Stray Cats’ Benefactor Draws Hisses, Vandalism Complaint From Neighbors

The cats are guilty of littering.

But Connie Ramsey is the one who faces a vandalism complaint because of it.

Ramsey is a 64-year-old Reseda animal lover who drives through her neighborhood twice a day to feed dozens of stray cats that live in vacant lots and heavy shrubbery.

The cats are delighted when Ramsey shows up with her bags of kibble and cans of fish-flavored food.

Stray Cats Howling, Multiplying

Neighbors aren’t, however. They complain that the curb-side feeding attracts strays that howl at night, multiply unchecked and deposit droppings in yards.

The feedings have prompted increasingly angry confrontations over the last two years.

According to Ramsey, homeowners have confiscated her pet-food bags, dumped her food bowls into the gutter, tried to push her off the sidewalk and squirted her with a garden hose.

According to homeowners, Ramsey has trespassed on private property to leave food and water, and has boosted the cat population so high that they have had to trap strays and turn them over to city animal-control officers for placement or disposal.

But Ramsey keeps coming back. And so do more cats.

“The food attracts every cat within a 20-mile radius,” homeowner Ceil Wibbelsmann said. “The aroma from the droppings is enough to knock you into the next county. I can’t hang clothes out in the backyard without stepping in that stuff.”

The vandalism complaint was filed with police by Dr. William Jacoby, one of Wibbelsmann’s Yolanda Avenue neighbors. He alleges that Ramsey damaged a 46-year-old pickup truck, which is parked at the edge of his backyard, by placing cat food on its fender.

Officials of the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said an Oct. 15 hearing has been scheduled to determine whether misdemeanor criminal vandalism charges will be filed against Ramsey.

“I’ve never had a vandalism case where cat food was used,” said Michael Louthian, a senior hearing officer for the city attorney’s office. “We have no estimate of damage. Maybe the cat food damaged the paint.”

Jacoby acknowledges that the complaint is unusual--and that the pickup was rusty and faded to begin with.

“Granted, it’s an old truck. But it’s a classic Chevy,” the physician said. “I was desperate for something to stop her. I had to do something.”

Jacoby said Ramsey has “lost her sense of proportion” about the cats. “She has, in essence, reared them. When she began feeding them, they started multiplying.”

Denies Causing Damage

Ramsey denies damaging the truck. She also disputes that she is doing anything wrong by putting out food and water for the animals.

“The cats were there before I started feeding them,” she said. “People should be happy I’m taking the problem off their hands.”

Ramsey, a retired telegraph company timekeeper, says she spends 80% of her Social Security income on homeless animals. She said she would turn the strays over to the animal shelter herself if she could catch them.

“I’ll pay to put wild ones to sleep,” she said. “I’d rather see them put to sleep than running in the streets hungry and wild.”

She said other animal activists are rallying to her defense against the vandalism complaint.

“I’ve never been involved in a legal dispute before,” Ramsey said. “I never intended to hurt anyone’s property.