Limit on pets in Cape could be changed

Cape Girardeau's new limit on pets, adopted barely six months ago, may be revised soon to allow more flexibility for pet owners.

An animal control task force, which first met in November, hopes by March to recommend revisions to the city's pet law. The final decision rests with the city council, which passed the pet ordinance to make it easier for police and animal control officers to deal with animal nuisance problems.

The task force, headed by Councilman Charlie Herbst, is looking at three main ideas: changing the per-household limit of four dogs and four cats, eliminating the permit process, and installing signs in city parks to encourage pet owners to clean up after their pets defecate.

The task force, which is next scheduled to meet Feb. 16, also has talked of the possibility of putting out containers with plastic bags for pet owners to use in cleaning up animal waste.

The council, after months of study, approved the pet limit last July over the objections of the local Humane Society and several local pet owners who said the regulation was unwarranted.

Under the current law, a pet owner can't keep more than the limit without a permit to operate a commercial kennel.

But task force members said they may suggest allowing a pet owner to have more than four dogs or four cats as long as the total number of animals doesn't exceed eight and no more than six are dogs.

Such a revision would allow a pet owner to have as many as eight cats, said task force member Requi Salter, a representative of the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri.

"It would give people a little more freedom to have the kind of animals they want," she said.

It's not uncommon to find Cape Girardeau residents who have more than four cats, she said.

"If someone has eight indoor cats, they are not bothering anybody," Salter said. "The neighbors don't even know they are there."

In addition to revising the limit on number of pets, the task force may recommend the law be changed to eliminate the special-use permit required of those having too many pets.

The proposed change would mean there would be no exceptions to the pet limit other than the current grandfather clause.

Under the latter provision, pet owners who had more than eight animals before the ordinance took effect last year were allowed to keep their animals without being in violation of the law.

Police Lt. Mark Majoras, who deals with animal-control issues, said requiring new pet owners to adhere strictly to the pet limit would make it easier for the city to enforce. It also would prevent the city's planning and zoning commission and the city council from being burdened with requests from pet owners for special-use permits, he said.

The task force also has discussed the problem of pet owners who regularly allow their animals to defecate in city parks and on city sidewalks in violation of a 1998 city law. That law requires pet owners to clean up after their animals.

Task force member Chris Hutson said some pet owners routinely let their animals defecate on the sidewalk in front of his furniture store.

"I get tired of the dog poop all over the front of the sidewalk," he said.

Last October, Cape Girardeau resident Bill Dunham said defecating pets had trashed the city's concrete-paved Riverfront Park.

Hutson said the task force may suggest the city install containers filled with plastic bags in city parks and public places so that pet owners can more easily clean up after their animals.

Ultimately, Hutson said, it comes down to people respecting other people's property.

Hutson, who has a dog, said the city wouldn't need such regulations if all pet owners acted responsibly.

Said Salter, "Most people you can guilt into doing the right thing."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123