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\u00a0Loading …<\/p>\nVictoria City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward on an ordinance prohibiting the feeding of feral animals on public property, following its second reading.<\/p>\n
City Attorney Allison Lacey presented the revised ordinance, noting that language was clarified to address concerns raised during previous discussions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also (added to) clarify (the wording) to be legally occupied,\u201d Lacey said. \u201cThe previous version just said occupy, but there was a concern that there could be someone squatting on a piece of property that they don\u2019t own and are not allowed to be on. Legally occupied for example would be if you are renting a house and you are legally allowed to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the ordinance was read, two residents addressed the council during public comment, describing how feeding feral animals has negatively affected their neighborhoods, particularly in downtown Victoria.<\/p>\n
Bridget Short said food left out for animals has attracted vultures and buzzards to her home and neighborhood, along with other wildlife such as skunks.<\/p>\n
Monica Priddy told council members that after a neighbor moved away, feral cats that had been fed began coming onto her property. She said her senior dog has since become ill.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is because there are feral cats that come into our yard,\u201d Priddy said. \u201cDr. Scharr has been doing a good job trying to take care of her and she\u2019s been to the vet numerous times. We will spend what we have to do to get her well and that will all get taken care of, I\u2019m sure. These cats do carry diseases, and they come into your yard and they will get your personal pets sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Priddy, who identified herself as an animal advocate, also shared information about low-cost spay and neuter resources, drawing from similar work she has done in Corpus Christi. City officials said they will continue to rely on organizations such as Victoria Trap, Neuter and Return to help manage the feral cat population.<\/p>\n
Violations of the ordinance will be classified as a misdemeanor once it goes into effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cAffirmative defense is that the person who is feeding the animals is doing so on their property that they own or legally occupy,\u201d Lacey said. \u201cI foresee a hypothetical situation where somebody is issued a citation, and for whatever reason they can\u2019t prove that they own the property or are legally allowed to be there. They can come back later and provide evidence to use as a defense to this particular ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council will have its third and final reading on the ordinance at its next meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m. Feb. 17.<\/p>\n
The proposed ordinance exempts law enforcement officers, animal services personnel, trap-and-neuter volunteers, and individuals holding a valid Texas Parks and Wildlife rehabilitation permit.<\/p>\n
Lindsey Plotkin is a multimedia reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Contact her at lindsey.plotkin@vicad.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward on an ordinance prohibiting the feeding of feral animals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-105207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-reading-city","9":"tag-reading-city-headlines","10":"tag-reading-city-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}