Neighbors bristling over cat trappings

Published 10:46 pm Sunday, June 22, 2008

STANWOOD — Nipper, a 5-year-old short-haired cat, seldom left the comforts of his yard.

Then, one day, he vanished.

His owner, Don Mulinski, 77, fears Nipper was cat-napped.

Police say a man in a west Stanwood neighborhood trapped several cats that roamed into his yard. The man drove the cats to barns in Skagit County and left them there, Stanwood Police Chief David Bales said.

More than a dozen cats — including Nipper — went missing during a six-month period starting in November, the man’s neighbors said.

“Why would he do this?” said Mulinski, who has three other outdoor cats. “Why would he attempt to get rid of people’s cats? They are private property; they are people’s cats. These aren’t wild cats. These felines belong to somebody.”

For now, city officials believe the issue is resolved. The man told police he would stop what he was doing after police asked to be notified of any further trappings, Bales said.

This isn’t the first time cat trapping has been an issue in Snohomish County.

In September 2006, an Edmonds man captured his neighbor’s cat, Turbo, because he believed the feline had eaten his quail.

The Edmonds City Council responded with an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to trap someone else’s pet animals. Under the Edmonds ordinance, the only exceptions are for public employees or for people trying to capture animals for health and safety reasons.

In Stanwood, it is not illegal for people to trap animals that come onto their property, Bales said.

Still, neighbors are fuming.

Ellen Lowell of Stanwood researched state and county laws online and believes it’s illegal to take animals away to abandon them.

“Trapping them is legal; releasing them in rural areas is not,” Lowell said.

Stanwood police can only enforce the city’s laws, Bales said.

Neighbors also wrote a letter asking the city to hire an animal control officer, but they were told the city doesn’t have the money to do that.

The city should do something to make sure this doesn’t happen again, neighbor Dawn Scott said.

“At this point, we’re all so disappointed and let down that we don’t see the point in trying to take this any further,” Scott said. “We just kind of feel we wouldn’t get any response.”

Stanwood Mayor Diane White said she loves animals, but that owners need to be more responsible with their pets. People should keep their pets indoors if they’re worried about their animals being trapped, she said.

The city’s animal control laws put the burden on pet owners to watch over their animals, White said. Without funding for an animal control officer, that’s unlikely to change, she said.

“There’s no point in passing an ordinance we can’t afford to enforce,” White said. “You have to prioritize things.”

Several neighbors voiced their concerns to the City Council in May. After that council meeting, a Stanwood police officer helped the neighbors set up a block watch program.

There is still tension in the neighborhood, but people just want to know their pets are safe, Scott said.

“All we want is to live in peace and have faith in our town,” she said.

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.