Pittsburgh reinstates limited spay and neuter program for feral cats

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved a contract for spay and neuter services for the city’s feral cats, but the troubled program itself remains on hold.

The city in February abruptly halted its spay and neuter services.

Officials cited concerns that suburban pet owners were faking their address to make it seem like they lived in Pittsburgh in order to access free, taxpayer-funded spay and neuter services.

Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt last week told council that officials were working on a new program with “guide rails to reduce the opportunity for abuse.”

In the meantime, the city is reinstating the program for feral cats after animal advocates have said they worried that halting the program could spark an increase in the city’s population of homeless cats.

Council unanimously approved contracts to continue partnering with Animal Friends and Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh for the services.

The proposal would allow the city to spend up to $35,000 this year with each organization for spay and neuter services for feral cats.

The city allocated the same amount last year for a more robust program that included the same services for pet cats and dogs.

Officials have not said when they plan to reinstate the updated program for pets.

At the time the program was stopped, officials claimed that “a recent evaluation” showed fraudulent use of the program by suburbanites.

“Services were being used in inappropriate ways,” Pittsburgh officials said in a February statement. “Such examples of these program abuses include individuals using the city addresses of friends and family members to bring in animals from outside city limits to take advantage of the service.”

At that time, Emily Bourne, a public safety spokeswoman, could not provide any examples of people promoting the program’s use outside city limits.

On Feb. 7, TribLive filed an open-records request with the city to see the “recent evaluation.” Bourne later told TribLive no written report exists.

To date, city officials have provided just one Facebook post to illustrate the existence of fraudulent use of the spay and neuter program.

TribLive spoke with leaders from Animal Friends and Humane Animal Rescue. Both confirmed they had told Pittsburgh officials that they wanted more money for their services in 2024.

Days later, Schmidt told TribLive that a proposed cost increase was a factor in pausing the program.

Schmidt said a new iteration of the program may involve additional measures to ensure that only city residents can access the service, like cross-referencing valid dog licenses with city addresses and random follow-ups to check on pets after they’ve been spayed or neutered.

Staff writer Justin Vellucci contributed to this report.

Related:

• Pittsburgh looks to reinstate limited spay and neuter program

• Animal welfare groups warn pausing city spay/neuter program will lead to more homeless cats

• Pittsburgh halts free spay/neuter program after scam by suburban pet owners, officials say