7.
10.
il.
12.
Cats and ferrets are personally property under NH and federal law. Because the City has no
licensing law for cats or ferrets, the impounding of a cat or ferret by the City without
providing notice to the owner of the cat or ferret and the opportunity to recover the animal
can operate to deprive the cat or ferret owner of the owner's constitutional due process
rights associated with his or her personal property in the form of the animal, including per
the 14th amendment to the US Constitution.
Presently, Nashua citizens, and owners of cats and ferrets, are not properly on notice that
their cat or ferret may be seized and impounded by the City as a “stray”, a “nuisance” or for
“running at large” because NRO 93, other City law and/or State law do not expressly provide
for or authorize such seizures and impoundment. Nor does a licensing law for cats and
ferrets provide such notice because Nashua has no such licensing law. It is fundamentally
unfair, and potential deprivation of a cat or ferret owners’ constitutional due process rights,
to not inform such owners via properly enacted law that a cat or a ferret may be seized
and/or impounded as a “stray”, for “running at large” or as a “nuisance”.
Because the City, the Police and the Animal Control Officer lack the legal authority to seize
and impound a cat or ferret as a “stray” or for “running at large”, any action or attempt to
seize and impound a cat or ferret as a “stray” or for “running at large” (or for that matter as
a “nuisance”}) would be an illegal act and the City is prohibited from doing so.
Because the City may not legally seize or impound a cat or a ferret as a “stray”, the City’s
entry into a contract with a third party for purposes of impounding a cat or ferret as a
“stray” or for “running at large” is likewise illegal and should not occur.
Attached is a copy of the first page of an amended contract between the City and HS from
December 2017. The previous language in Section 1 of that contract regarding impounding
cats and ferrets as “strays” was removed by the Mayor in December 2017 after meeting
with me. The removal of the language re: impounding cats and ferrets as “strays” from the
HS contract in December 2017 was and is an acknowledgement by the City that it lacks the
legal authority to impound cats and ferrets as “strays”. It is likewise a concession by the City
that it therefore lacks the authority to enter into a contract with HS or any third party for
the purpose of using the HS or other facility to impound cats and ferrets as “strays” or for
“running at large.” The Mayor and City should not now re-insert such illegal language into
the upcoming contract with the HS.
Attached is a current copy of a portion of the Nashua Police’s website regarding frequently -
asked questions on “Animal Control”. The website expressly indicates that Nashua has no
leash law for cats and that cats are not prohibited from “running at large.” Again it is
fundamentally unfair and a potential violation of cat and ferret owner's constitutional, due
process rights to on one hand inform Nashua citizens that there is no prohibition against a
cat “running at large” or as a “stray” while at the same time having the Police and ACO seize
and impound cats and ferrets as “strays”, and to have a contract with the HS for such
purpose.
