Animal control officer Kim Johnsen has apprehended the first feline felon in Naperville, Ill., but she says publicity about the Chicago suburb's cat leash law makes her out to be just what she isn't - a cat hater.
Weeks of news reports, interviews and telephone calls - many of them hostile - preceded the first cat-nabbing."It was a very clean, pretty, cat," she said. "It had its shot tag and an identification tag on its collar, so I got in touch with the owner right away.
"He was informed that he had the dubious honor of being the first one caught under the new law. When he stopped laughing, he came over and picked up his cat," she said.
The owner, who asked not to be identified, paid a $10 fine, a $15 pound fee and an $8 cat license fee, Johnsen said. He could have been fined $200.