For the last several years, Kathy Reidy has been in charge of meals for nearly a dozen cats.

One is Paddy, her pet. The shy-around-strangers feline lives in Reidy’s home, among loads of cat memorabilia.

The other 10 or so live outside. Feeding them makes her a scofflaw in the eyes of the owner of the mobile home park where she lives.

This month, management at Greenbriar Village in East Allen Township told Reidy to stop feeding the stray felines or risk being assessed a $25 fine on top of the rent she pays for the ground beneath her mobile home. She said it was the first time the development threatened to impose a fee.

Greenbriar Village is not alone in its stray cat problem: The Lehigh Valley is teeming with free-roaming, community cats at a variety of locations.

Reidy said she tried numerous animal-rescue places for help getting the feral cats to find new homes, including No Nonsense Neutering.

Reidy’s lease with Greenbriar says that management has “engaged” with No Nonsense Neutering to control feral cats.

But Executive Director Ashley Seidel said No Nonsense, an Allentown nonprofit that works to neuter cats and provide medical care as part of reducing the overall cat population, has not worked at Greenbriar in years, nor does it have a contract with East Allen Township.

In response to The Morning Call inquiry, an official with the owner of Greenbriar said plans are in the works to solve the cat problem.

Either way, it wouldn’t solve Reidy’s problem: No Nonsense returns neutered cats to their living spaces, and Greenbriar still wouldn’t let her feed them.

“If you advocate for feral cats, and you’re going to fix feral cats, feeding bans [as Greenbriar has done] make zero sense,” Seidel said.

“The issue is: You trap then, then you have to release them back into the neighborhood,” said Reidy, a disabled widow who lives on her Social Security income. “Where else are they going to go?”

Other agencies Reidy contacted also do not take in feral cats or didn’t respond to her request for help.

East Allen, unlike some Lehigh Valley municipalities, does not have a provision to help residents deal with the feral feline population, according to Larry Vandever, who runs the nonprofit Coalition for Feral Cats of Lehigh Valley.  Other Valley municipalities partner with groups like No Nonsense Neutering on trap-neuter-return programs, in which feral cats are humanely trapped, sterilized and vaccinated, and then returned to their outdoor colonies.

Brent Green, East Allen’s manager, did not return a telephone message seeking comment. 

Vandever, an ordained minister who founded the Nazareth group more than a decade ago, said six years ago officials planned to establish a triage center to provide cats with medical care at no cost to residents. In addition, animal-rescue officials intended to set up cat colonies and train residents to care for the cats, he said.

Vandever said Greenbriar officials initially agreed to this approach, only to later withdraw their support.

Sheila Barrall, property manager at Greenbriar, referred questions to spokesperson Jennifer Ludovice with Equity LifeStyle Properties of Chicago, which owns the mobile home village. In response to questions, Ludovice said management plans to update the community rules and regulations in the near future to remove the outdated reference to No Nonsense Neutering.

Ludovice also said Greenbriar is looking to establishing a managed trap-neuter-release or other humane program to assist with the feral cat population and has reached out to several organizations. She said management encourages residents to engage with local organizations to participate in their neutering programs.

Today, however, the situation has worsened, according to Vandever, with the cat population exceeding 300. Many of these animals are suffering and dying in the open.

Officials say left unchecked, stray cats can become a public health issue, with people getting scratched or bitten and facing rabies.

“Our goal is to save the lives of these cats and bring attention to this crisis,” said Vandever, who has established feral colonies in parts of Northampton County.

Coalition for Feral Cats of Lehigh Valley

Contact Larry Vandever at 484-241-5981, p.vandever@yahoo.com, or go to the coalition’s website, coalitionforferalcatsoflv.com.

Contact Morning Call reporter Anthony Salamone at asalamone@mcall.com.