"These cats — they're just everywhere," says Weller. "They're on my vehicles, they're on my front porch, they're in my backyard…. The cats are everywhere — they're having kittens all over people's properties, under their sheds, it's just disgusting up here. When it rains, you just smell nothing but cat."

Since moving to Kerhonkson from Accord, where she lived previously for eleven years, Weller, has been under siege by what she estimates to be about 60 cats. The felines have overrun the neighborhood of about seven houses in the Maple Street/Turkey Hill area, which is a short uphill drive off of Route 209.

The source of the problem, says Weller, is that some of her neighbors have taken to consistently and constantly feeding the strays, making the neighborhood a safe haven for the four-legged creatures. She says that one neighbor has even admitted to housing 17 cats, behavior that she says ought to classify the neighbor as "a hoarder."

And Weller says that this problem has been present for quite a while; when area-residents called on Project Cat's services a few years ago, and the not-for-profit service captured about 35 cats, no one wanted to pay the bill. Since then, the service has refused to come back to the area unless paid up front to cover costs.

Help has yet to materialize from municipal sources. Last month, Weller appeared before the Wawarsing Town Board to ask what could be done to remedy the problem. But she was told that the town's hands are tied — a fact reinforced by discussion with New York State officials.

"There is no state law addressing feral cats, and there's very few state laws on the books addressing cats in general," says Jessica Chittenden with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, the agency charged with animal population and control. "The town, as well, is not responsible for feral cats, so it's not an obligation of them to take care of the population — to do anything with them.

"However, if it does become a public health problem — for example, if the cats have rabies and they're running around and infecting other animals, or spreading disease — that town can declare themselves a public health board, and then they would have the authority to trap and remove those cats. But they can't do so without a public health order."

Chittenden also says that there is a state law on the books that says if you feed an animal, you own it, "but that's only referring to dogs," she adds.

State Senator John Bonacic also offers the state's view on what is basically an extremely local problem.

"The state has empowered any municipality to pass a local law to require mandatory sterilization. If they want to do it, the municipality can take control of this," he says. "A municipality can frame their local law, and normally where they catch them is coming out of shelters, or wild cats. They can categorize what animals they're targeting for mandatory sterilization, if they're so inclined, but that would be something that the town of Wawarsing would have to take up."

While such an addition to the town's responsibilities might be costly, Bonacic said, "You're balancing the costs versus public safety."

As it stands, representatives from the Ulster County Health Department have yet to acknowledge Weller's plight. When they visited the area a few weeks ago, there were very few cats to be found — a problem the Kerhonkson homeowner chalks up to the very nature of felines in general.

"They're not social animals. Cats are independent and territorial, so they're not going to come up to you to be petted, they're going to run and hide…. This was the issue with the town and the board of health when they came up — they didn't see anything."

Of course, during the ten-minute period of Weller's conversation with the Journal, five individual cats could be spotted walking around the area, crossing over onto Weller's property and to that of her neighbors', lending credence to her claims.

Meanwhile, the bureaucratic black hole into which cats seem to have fallen in state, county, and town law has left Weller at the end of her rope. "I'm ready to sell this house. I can't take this. It's all because of the cats," she says, exasperated.