Panel votes down ban on feeding animals

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) - The Greenwood City Council defeated a proposal Monday night that would have put a ban on feeding wild animals.

The council decided to vote on the ban not long after calling the meeting to order. They said they didn't want residents to wait around for the vote on the ban many of them didn't want.

Monday night's Greenwood City Council meeting wasn't your typical meeting. As soon as the feeding wild animal ban proposal was introduced, it was quickly defeated.

"I think we are leaning towards (throwing) this thing out," said a council member.

And they did. The proposal was defeated in a 3-6 vote.

Council members gathered to vote on the ban in response to recent reports of coyotes running loose in Greenwood. Some homeowners reported coyotes attacking and killing their pets.

"I feel that if man keeps building habitat and the coyote has no where to go; if you starve the cats where are they going to eat; they are going to eat your pets," said Lori Amburn of Greenwood.

The ban would have included stray or feral cats and dogs.

"It's a win for the cats and it's a win for the communities," said Ann Topmiller of Southport.

Topmiller was one of dozens of homeowners against the ban.

"The cats provide a green solution to the vermin problem. They earn their keep. The rats, the mice, the gofers, the moles — all these things are destructive and some of them carry disease. The cats take care of it," she said.

Even some council members who once supported the ban had a change of mind.

"I think they are speaking on behalf of us throwing it out," said another council member.

There were a lot of questions about the ban, including who would enforce it if it had passed. The proposal called for an initial $50 fine for the first offense. No one had an answer to how they would enforce the fines.