Widow in battle to keep her 27 pet cats

They have been her life since her husband died. But the 27 cats owned by Jane Bood have prompted a campaign by residents fed up with their mess.

The 63-year-old widow dotes on her pets, especially since the death of her husband David five years ago.

She knows them all by name from the eldest, a 13-year-old tomcat called Felix, down to the youngest, one-year-old tortoiseshell Fluff.

But her neighbours in Lower Prestwood Road, Wood End, do not share her obsession with the cat world and have set up a 50-name petition complaining that the animals leave unwelcome 'calling cards' in their back gardens and on the public footpath.

They are concerned about a health risk and are calling on the council to impose a limit on the number of pets their neighbour is allowed to keep

Petition organiser Shiv Parmar, who lives next door, said: "The cats defecate over our properties, we are fed up with it."

Mrs Bood, who spends £30 a week on food for them, had just five cats when her husband died.

The school cleaner says they are company for her and she could not bear to part with them.

The 12 tomcats and 15 females include Tigger, Midnight, Brutus, Sooty, Ryan, Whiskers, Cindy, Cadbury, Garfield, Ginger, Morgan and Marmalade.

She has had to compile a list detailing their names, birth dates and characteristics for Wolverhampton Council who have demanded proof that she is not running a cat's home.

Enforcement officers from Wolverhampton CIty Council have also described her back garden as an "unacceptable" health risk and have put down an order demanding she clean it up.

But Mrs Bood said today: "I would be devastated of I had to get rid of any of the cats. They are my family.

"I look after them well, there are plenty of cat litter trays around.

"The petition isn't fair — some of the people on it live in Banbury and Stafford. Only about a third of those who signed are affected."

The grandmother of one, who works at Wolverhampton Girls High School, has offered to patrol the street and clean up any mess left in her neighbours' gardens. The petition states:

"We the local residents petition the council to effectively limit the number of cats owned by our neighbour in Lower Prestwood Road."

It claims Mrs Bood owns "in excess of 30" cats.

The document says: "We the undersigned are increasingly concerned about the heightened level of cat faeces in residential gardens, walkways and public footpaths."

It continues: "We urgently call on the council to act as our families' health in the area is potentially at risk from a neighbour that fails to listen to reason," the petition concludes.

Before the petition was handed in by residents, Wolverhampton City Council had received a number of complaints about the state of Mrs Bood's the rear garden and "nuisance" arising from the cats kept at her home. Council officers are due to revisit the house next month to check if the garden has been tidied up.

Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 the council is entitled to serve a legal notice.

It can serve it if it appears that an area is affected by the condition of land.

The notice requires the steps to be taken to remedy the condition of the land within a specified time period.

Mrs Bood has also been advised that under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 proceedings could be brought when a statutory nuisance is being caused by "an animal kept in such a place or manner as to be prejudicial to health".

Mrs Bood, whose three-bedroom semi detached home is decorated with embroideries of cats, said she has had 21 of her cats neutered or spayed but that it was an "expensive business".

She said she had stopped until she finds out what the council decides what its next step will be following its inquiry.

"The PDSA has been out to inspect the cats.

"They said that they were all well looked after," she added.

"I have three cat litter trays and they are all kept very clean."

She added: "I am terrified of what will happen.

"They are like humans to me.

"I have watched them give birth and they behave very much like a human does.

"I am frightened they are going to come and take them away from me."