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Feeding the homeless can get you in trouble in some places.
Cities from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale have banned offering food to people living on the streets out of an attempt to discourage the unhoused from being a visible presence.
It's gone on for years. It hasn't helped. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reported an 18% increase in the unhoused population between 2023 and 2024.
But that's people. How will it work on cats?
Hempfield supervisors passed an ordinance amendment in September that opponents call a feeding ban.
The premise comes down to a "you break it, you bought it" policy. Instead of breaking a pricey knickknack in a shop, however, it's feeding a stray cat.
A little Meow Mix makes the cat the resident's responsibility. That responsibility can come with fines if the animal "creates or contributes to a nuisance or otherwise endangers the public health, safety or welfare."
Those fines can add up. They range from $50 up to $600. That's a lot of Fancy Feast.
Residents in the Greenridge area of West Hempfield have complained about the feline population growing in the area.
That's not unusual. There are 30 million to 80 million stray or feral cats nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They can have a significant impact on the environment, from killing birds to defecating in yards. Then there is the digging in gardens, scratching outdoor furniture, screens and wood frames to sharpen claws.
And that doesn't even get into diseases. Rabies might come to mind first, but there are others, such as parasitic infections, ringworm, toxoplasmosis and even salmonella.
But will stopping animal lovers from feeding them solve all those problems? Cats are effective predators and scavengers. Some opponents of the practice say it just forces the cats to turn to other food sources.
On Monday, residents protested outside the township building before raising concerns to supervisors during the meeting.
Township manager Aaron Siko said the amendment is not a feeding ban or animal cruelty.
"We're asking that community members who are helping the animals take the responsibility for their long-term health and welfare," he said.
However, that could conflict with other township policies and ordinances and create problems for residents. If the municipality deems a stray to be a resident's responsibility, what else does that include? Does it break the "running at large" ordinance? Would the resident be liable for a bite or scratch?
And if the amendment wouldn't solve the problem, are there other things that would work better? A trap, spay/neuter and return policy is a possibility. Right now, only about 2% of the national stray or feral cat population is sterilized, but a National Institutes of Health paper noted a 66% drop in shelter numbers after such a program was introduced in one area.
Did the Monday protest lead to a turnaround at that meeting? No. The ordinance amendment is still in place. It did, however, prompt Supervisor George Reese to urge his colleagues to think about other possibilities.
Listening to the people and thinking about the problem is an important first step.