COUNCIL ADOPTS FERAL-CAT PROGRAM.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

GLENDALE - The city is hoping to control its feral cat population by implementing a program that would allow volunteers to spay and neuter free-roaming, unsocialized animals before releasing them.

The City Council introduced the ordinance for a Trap-Neuter-Release program Tuesday - where feral cats will be trapped, sterilized and returned to the colony or the place they were trapped. The council will consider adopting the ordinance at next week's meeting.

``By adopting the ordinance it will walk us down the road to identifying feral cat colonies so these handlers or volunteers that watch over feral cat colonies can legally release these spayed and neutered cats,'' said City Manager Jim Starbird.

City officials will work on developing the specifics of the program, which will in turn determine the costs for the city.

``The whole idea of adopting the ordinance I see as a philosophical change in our community. In the past, feral animals were simply euthanized to control the feral population, which is inhumane and has not worked for decades,'' said Chrissi Fernandez, a local animal welfare advocate. ``By introducing this ordinance, the council is saying they'd like to see a more progressive method of controlling ferals.''

A big component of the program would ideally involve the support of certified volunteers - registered with the city's animal control provider - who will continue to trap the unaltered feral cats, return them to their colonies and provide basic general care.

According to the Glendale Humane Society, there is no good estimate of the feral cat population in the city, but the overpopulation of the cats is a problem faced by every community. As many as 2 million feral cats live on the streets of Los Angeles - more than one for every two human inhabitants, authorities estimate.

There are stray and feral individual animals in Glendale's residential areas, Fernandez said, and she is aware of colonies in industrial neighborhoods, including at the city's public works yard, for example. Supporters of the program believe it is cost-effective, a humane way to deal with feral cats and the only effective program to eventually reduce feral cat populations.

According to the San Diego Feral Cat Coalition, a pair of breeding cats can have two or more litters per year and can produce 420,000 offspring over a seven-year period.

``It would be financially prudent for the city to in fact aggressively alter this pair of breeding cats because it would prevent this explosion,'' Fernandez said.

Opponents indicate that in addition to the hazards posed to bird populations, returning the cats to the wild and exposing them to predators and diseases is not the most humane way to deal with the problem.

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com