WHEELING — Officials in the city of Wheeling are expected to pass legislation this week aimed at addressing ongoing issues pertaining to the feeding of feral cats.

With consultation from the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department — in addition to guidance from the city and county legal departments — an ordinance was brought forward to amend the city’s codes regarding dogs and cats, adding a section to address the feeding of stray felines.

Wheeling City Council already heard a first reading on the proposed amendment, and council is expected to hear a second reading and to vote on the legislation during Tuesday night’s regular meeting. A public hearing on the proposal is also scheduled to take place at the beginning of the meeting, which is slated to start at 5:30 p.m.

Howard Gamble, administrator for the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department, appeared before city council to explain the situation — one that was similar to a dilemma that unfolded in Bethlehem in 2023 when a local resident was accused of repeatedly feeding raccoons. More recently, feeding of feral cats has become a problem in the city of Wheeling — specifically on Wheeling Island.

“For years we’ve had issues with feeding,” Gamble told council members. “In the city of Wheeling, you have an ordinance for ground feeding for birds. So we address a lot of calls that come into our office for people who are throwing food around. You can put it in the feeders — you just can’t put it on the ground. The reason why is because it attracts rats and other animals.”

The city of Wheeling has municipal codes in place that can specifically address issues like this, Gamble indicated.

“In the county, it’s a little more difficult,” he said. “We have a lot of people ground feeding on farms and in fields. We’ve had an individual who has been a habitual feeder of raccoons, and we finally had to take him to circuit court to try to break that up. The problem is, it’s in a municipal area within the county.”

The raccoon feeding situation on Renaissance Way in Bethlehem had neighbors scurrying for answers, as what had been described as “an army” of about 40 raccoons had invaded the residential neighborhood for regular meals being offered by one family. The accused feeder reportedly resisted efforts to stop their activities, arguing that they were on their own property and had a right to feed wildlife if they wished to do so.

Officials from the health department and the Bethlehem Police Department got involved, and Ohio County Circuit Court Judge David Sims issued a temporary restraining order to stop their feeding of wildlife. Gamble indicated that a man from this family was observed engaging in this activity.

“Bethlehem PD caught him, we caught him — but the problem is, he continues,” Gamble said. “He’s habitual. He’s now feeding cats on the island. So our proposal to city council is the ordinance that was read to you on the first reading. It’s simple — it addresses the person, not the animal.”

A concern with raccoons is that they are known to carry and transmit rabies, Gamble noted. Feral cats that are being fed become a nuisance because they breed and their populations quickly multiply.

Wheeling Councilman Ben Seidler, who resides in and represents the Ward 2 neighborhood of Wheeling Island, has described the feral cat feeding issue on the Island as being “ridiculous,” noting that there were more than 100 feral cats roaming the blocks around his neighborhood alone. Seidler expressed frustration about the lack of action by the health department on Wheeling Island compared to action that was taken with the similar situation in Bethlehem. Several weeks ago during city budget work sessions, Seidler proposed that the city scale back its annual financial contribution to the Ohio County Health Department in the upcoming fiscal year. That proposal was not met with support by other council members.

“The Ohio County Health Department administrator informed us that because it wasn’t a risk of raccoons or rabies, they could not do anything about it,” Seidler said on Friday. “It would require the city of Wheeling to legislate an ordinance to address the issue.”

According to the city code amendment up for a vote on Tuesday, “Intentionally providing food or sustenance for feral or stray cats is prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to place any type of food upon any property for the purpose of feeding stray and/or undomesticated felines. Any person found to be in violation of this section shall be subject to penalties.”

Seidler asserted that the feral feline situation is a public health issue. He said not only are the cats teaming across the neighborhood, they are urinating and defecating all over residents’ properties, and the perpetrator is leaving styrofoam bowls and plates that blow all over the Island after the animals are finished feeding.

“If you think this isn’t a public health risk, you are out of your mind,” Seidler said in a scathing email sent to Gamble and other local officials early in March.

Gamble told city leaders that the legal recommendation — after consulting with Shawn Turak from the Ohio County Prosecutor’s Office and Rosemary Humway-Warmuth from the Wheeling City Solicitor’s Office — was to simply go after the perpetrator through this legislation.

In regard to the public health threat of rabies, the health department assists with efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to control the spread of the disease in the region, Gamble said.

“The city of Wheeling and the Northern Panhandle are very fortunate for the bait dropping that occurs for rabies prevention,” he said. “It is done by the USDA aerial bait dropping and hand bait to help out. The goal is to prevent the western migration of rabies across into Ohio. It works very well in our area.”

Gamble said other areas of West Virginia are not so lucky.

“Where it’s not working well is in other parts of the state,” he said. “We have a lot of active rabies in the Eastern Panhandle, the Potomac Highlands, in Greenbriar Valley … but not here in this area. A lot of that has to do with the bait dropping.”

Typically in August, bait dropping via low-flying airplanes can be observed along the Ohio River and in wooded areas of the county. Hand baiting takes place along the creeks, as well, Gamble said.

Rabies in raccoons are uncommon locally, Gamble indicated, noting that positive rabies cases are more common in creatures like bats. Occasional reports of raccoons behaving oddly are received by the health department. Gamble said such reports occasionally come about raccoons seen in wooded areas around Oglebay, but he stressed that these animals are likely suffering from distemper, not rabies.

“And there’s nothing you can do about distemper,” Gamble said.