LANSING, MI (WSYM) - — Carol Worthey said she has about 14 stray cats living in her backyard in a Jackson apartment complex.
She said the cats look sick and are dying.
Worthey said, “I noticed when it started getting nice summer time there were kittens outside. There were five of them and they’ve just been slowly dying, getting sick.”
Worthey moved into her apartment back in March and said she didn’t know about the cat issue until after she moved in.
Worthey has a dog who she said isn’t allowed out in her backyard because of the cats.
She said she wants to keep her dog safe from them, but it’s causing issues.
She said, “Well my dog is being affected because he can’t go outside whenever he wants. I have to take him outside all the way upstairs. I usually end up taking him for a walk, just so he can have more outside time because once we’re inside he can’t go out on the back patio.”
Worthey said her neighbor enables the cats to stick around by giving them shelter.
She said, “She has picnic tables over there and housing and hay. So she’s welcoming them but she’s not taking care of them.”
Other people in the apartment complex said the woman enabling the cats has been doing that for 16 years.
Fed up with the roaming cats Worthey called animal control.
Jackson County Animal Control visited the property twice and removed four kittens.
Three of the four kittens were adopted.
Jackson County Animal Control said the fourth kitten was too sick and passed away.
Animal Control officer Shawn Lutz said he told the neighbor to stop enabling the cats.
He said he also told the apartment complex management that the neighbor is giving the cats shelter, but they have not taken any action.
FOX 47 reached out to the management office.
They have not returned our phone call.
Worthey said she needs the cats to be taken care of.
Wednesday morning she saw a dead kitten on her lawn, but it’s not the first time.
Animal control encourages anyone facing a stray cat issue to catch them and surrender them to the animal shelter.
Lutz said, “Live trap them. They can bring them in here to the Jackson County Animal Shelter. It’s a 15 dollar fee. We process them in and then evaluate them, get them healthy, and get them adopted out if they have the temperament to do so.”
Another option is to catch the cat and bring it into the shelter and have them spayed or neutered. They will be sent back to their home, but will no longer be able to breed reducing the cat population.
