Clermont County Public Health

Prevent. Promote. Protect.

June 11, 2020

Dennis Nichols, Village Administrator

Village of Batavia
65 N. Second Street
Batavia, OH 45103

RE: Feral Cats in Village of Batavia

Dear Mr. Nichols,

Clermont County Public Health received your letter dated June 9, 2020 regarding your concern with feral
cats in the Village and presented it to the Board of Health at the regular monthly meeting on June 10,
2020. After discussion, the Board requested I follow up with you regarding public health’s role. Public
Health does not trap any animals. Public Health is involved in disease transmission with animals but it is
primarily limited to rabies exposures from animals to humans. Rabies exposures can occur when an
animal bites a human and our follow up involves quarantining the animal to ensure it is not
communicable and/or following up with the bite victim to ensure medical follow up if the animal cannot
be quarantined or tested. Rabies is not very prevalent in Clermont County; the last positive case we had
was in 2017 in a bat.

I requested staff pull data on bite reports in the Village of Batavia to see if there were any recent
increases. There were no bites occurring from cats in April, May, or June to date. There were four in
March, three of which were owned, only one was a stray. We certainly understand your concern in the
Village and you are correct that residents feeding the cats will only exacerbate the problem. There are
some resources you may be able to look into for assistance, Ohio Alley Cat Resource -
http://www.ohioalleycat.org/trap_faq/ and UCAN Nonprofit spay and neuter clinic -
https://ucancincinnati.org/tnr/about-feral-cats-2/. I would also recommend reaching out to the
Clermont Animal CARE Human Society to see if they have any additional recommendations for
addressing the issue.

Sincerely,

Julianne Nesbit
Health Commissioner

www.ccphohio.org
2275 Bauer Rd. Suite 300 Batavia Ohio 45103 I (P) 513.732.7499 I (F) 513.732.7936 I ccph@clermontcountyohio.gov
An Accredited Public Health Agency