Whitehall Council Passes Animal Nuisance Ordinance

Incessantly barking dogs and the feeding of feral cats, among other things, are now illegal in the borough. Read more here.

The Whitehall Borough Council passed an ordinance on Wednesday night that restricts animal activity in the borough on a number of fronts. The ordinance makes it illegal for someone to feed wild and stray animals in Whitehall. It also makes it illegal to own a pet that creates an offensive odor or excessive noise, such as incessant barking. The ordinance can be viewed on the borough website. The new law expands on an existing domestic animals law that deems it illegal to maintain, keep, raise or house animals in the borough like horses, cows, sheep, goats, hogs, ducks, turkeys, chickens and bees. That restriction remains, but the abovementioned restrictions on wild and stray animals, offensive odor, and excessive noise is now also in effect…

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Margaret French

11:29 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013

A.J. as long as your neighbors don't notice it.   more ›

Whitehall Council Considering Stricter Animal Nuisance Laws

Incessantly barking dogs and the feeding of feral cats would be illegal in the borough, for examples.

The Whitehall Borough Council is reviewing a draft ordinance that would greater restrict animal activity in the borough. An ordinance presented recently to the council, if officially adopted, would make it illegal for someone to feed wild and stray animals in Whitehall. It would also make it illegal to own a pet that creates an offensive odor or excessive noise, such as incessant barking. The ordinance is on display at the borough municipal complex along Borough Park Drive and is also available in this article's media gallery (below the photo). Borough Manager James E. Leventry said that he anticipates that the council will make a decision on whether to adopt, alter or reject this ordinance at its second meeting of May. If approved, the …

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NE12Ukid

2:26 pm on Thursday, May 16, 2013

OR perhaps it did what the public wanted. Usually there are opposing opinions, they can't have it both ways. Someone is happy about the outcome, others not so much.   more ›

Cats (and Other Animals) Still Disturbing Baldwin Township

'We're just gonna have to think of something to do, or we're going to be overrun.' - resident Debra Brewer

If someone feeds a stray cat in Baldwin Township, but no one else is around to witness it, does it really happen? How about a deer? Township officials have made it clear that feeding wild animals—including stray cats, deer and other critters—is not to be encouraged in Baldwin, but those same officials have been reluctant to pass an official ordinance against that practice for fear that it would pit neighbor versus neighbor in court. "If we were to enact an ordinance banning the feeding of stray cats, that becomes a neighbor-against-neighbor type of situation," township commissioner Nick Pellegrino said at a board meeting on Aug. 7. "You would have to report a neighbor for feeding the cats and violating the ordinance, and when they get a …

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Stray Cats Still Riling Residents in Baldwin Township

And other notes from Tuesday night's Board of Commissioners meeting.

'Why Can't They Just Get Euthanized?' A stray cats issue has dogged the Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners ever since a Donaldson Drive resident made controversial remarks at a township meeting in early June. Two months later, the issue remains just as topical, as evidenced by comments from Jean Colaizzi, of Highview Road, at another meeting on Tuesday night. Colaizzi asked the township's leaders on Tuesday to enact an ordinance prohibiting cats from being allowed to roam Baldwin without a leash. She said that cats found as such should be rounded up by animal control officers and killed. "Why can't they just get euthanized?" Colaizzi asked the board while suggesting that a trap-and-neuter program would not lessen the cat population …

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Getaway Donates $310 Toward Stray Cats Program

Amount does not include additional donations made directly to the project.

Responding to a stray cats issue that has bothered many Baldwin Township residents, Getaway Cafe owner Lou Manolios hosted a trap-neuter-return (TNR) fundraiser at his restaurant on July 12. Manolios said that the Getaway was "hopping" that day with diners that came specifically for the cats. But no matter what their reason for coming, 20 percent of all patrons' bills (before taxes and not including alcohol) was donated to the volunteer group Animals Against The Odds Rescue and Rehab (AATO) for a TNR program that will include many cats living behind the Getaway. All in all, July 12's diners raised $310 for the program through Getaway checks. And Manolios said that many people also came to the restaurant with cash to add directly to the pot…

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Getaway Cafe to Host Fundraiser for Stray Cats Program

The Baldwin Twp. restaurant will donate 20 percent of patrons' bills on July 12.

