A small city in Kansas has enacted a new law limiting residents to owning no more than four cats.
The new restriction is intended to reduce the number of stray and feral cats the city of Wellington removes from the street, according to a local newspaper and television station. The city reportedly picked up more than 200 outdoor cats in 2012, and most ended up being put down.
It was not immediately clear how restricting pet ownership would reduce the city’s stray and feral cat population. Officials in Wellington -- a city of about 8,000 people located 35 miles south of Wichita -- did not respond to questions from Examiner.com Jan. 4.
Vox Felina blogger Peter Wolf criticized the new law, saying it could actually worsen the city's cat overpopulation problem.
“A community truly interested in addressing the issue of free-roaming cats would be implementing a comprehensive [trap-neuter-return] TNR program and ensuring that affordable spay-neuter services are available,” Wolf wrote Jan. 4. “It doesn’t appear that Wellington is doing either one. Instead, the people in charge have taken the easy way out -- which will likely result in more cats killed, not fewer."
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