Woman Lets Her Tabby Cat Lie Outside On Front Lawn—And Gets Slapped With Criminal Charges

Jul 03, 2019 by apost team

Cats are a lot like people in some ways. Just like humans, they like to lie about in the sun now and then. One Utah woman was startled to discover letting her beloved tabby out to enjoy the warm weather could have unexpected consequences.

Katie Anderson lives in Murray, Utah with her husband and her beloved tabby cat, Milo. According to Fox13, when she was approached by animal control officials she immediately thought something bad must have happened to Milo. It turns out, however, that the officials were there to charge Anderson with two misdemeanors. 

The first one for letting her pet roam 'at large' and the second for 'not having an animal license attached'.

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"This is a cat who is neutered and micro-chipped and vaccinated, and is not a menace to society," Anderson said when speaking to Fox 13. "That (citation is) telling me I have to call for my court date… for my misdemeanors… of having my cat outside."

The misdemeanor is based on a Murray City Ordinance which was enacted in 1963. According to the NY Post, it reads:

“It is unlawful for the owner or person having charge, care, custody or control of any animal to allow such animal at any time to run at large. The owner or person charged with responsibility of an animal found running loose shall be strictly liable for a violation of this section and for any injury to a person or another animal, or property damage caused by such animal running at large, regardless of the precautions taken to prevent the escape of the animal and regardless of whether the owner or person charged with responsibility knows that the animal is running at large.”

Although the charges have now been dropped, she called animal control out for charging her in the first place and slammed the archaic ordinance. 

"It sounded like the ordinance was kept vague for a reason so if there are strange circumstances, they can do something about that," she said. "But this just feels like animal control being out of control."

You can watch more about it in the video below:

What do you think about this ordinance? Do you think Katie was rightfully charged? Let us know in the comments below - and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!