Creating laws simply to deal with a specific situation — particularly when remedies to that situation already exist — is poor governance. It was appropriate then that Wheeling City Council held off this past week on an ordinance that would have outlawed the feeding of feral cats.

Councilman Ben Seidler, whose ward includes Wheeling Island, put forth the measure after hearing from some residents about people on the Island leaving food out for stray cats. The ordinance was set for passage Tuesday.

Dozens of residents opposed to the measure turned out at council, prompting Seidler to address the matter before it came up for a vote. He termed his initial approach to the feeding ban “short-sighted.”

“I want to thank everybody who wrote to me and wrote to council and educated me on some things that I wasn’t aware of,” Seidler said. “What we were trying to address is a huge litter problem that is in our neighborhoods.”

Now, instead of a feeding ban, Seidler said he would work with city officials to find funding to deal with the problem in the proper way including a spay and neuter program.

Outside of finding a more humane way to deal with the issue, there also would have been personal property rights to contend with. Seidler’s ordinance would have prohibited a resident from leaving food out on their porch — an infringement on that right.

“It was never our intent to stop somebody from doing this on private property anyway,” he said. “It was never my intent to put any animals in harm, obviously.”

That’s why trying to create an ordinance to deal with a problem of this sort is difficult. The law of unintended consequences likely would have factored in here, leading to new problems never considered. It’s better for all involved to deal with this problem the right way.