Shenandoah hears request to reform pet ordinance, host TNR program
By Kaylee Lindenmuth
SHENANDOAH – A committee will be brought together to review Shenandoah borough’s pertaining to domestic animals, after a resident was fined for feeding for feral cats, after the matter was discussed at borough council on Monday evening.
Mary Sajone, Shenandoah, wrote to borough council about the incident, in which a resident in the 400 block of West Cherry Street was cited for feeding a colony of six cats in that south side neighborhood.
Sajone said in her letter, read aloud at council, that she had spent a year conducting a Trap, Neuter, and Release project in that neighborhood.
Sajone cited Libre’s Law, which took effect in 2017, in urging council to revise its ordinance forbidding the feeding of outdoor cats.
According to her letter, such an ordinance would be considered animal cruelty under Libre’s Law as a form of deprivation.
“Based on this, I, and many others, believe this ordinance needs to be revised, and any verbiage pertaining to the feeding of cats needs to be removed,” said borough secretary Mary Lou Buchinsky, reading Sajone’s letter.
Council President Leo Pietkiewicz offered to create a committee to revise the ordinance and “come up with a humane process to control the cat population.”
A representative of No Nonsense Neutering, Mahanoy City, then spoke to council about their services and how they could assist in controlling the borough’s cat population through a TNR program.
The group offered to waive a $35 fee for handling cats from Shenandoah, instead charging $15, though Pietkiewicz noted council couldn’t take action on the matter Monday evening.
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