GALVESTON — The city Monday dropped a misdemeanor charge against a San Luis Pass tollbridge worker who has fed feral cats near the bridge for about five years.

AP

Feral cats

About two weeks ago, a city animal control officer gave John Newland a ticket for keeping too many animals.

The citation, which carried a possible fine of up to $500, was under an ordinance limiting to four the number of dogs or cats a person could feed or keep.

However, municipal prosecutor Mike Miller said Monday that the local law’s language specifically denoted “domesticated member(s) of the feline species” as falling under the limit.

Domesticated animals are ones that can live peacably with people. By any definition, the cats living in the West End fields were feral, not domesticated, Miller said.

City officials had sought a resolution that would include an agreement by Newland not to continue feeding the cats. However, attorney Anthony Griffin, representing Newland, said the bridge worker would keep feeding the animals.

“Our position was that he is not breaking the law by doing so,” Griffin said.

The question of whether the cats — in many cases, pets abandoned in the fields by former owners — were feral or domestic was also at the heart of a trial that ended in November.

In that case, isle bird-watcher Jim Stevenson was charged with animal cruelty for shooting one of the cats with a .22-caliber rifle a year earlier.

The charge carried a possible jail term of 180 days to two years, as well as a fine of up to $10,000.

However, prosecutors announced they would not seek to try the case again after a jury deadlock.