SAN ANTONIO — A neighbor on the Ring Doorbell App, claims they are trapping feral cats in a west-side neighborhood, and then eliminating them.
It's against Texas animal cruelty laws to kill feral cats and it's a state jail felony.
Neighbors and area residents have been sharing the messages on a social media post and the messages have stirred up a lot of emotion, with many shocked by the claims.
Eddie Jaime says he woke up to notifications on his Ring App one morning about nuisance cats in the Meadow Village subdivision on the west-side.
"I start seeing different comments about, you know, the trapper traps them... about 130 a week," said Jaime.
In one of the posts, the neighbor claims to not only trap the feral cats, but eliminates them, claiming to have killed more than 150.
Monica Caballero is the vice president and attorney with the nonprofit, San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition. Caballero says feral cats in the city are a big problem.
"San Antonio has 250,000 free roaming cats, and these are cats without homes," said Caballero.
Caballero says unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.
"There's a lot of instances regarding outdoor cats and abuse here in San Antonio. If anybody is on the Nextdoor app or any of these Facebook groups, there's always something posted about some type of animal abuse towards cats," she said.
Caballero says trapping the cats and eliminating them is against the law.
"That's considered cruel, and it is a criminal offense," said Caballero.
Caballero also says cats are allowed to be free roaming as long as they are vaccinated and sterilized, but if you're going to trap them, the proper thing to do is get the cats fixed.
The coalition teaches the public how to help with feral cats in the community, by providing classes and information.
"So we basically teach the public these are the resources, this is how you trap, this is where you get the traps, these are the clinics you can take them to. This is how you treat them after they their recovery from surgery," said Caballero.
Stray cats are a people problem not a cat problem, according to Caballero and she sites lack of education and understanding of resources.
Jaime says he's learned to trap, neuter and release (TNR) in his community, but says more people need to speak out and not be intimidated, when there is animal abuse or cruelty.
"I just think more people need to get involved. If we all get involved, I think we can definitely make a difference," Jaime said.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office says their Special Enforcement Unit, is investigating this case.