CAPE CORAL, Fla. -- Cape Coral residents on 22nd Terrance are up in arms over the amount of stray cats coming into their neighborhood. They say the cats keep coming because one woman at the end of the street keeps feeding them.
"They're going to keep coming back because that’s where they're accustomed of getting their food from," said Cape Coral resident Michael Polidura.
Polidura says that he's seen at least 30 cats in the last three years. He claims his neighbor leaves a part of her fence open, where they can come and go as they please. The felines, however, are causing damage.
For example, Polidura says the cats scratched up his car, leave feces in his lawn, climb up his lanais, and are even getting on top of his roof.
“I went out there, I thought somebody was breaking into our house and it sounded like [feet]. Like someone stomping and walking around on the roof…. So I went out there with my gun to check the area and I go out there and there’s three cats and they’re running to her backyard."
A police report was filed after another neighbor ended up with a 3-inch scratch on his leg after trying to get a cat off his lawn. Polidura says him and other neighbors having been catching the strays and bringing them to Animal Services in Lee County.
"We've got rid of 17 cats,” he explained. “It’s not fair because we have children...And, you know, to go outside and to just let them play in the grass, I have to comb the grass and make sure there’s not feces.”
The woman who's house is in question did not want to be interviewed, but told Fox 4 that she only owns four cats and feels targeted by the community.
Neighbors like Polidura say they understand the difficult situation she is in, living alone and being disabled. He made it known that he does everything he can to help her, but wants the cat situation taken care of.
“I try to help her as much as I can. We take out her garbage, we put her garbage cans back," he emphasized. “But this has to stop. You have to stop bringing these stray cats around."
Lee County Domestic Animal Services says there is an ongoing investigation into the nuisance animal complaint made in the area.
