Recently this office has received several complaints about citizens feeding stray or feral cats. As such I felt it appropriate to address this issue in an effort to explain the City's Ordinances regarding the feeding of these animals.

Covered under Wauwatosa Ordinance 9.04.020 is the "Regulation of Animals". Under this ordinance it is unlawful for anyone to allow an animal/pet of any species to run at large. Further, all dogs and cats need to receive the rabies vaccine and be licensed through the Wauwatosa City Clerk's office. That being said, if a person feeds and/or provides indoor or even outdoor shelter of any sort to an animal, they have in fact established ownership of that animal even if the animal is never taken into that person's residence.

So if a citizen is found to be feeding and/or sheltering an animal that roams at large, is unlicensed or has not received the rabies vaccine; that citizen can be held responsible for that animal by the City and may be issued citations in violation of 9.04.020. This of course would include stray/feral cats. The citations may begin at $172.00 for each violation and can increase incrementally up to $2,576.00 for subsequent violations.

The proper way to handle stray or feral animals is to call the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control office at 414-649-8640 and report it to them. They have the means to retrieve the animal in a humane way and process it in an effort to make it ready for adoption.