{"id":74109,"date":"2026-07-20T14:31:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=74109"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:31:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T18:31:55","slug":"%f0%9d%97%a3%f0%9d%97%a2%f0%9d%97%9f%f0%9d%97%9e-%f0%9d%97%96%f0%9d%97%a2%f0%9d%97%a8%f0%9d%97%a1%f0%9d%97%a7%f0%9d%97%ac-%f0%9d%97%94%f0%9d%97%a1%f0%9d%97%9c%f0%9d%97%a0%f0%9d%97%94%f0%9d%97%9f-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/07\/20\/%f0%9d%97%a3%f0%9d%97%a2%f0%9d%97%9f%f0%9d%97%9e-%f0%9d%97%96%f0%9d%97%a2%f0%9d%97%a8%f0%9d%97%a1%f0%9d%97%a7%f0%9d%97%ac-%f0%9d%97%94%f0%9d%97%a1%f0%9d%97%9c%f0%9d%97%a0%f0%9d%97%94%f0%9d%97%9f-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud835\udde3\ud835\udde2\ud835\udddf\ud835\uddde \ud835\uddd6\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde8\ud835\udde1\ud835\udde7\ud835\uddec \ud835\uddd4\ud835\udde1\ud835\udddc\ud835\udde0\ud835\uddd4\ud835\udddf \ud835\uddd6\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde1\ud835\udde7\ud835\udde5\ud835\udde2\ud835\udddf: \ud835\udde3\ud835\udddc\ud835\uddd6\ud835\uddde \ud835\uddd4 \ud835\udddf\ud835\uddd4\ud835\udde1\ud835\uddd8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can’t tell people to \ud835\udde6\ud835\udde7\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde3 feeding cats and then claim they \ud835\udde2\ud835\uddea\ud835\udde1 those same cats because they fed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeding cats is \ud835\udde1\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde7 illegal under the Polk County Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few cities\u2014Fort Meade, Davenport, Mulberry, Winter Haven, and Polk City\u2014have ordinances stating that feeding a stray for 3\u20137 days may establish ownership. Even those ordinances do \ud835\udde1\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde7 prohibit feeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Animal Control appears to be applying that ownership theory in Lakeland, Bartow, Haines City, Auburndale, Frostproof, and other cities where no such ordinance exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the logic falls apart:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83d\udea9\" Polk County defines feral cats as untamed and unable to be handled. So how can a caregiver have the “control or custody” required to be an owner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83d\udea9\" Section 7’s roaming rule applies only to \ud835\udde8\ud835\udde1\ud835\udde1\ud835\uddd8\ud835\udde8\ud835\udde7\ud835\uddd8\ud835\udde5\ud835\uddd8\ud835\uddd7 cats\u2014not ear-tipped, sterilized colony cats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\ud83d\udea9\" If five neighbors feed the same colony, who’s the owner? Whoever Animal Control decides to cite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Animal Control claims caregivers own cats because they feed them, it cannot then order those same caregivers to stop feeding them. Florida Statute \u00a7 828.12 provides that intentionally depriving an animal of necessary sustenance can constitute animal cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud835\uddec\ud835\uddfc\ud835\ude02 \ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddee\ud835\uddfb’\ud835\ude01 \ud835\uddf5\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude03\ud835\uddf2 \ud835\uddf6\ud835\ude01 \ud835\uddef\ud835\uddfc\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf5 \ud835\ude04\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude06\ud835\ude00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud835\uddd6\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddfa\ud835\uddfd\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude00\ud835\ude00\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddfb \ud835\uddf6\ud835\ude00 \ud835\uddfb\ud835\uddfc\ud835\ude01 \ud835\uddee \ud835\uddf0\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddf1\ud835\uddf2 \ud835\ude03\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddf9\ud835\uddee\ud835\ude01\ud835\uddf6\ud835\uddfc\ud835\uddfb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has this happened to you? Comment below\u2014and share this before someone else gets a bogus citation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can’t tell people to \ud835\udde6\ud835\udde7\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde3 feeding cats and then claim they \ud835\udde2\ud835\uddea\ud835\udde1 those same cats because they fed them. Feeding cats is \ud835\udde1\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde7 illegal under the Polk County Code.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false,"token":"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.SDwV5OfFh7T7GAjQ-gHnXQMEMJUI-18ah_zktoHQ0SkMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"featured-image","attached_media":[]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[15131],"class_list":["post-74109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag----2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74112,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74109\/revisions\/74112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}