Officials wish they could SCAT! problem away

It sounds as if they need a more vigorous program of ownership and euthanasia, doesn't it? Unless, of course, they want to maintain the status quo of no birds! An explanation here. Colorado has long been one of the capitals of the spay, neuter, abandon crowd!


There is no pussyfooting around it. This county has a cat problem.

Several Mesa County officials said cats, either abandoned or allowed by their owners to roam wild, are devastating the local population of ground nesting birds. County residents from Palisade to Fruita are being pestered by the felines as they invade homes, cause property damage and urinate and defecate in unwanted places.

Rick Gonzales, owner of Nuisance Animal Control, estimates he has personally caught 7,500 cats in the last three years. Countywide, he estimates the current population of feral cats to be 7,000 “if not more,” he said.

Lynn Davis, a resident of the Grand Rivers Mobile Home Park, in the 2900 block of North Avenue in Fruitvale, said there are 50 or more cats roaming the park’s narrow streets.

“One positive is we don’t have any mice,” she said. “Of course, you very rarely see the birds.”

Over in Fruita the cat population is having similar consequences.

“It’s a big problem. There are so many cats out walking the streets,” said Sgt. Mitch Caldwell of the Fruita Police Department. “They feed on ground nesting birds. The population of ground nesting quail out here is gone.”

At the opposite end of the valley in Palisade, Police Chief Carroll Quarles said the cat problem is getting out of hand.

“Sometimes people dump their animals near Palisade because we are kind of remote, and they hope people will take the animals in,” Quarles said. “In a lot of cases the cats become feral. They don’t trust people, and they start producing, and that is what we are starting to see.”