Meet The Cat Trapper
Marty Brown says he's just looking for a way to protect his garden from the dozens of cats that treat it like a sandbox.
So far, Brown has trapped at least six cats, which he was taken to the Whatcom Humane Society.
He said at first, he followed a policy of three strikes an your out; trapping and releasing the cats twice before hauling them off to the Humane Society. Brown uses traps with doors that are triggered when the cat approaches food placed at the end of the 2-foot-long device.
The cats are not harmed in any way, But owners face fines of up to $70 to free the cats from the Humane Society.
Gloria Byrd, who lives just two homes from Brown, has four cats. One of them, Missy, cost her $70 to retrieve after it was held three days at the Humane Society.
She's angry. She feels there must be a way to work out a solution. She said the cat spends 21 hours a day in the house and she said cats have rights too, and that we should all be able to live together.
Brown says he takes great pride in his garden. He has planted vegetation which supposedly cats don't like, and put down stone, which he though they wouldn't like to walk on. But they seem to love his place.
He said they dig in his dahlia garden and pee in his bocce court.
"I don't hate cats -- I like cats," he said. "I just want their owners to control them."
The Humane Society says Brown is within his rights.
"It is not illegal for a cat to run loose, but it is trespassing if a cat goes onto somebody else's property," said Penny Cistaro, the director of the Whatcom Humane Society. She also points out that indoor cats live a safer, longer life.
Brown says he has received suggestions from all over the U.S., and one of those who looked at his Web site, a woman in South Dakota, sent him a new cat trap.
Brown says he is working with cat clubs, humane societies and others to find a solution to the problem of loose-running cats.