I live with a filthy elderly couple/relatives who have caught the attention of the department of health several times. They have about 8 outdoor, stray cats which they feed every afternoon. They place about eight plates stacked with food outside in the morning and leave, then do the same in the evening, all the while attracting rodents and swarms of flies everytime. When they throw away their garbage they don't seal the bags and the garbage cans are often times also swar4ming with flies and riddled with maggots. It's disgusting and they don't learn/want to change. There are two minor children living in the same property and I feel their filthy ways are posing a health hazard. We've contacted the humane society before and they gave them a warning not to feed the cats, but they still do anyways, and now they have two of them actually living inside their room! I would simply like to eliminate part of the problem and have the stray cats relocated to another neighborhood or something. They'd have a better chance at surviving like that since the humane society would probably just put them all to sleep. By relocating I mean catching them, sticking them in cages and simply driving to another neighborhood and letting them loose. Is this right/ethical?

Why would moving them to another neighborhood help them? Someone would still have to feed them (if they were lucky) or they would continue to live from peoples rubbish. Surely it would be better to contact RSPCA or cats protection or some other animal welfare (I don't know which country you are in to know what is available). They would then maybe have the opportunity to be re-homed and definatley be neutered... In the UK they wouldn't automatically be PTS.

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Lily

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Miki & My Beloved Bengals http://mybelovedbengals.blogspot.com/

Shiloh, Darcy, Rudy The Roodster & Ozzy...

I definitely wouldn't trap and release them somewhere else, that is just as irresponsible in my opinion.

Can they be trapped and taken to a shelter for possible rehoming?

The problem needs to be fixed with re-education, which can take some time and can sometimes be ineffective.

Near where my Nan used to live there was a couple who had 20+ cats. In the end they were all removed by the council, but somehow a couple remained, bred and the problem escalated again. Animal hoarding is a recognised mental illness & unfortunately these people will never change without appropriate help. Taking the cats wasn't ever enough.

They need to be caught, neutered and re-homed if they are not feral, rather than just moved to another location as strays. If they are feral they can still be caught and neutered.