An elderly man in Gainesville, Texas was forced to spend nine days in jail after he refused to pay a $900 city fine for feeding stray cats. The town made feeding strays illegal as a way to reduce the cat population, but in the uproar over 76-year-old David Parton's stint in jail, animal advocates are working with a local law firm to lobby for a more humane and less invasive approach.
As for Parton, his refusal to pay the fine was a matter of principle: "Oh, no, if I had a million dollars I wouldn’t have paid it. Hell, no. No!" he said. He is mainly worried about cats who may have died during his time in jail — while he was incarcerated, the cats went hungry and the city boarded up several of the cats' holes. Parton has been unable to find many of his feline friends since his release.
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