Gridley's Animal Control Officer Jennifer Weiss holds up this sweet little kitten housed at the shelter. With spring right around the corner, litters of kittens like this will soon flood local shelters needing homes, or end up part of the feral cat colonies. You can help by spaying and neutering your animals. (Photo courtesy of Gridley Animal Control)

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - It seems cat breeding season never ends, and the City of Gridley needs help keeping the feral cat population down.

The City of Gridley’s Trap-Neuter-Release Program (TNR) is a city fund set aside specifically for members of the community to spay/neuter feral cats residing within city limits.

The purpose is to prevent the feral cat population from increasing by spay/neutering, ear tipping, vaccinating, and releasing them back to the location they came from at no cost to the residents.

Any local community member can utilize this resource by following these steps:

1) Make a TNR appointment with PAWS in Oroville, 530-534-0900 / 3557 Oro Dam Blvd. E, Oroville, CA 95966.

2) Notify Animal Control of the appointment date and address where the cats are located, either by phone 530-846-4825 or email: [email protected].

3) Animal Control will then be able to provide the community member with a voucher to cover the cost of surgery, humane cat traps, and tips on how to safely and successfully trap and transport cats.

4) The community member will transport the cats to PAWS on the day of surgery, and pick up at the end of day, to be released back to the same location the cats originally came from.

If you provide any stray cats with food, they are not considered “feral” and are not eligible for the TNR program.

In addition, Gridley Municipal Code 6.09.020 Maximum Number of Cats states: “No family or person, or group of persons may own or control, or have in their possession, at any one street address within the city limits of the City of Gridley, more than a total of four cats.”

If a person owns or controls more than four cats in a single location, this is deemed to be a kennel, and a kennel license is required.

For purposes of this section, a person who feeds a cat shall be deemed to “own, control and possess such cat.” Therefore, if someone is feeding a cat in the city of Gridley, they have taken responsibility for that cat, and they may only own up to four.

Residents are discouraged from feeding feral or stray animals, including those in large colonies. The belief is that if the animals are not being fed, they will disperse.

If someone would like to volunteer to be a feral cat advocate for our community, they can contact the Gridley Animal Control Officer by phone or email.

This role would include helping community members that have TNR needs but are unable to transport or trap by themselves. The volunteer would work with the animal control officer and community members to trap and transport cats in need of TNR services.

Currently, the Gridley Animal Control Center is in need of monetary donations that help secure the TNR vouchers. Animal Control Officer Jennifer Weiss says that the shelter is currently very limited on the number of TNR vouchers due to lack of funding.

Donations can be mailed to Gridley Police Department Attn: Animal Control at 685 Kentucky St., Gridley, CA 95948, or made in person at the GPD lobby.

The Gridley Animal Shelter is located at 895 Sycamore St., Gridley, and can be contacted at (530) 846-4825.