JEFFERSON, Iowa (KCCI) — The city of Jefferson has come up with a solution that involves shooting cats to control the population.

There are multiple feral cat colonies in the central Iowa town, and the city claims shooting the animals is its only option.

“Cats don’t belong outside,” Jefferson City Councilman Matt Wetrich said. “There’s research showing hundreds of millions of birds in the U.S. alone.”

Wetrich is a naturalist by trade and knows what feral cats do to an ecosystem. But he also knows the attachment so many people have to the furry creatures, which is why he admits the city’s policy of shooting some feral cats doesn’t sit right with a lot of people.

Read more at KCCI.com.