The answer, like most things in life is: it depends.

  • If you feed them at home, that is, in your garden or indoors, it’s legal.
  • If you feed them outside, that is, at the street, without an authorization from the Town Hall, it’s illegal.
  • If you feed them at the street and you have an authorization from the Town Hall, it’s legal.

In most cases, feeding animals at the street, such as cats, birds, pigeons, foxes, wild boars, is forbidden due to public health and animal population control reasons.

  • Public health reasons are that leaving food at the street is a focus of attraction for rodents and other conflictive species such as seagulls.
  • Animal population control reasons are that food available 24/7 will produce wild cats, rodents and cockroaches population will get increased out of control, and, besides, it’s a proven fact that street cats don’t help controlling rats population, but they are a real threat for lots of species of insectivorous birds and reptiles, which are extremely important for controlling mosquitoes and other pests.

May I feed cats at home?

Yes, but only if you do it in your private property. You are not allowed to do it at your urbanization community gardens or next to the swimming pool, even if we are talking of a private urbanization with restricted access. Despite being legal, feeding cats inside the limits of your private property is not very recommendable, since, sooner or later, it will be a source of troubles with your neighbours, because for most of them, the view of lots of street cats surrounding the area won’t make them very happy. We must insist that your garden or patio is not your neighbour’s one.

What can I do if I want to feed street cats?

The only valid option is applying for a special permission at your Town Hall (of course, they can accept or deny it). In every town there are some officially controlled feline colonies. This implies one or more volunteers accept the responsibility of watching the cats (which implies knowing the exact number of individuals of the colony, detecting the ill ones, etc), and have specific feeding points assigned. These volunteers who have the Town Hall authorization are allowed to put food in public areas, but they are obliged to remove and dispose the remains afterwards, before rodents and cockroaches come. Another responsibility of the volunteers is catching the cats for having them neutered, and releasing them after the operation.

With all these regulations, what we get is controlled colonies, with people looking after them. What we want is making the number of street cats gradually decrease, in a way which is respectful with animal welfare.

If anybody is interested, the only right way is via the Town Hall. If you think anybody if feeding street cats illegally, you can report the Town Hall or the Local Police, and in case of urbanizations, you should also report the property manager. Remember feeding cats without authorization means breaking the law.
For our own good and for the environment, let’s respect the rules.

CLINICA VETERINARIA | GRAN ALACANT EXOTICS
Find us here: Calle Holanda 9, MASA Square
T: 966 698 569

READ THE LATEST ISSUE OF GRAN ALACANT ADVERTISER!
Follow us on Facebook