and are a number of significant issues associated with the manner and circumstances under which my
cat was impounded including on the basis of her being a stray or for running at large. | would like to
speak to those issues tonight.
First, please be aware of the information on the Police’s public website covering FAQs regarding
animal control. A print out of the web page is attached to my July 9 letter. | printed out the web page
on July 9" so that information is current. It is information that is currently available to the public in
Nashua and which to my belief has been provided continuously to the public since at least 2017 or
before. The info on the web page is the same as the info shown on the web page in September of 2017
when my cat was impounded as a stray. As you can see, the webpage expressly provides that cats are
not subject to a leash law. The webpage further provides that cats are not required to be licensed. Lastly
and perhaps most importantly, the webpage provides expressly that “there is no law prohibiting cats
from ‘running at large.” If the information on the Police website is accurate, then | ask you why was my
cat impounded as a stray or for running at large? If the info on the website is inaccurate, then the
citizens of the City are not being properly advised what the law is regarding cats in the City. To me it is
fundamentally unfair to lead cat owners to believe that their cats may run free, including off of the cat
owner's property, when in fact the City or Police in practice are impounding cats for running at large or
as strays.
Second, the City’s animal control ordinance (Title or Article 93) on its face authorizes only the
impounding of dogs as strays or for running at large (and perhaps chickens as well). Conversely, the
ordinance does not authorize the City to impound a cat as a stray or for running at large. State law is
similar in that it provides that dogs only may be impounded as strays or for running at large, and only
then pursuant to the terms of the State statute and a licensing law for dogs adopted by the municipality.
| do agree that State law allows a cat to be impounded for having rabies or being suspected of having
