Yep, Nicci and I are now the mean neighbors. I had the Cops at my house yesterday because of our crazy 93 year old neighbor and her 50 something live in son.
I didn't ask the Cops to come by. They just did. Our neighbor has a Cat that has been digging up Nicci's garden. (Actually it's the son's cat.) It has been using the garden as a litter box and ripping out plants. We haven't seen it do damage but we have seen it peeing in the garden. Nicci has had to replace 5 plants now.
So yesterday when we got home one of the plants in the front was lopsided and there was this big glob of cat poop semi-buried beside it. That was enough for me. I decided I will go to the Humane Society and rent one of ther 'Hav-a-Hart' traps and catch the fiendish feline. But I didn't want to get myself into serious trouble by trapping someones pet. So I called the Township Offices first to see what the laws were. I talked to a nice Police Officer there and he looked up the ordinances for the Township. Sure enough letting an animal run loose like that was illegal. So I told him my plans and he suggested I go and talk to the neighbor first about it. I thought that was reasonable so I did.
As I was talking with the neighbor, who was very cool about it and said he would keep his cat inside for a while so we could see if it really was his doing the damage, the Cops pull into my driveway. Couldn't have been better timed. The neighbor looked at me and asked if I had called them. I told him I had called to find out what the laws were but I didn't expect them to come by.
Well, it turns out that they took all kinds of information and filed a report. An official report about cat poop in a garden. I laughed with them about that one. But they said they needed to do it since I had called. They even looked at the poop Nicci had dug out of the garden! I am not making that up.
Later that evening the old lady came outside and just stood there staring at Nicci with her arms crossed, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. She stood there on her porch like that for 20 minutes or so until Nicci (who was watering her garden) stopped and asked her if there was a problem. The old lady didn't say anything but just walked inside. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of that one. She'll be telling all the neighborhood that we called the Cops on her and her cat.
Now we are "The Mean Neighbors". Somehow I find the whole thing amusing. :)
2 comments:
Oh no! Well... I hate confrontation so this kind of stuff makes me ill. I guess I don't like to have anyone mad at me. LOL.
Is it possible to start snapping photos of each plant and 'dig up' and poop pile you find... and then of course keeping an eye out to get a photo of the cat in the process too? This might help your neighbors to understand the amount of work, time and money that goes into replacing all your plants!
We had a similar problem with cats in our old neighborhood, but I don't think the cops were ever called. I sure hope this solves your problem, though. Replacing plants destroyed by cat pee can get expensive!
The image of the police taking a report and the cat poop evidence is pretty funny, though.
Post a Comment