Attachment 3Subject: FW: Animal Ordinance
From: Leslie Morley <Imorlev@serenogroup.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2018 11:27 AM
To: Council <Council@losgatosca.gov>; Leslie Morley <Imorlev@serenogroup.com>
Subject: Animal Ordinance
Dear Council Members,
I hope you will not pass this ordinance as it is written. It is important to get it right in the beginning because I think there
are items in the ordinance that will not work well and will cause a lot of backlashes. I think it is wonderful that the town
is working on the problem. This ordinance will cause a polarization between those that want to be part of the solution in
curbing the feral population and those that would like to report on neighbors and trappers who feed hungry, frightened
animals. I think now is the ideal time to have a community committee to go over this ordinance and review it with town
council members and perhaps Jon Cicerelli (spelling).
I heard one person who does TNR work say that if this ordinance is passed she would not work in Los Gatos. We don't
want that to happen.
I have a great respect for those who try to keep the feral population down by trapping and neutering feral cats and for
those who feel for injured, frightened, hungry or lost animals. Part of the problem is people not neutering their own
pets. There are feral cats in my neighborhood and if I see them on my property I have trapped them (always on my
property) and gotten the cats shots and spayed. I have tamed and found homes for the kittens and occasionally, have
semi -tamed an adult. It is a lot of work. We need to make it easy for those who volunteer their time to help the ferals.
If one does the math one feral litter can produce over one hundred more ferals within two years. Cats can have litters
twice a year. And kittens can have their first litter within their first year. The one mother cat I rescued had 5 kittens. I
was supported by my neighbors and some wonderful people who work for rescue groups. I would hate to see rules in
place to discourage people from helping wild animals. I think we need to curb the population and let wild animals live in
peace.
Best regards,
Leslie Morley
ATTACHMENT 3
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Subject: FW: 09.18.2018 Council agenda item:Ordinance regarding animals and fowl
From: Ellie Leishmar
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 10:58 AM
To: Council; Town Manager
Subject: 09.18.2018 Council agenda item:Ordinance regarding animals and fowl
Dear Town of Los Gatos,
Please include this letter (below) as Addendum to the Town Council in advance of tonight's meeting.
And would you kindly confirm that you've received it and will forward it to the Council? And please
don't include my email address.
Thanks,
Eleanor Leishman
From: Eleanor Leishman, 332 Bella Vista Ave.Los Gatos, CA 95032
To: Laurel Prevetti, Rob Schultz, Rob Rennie and Town Council Members
Re: Ordinance amending Chapter 4 of the Town Code regarding animals and fowl, specifically sections
4.10.085, 4.60.050 and 0.60.055
Sept. 17, 2018
Dear Town of Los Gatos officials,
Thanks to those of you who are interested in more fully understanding the issues and challenges involved in
feeding and maintaining feral cat colonies in our Town. I'm writing to ask members of the Town Council not to
pass the Ordinance amendments until you've adequately corrected several important feral cat -related issues
covered by the proposed Ordinance.
The Ordinance as currently written willfully ignores the "Return" piece of accepted TNR practices as described
to you numerous times during written and verbal testimony by professional feral cat advocates and by those
doing rescue work with feral cats. They have expressed their opposition to the Ordinance's prohibition of
ongoing feeding of feral cat colonies after the cats have been trapped, neutered and checked for disease.
Please refer to the letter from Carol Novello, President of Humane Society of Silicon Valley, for an excellent
summary of why failure to allow this ongoing feeding is harmful for the local feral cat colonies, and ultimately
for citizens in our community and the Town of Los Gatos.
Please remember that those who work to rescue and maintain healthy feral cats serve our community. They
are not the enemy. The real wrong -doers are those who abandon cats!
By creating levels of bureaucratic red tape and permissions for feral cat rescuers to navigate in order to get on
with their work in the community, this Ordinance may well function to prohibit and discourage legitimate activity
by feral cat advocates and organizations.
Please take advantage of numerous offers of help and guidance you've received from feral cat professionals
and organizations to craft better Ordinance that will serve the Town into the future, instead of taking us
backward.
Respectfully,
Eleanor Leishman
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