City committee delays decision on PAW funding request

The City of Decorah's Public Safety Committee met Monday night with representatives of People for Animal Welfare, the local group that helps handle stray cats and dogs.

The group has asked the city for up to $200 a month in funding to cover spaying and neutering costs.  PAW spokesperson Darrel Henning has called the problem of stray cats in Decorah "overwhelming."  PAW wants to capture the stray cats, have them neutered or spayed, then returned to the wild as a way of controlling the cat population.

Public Safety Committee chair Randy Schissel says his committee wants to contact local veterinarians to see whether the city couldn't get a lower rate for the spaying and neutering operations.  In the meantime, Schissel issued a plea for Decorah residents to stop feeding stray cats--something that Schissel says only makes the feral cat problem worse.