It's not just about his cats, but it might as well start there. Responding to a stray cats problem that has affected a large part of Baldwin Township, including behind his restaurant on Sussex Avenue, Getaway Cafe owner Lou Manolios has decided to partner with volunteer group Animals Against The Odds Rescue and Rehab to raise funds for the entrapment and neutering of loose cats. From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 12, all Getaway Cafe patrons who wish to participate in the fundraiser will have 20 percent of their final bills (before taxes and not including alcohol) donated to the Animals Against The Odds group for use in a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program that it hopes to run in Baldwin Township. The TNR program involves placing …

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Robin

7:50 pm on Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Please google "The Magic Rabies Shot?" and "Undiagnosed Human Rabies Deaths?" and "Rabies Outbreak in Westchester County and the Connection to Feral Cats"   more ›

Letters to the Editor

Alley Cat Allies Director Writes to Patch

Britt Cocanour is not amused over a Baldwin Township resident's comments.

The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch received the following email on July 6. Other than addressing some minor grammatical issues, the wording seen below was written as is. ... As the only national organization dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of cats, we are deeply disturbed and dismayed by comments concerning cruelty to cats made at a recent Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners meeting ("Man Wants Stray Cats Controlled—Or Shot," June 6, 2012). The article quotes a citizen as publicly stating that he should be allowed to shoot cats and that he has murdered two cats himself by drowning them in his swimming pool. Let's set the record straight. Killing cats is cruelty to animals, and it's illegal in all 50 states. Inhumane, brutal …

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Tyrion Lannister

11:16 pm on Wednesday, August 8, 2012

You mean CATS actually catch and kill BIRDS?! Well, holy crap, you just might have NATURE occurring in your backyard! You definitely better start trapping cats for these awful transgressions of BEING CATS!   more ›

No Decision Yet: Baldwin Cats Situation a Layered Issue

And other Baldwin Township notes from a July 3 commissioners meeting.

No Decision on Baldwin Cats The Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners discussed many items during a regular meeting on Tuesday night, but stray cats—a topic on the minds of many area residents—did not get a mention. Representatives of Animals Against The Odds (AATO) Rescue and Rehab attended the meeting with hopes that the commissioners would accept a plan sponsored by the AATO that allows for stray cats in Baldwin Township to be trapped, spayed or neutered, and then released. But the plan, known as trap-neuter-return, or TNR, did not make the meeting's agenda, and there were no public comments regarding the matter. The TNR program would involve volunteers placing feeding stations around the township to trap loose cats, and that aspect …

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Deb M.

9:23 am on Friday, July 6, 2012

We walk our dogs through Baldwin Township. We have them on leashes and carry bags to pick up whatever they leave behind. I am very respectful of my people's property while walking my dogs. I walk early in the mornings most of the time and have noticed an increased number of cats around the Haverhill Road dead end area. There are at least 4 or 5 and sometimes you will see a new one here and there…   more ›

Stray 'Baldwin Cat' Takes to Twitter

'Feed me or get outta my face...'

In an attempt to bring some humor to the Baldwin Township stray cats saga, a Twitter user has created a "Baldwin Cat" account (@BaldwinCat) to keep tabs on the loose critters—well, at least one of them. Baldwin Cat has tweeted three times so far—all directed at local radio personalities. On Wednesday morning, The X Morning Show (105.9 FM in the Pittsburgh area) mentioned Patch's coverage of the cats situation, which has gotten much regional attention. A short time later, @BaldwinCat tweeted, "Hey guys thanks for the plug!! I listen to the show meow the time!!" Baldwin Cat's description reads, "Feed me or get outta my face..." Stay tuned for possible updates from @BaldwinCat, who is posing as one of an estimated 60-plus stray cats causing …

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Robert Edward Healy, III

11:04 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012

Some more tweets from Baldwin Cat last night (@BaldwinCat). Hysterical. You can follow the B-W Patch, as well: @BWPatch.   more ›

'Euthanasia Is Not a Form of Birth Control'

Eleven-year-old girls ask Baldwin Township Board to consider a trap-and-neuter program for area cats.

Killing two cats at a home on Donaldson Drive will certainly stop those two from breeding, but it won't solve a larger Baldwin Township problem of stray and feral cats. Regardless, there's a better way to prevent unwanted breeding. Those were the arguments presented by two 11-year-old girls—South Hills residents Tehla Dakota and Kialiegh Davis—and a host of accompanying adults at a Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday night. The girls' group—a coalition of local animal rights advocates and experts—came to the commissioners' meeting on Monday in response to comments made by Randy Balzer, a township resident from Donaldson Drive, at a June 5 board meeting. Balzer claimed to have killed two stray cats on his property by "…

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cc

9:20 pm on Sunday, July 1, 2012

Sue, I know in Baldwin Borough there is a limit on the number of animals that you can have and they do have to have both cats and dogs licensed. Baldwin Township and Whitehall does not have that. I am the one that wrote about the coffee grounds and get them from Starbucks by the black bag worth. They are free and work just put it on think underneath your bushes, flowers, garden or where they are …   more ›