Cat-Catcher Told That's No-No

You can’t catch a cat in a trap in Barrington -- even if it’s attacking birds in your garden.

Your cat also needs to have a collar with a license in Barrington.

Barrington’s animal control officer, Patricia Clancy Watson, delivered those messages to a Ferry Lane cat-catcher and the cat’s owner last week.

The Ferry Lane woman caught a cat without a collar in a carrier on Thursday evening, Sept. 6. She told police that the cat had been tearing up her garden for the past three days while attacking birds.

The woman attempted to deliver the cat to the police station, said Police Chief John LaCross, but the department does not accept strays. A dispatcher went through a list of reported lost animals, however, and found a cat that matched the description.

The owner of the cat was contacted and did respond to the police station to identify it and take it home. The owner said that the cat won’t wear a collar; it keeps pulling it off.

Try again, the owner was told. And don’t catch cats, the ACO told the cat-catcher.