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There Should Be Some Middle Ground In Effort To Keep Cats In Home

One would think middle ground should be attainable between Brenda Goodwill and the village of Falconer.

Goodwill has, for three years, adopted feral cats, had them spayed and neutered and then adopted the animals back out into loving homes. In June, Goodwill was summoned to be in Ellicott Town Court for violating the village’s code on harboring animals. At times, Goodwill has had up to 17 cats in her Park View home.

If harboring animals was something Goodwill was considering before she purchased her home, she should have consulted both the town and the village codes to know the limitations in town and village law.

Municipalities have these regulations for good reason. Many people with similarly good intentions take on more than they can handle and the animals become a health problem and a nuisance for neighbors. There is absolutely good reason for municipalities to have limits on the number of animals in a home, though one can wonder if two cats and two dogs in a residence as is included in the Falconer village code is the right number.

On the other hand, Goodwill is performing a good deed, and she doesn’t seem to have a problem with her neighbors given that 18 neighbors wrote letters of support and several more appeared on her behalf recently in Ellicott Town Court.

Judge Marilyn Gerace said in court she will need village officials to appear in court as a way to mediate. An accommodation should be reached that meets the village’s health and safety goals but doesn’t penalize Goodwill for pitching in to help animals that have been neglected.

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