump during winter and the gate locks at 6 p.m. starting Nov. 1.

“I asked him when is the end game for these cats,” Birenbaum said.

The attraction is the food waste in the bins. Birenbaum said if residents would dispose of food through the normal garbage collection rather than bringing it to the dump, the problem would be lessened.

“The raccoons and cats are either going to eat the food he puts out or they’re going to be in the bins,” Village Treasurer Vickie Boehnlein said. “We’re never going to get rid of the problem because there’s a food source there.”

“I don’t agree with him going back there feeding them. I think we’re just fueling the fire,” committee member Kevin Schueller said.

“You feed me, I’m going to keep coming back,” committee member Pete Anzia said. “There’s definitely no money in our budget” to care for the cats.

Boehnlein said some people want to save the cats and others are upset because the cats are eating birds.

“Either way you’re going to have a significant number of upset people no matter what you do. That’s the long and short of it. Because it’s a touchy subject,” she said.

The committee recommended the Village Board create an ordinance that doesn’t allow feeding feral animals on village property.

The Curtains set up a GoFundMe page for the cats and have raised $1,900 of their $2,500 goal. The page can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-dump-cats-food-vet-bills-shelter.