SURFSIDE, Fla. -- There's a catfight going on in the city of Surfside.

Some animal rights activists and city officials are at odds over the fate of a group of stray cats that call the beach community home.

Roberta Waller and Jay Center have been taking care of a colony of stray cats living on the beach for years, but recently their concern for the cats has gotten them into trouble.

Center said, "We've been given tickets totaling, I think, $1,000 or $1,100."

They were fined for illegally feeding the cats that are at the center of an escalating feud between city officials and a nonprofit organization called Friends of Surfside Cats.

The two groups have been at odds for months since the city started enforcing a decades old no-feed rule.

Martin Weischolek, of Friends of Surfside Cats, said, "By not allowing us to feed these cats -- these cats will starve."

Euardo Rodriguez, Surfside town manager, said, "The law is clear -- state law is super clear. Our law (is) clear."

Friends of Surfside Cats has set up Web site that includes a picture of Mayor Paul Novack who has been very vocal about his opposition to feeding the cats.

The site has a link to the Novack 's e-mail address and directs users to e-mail him. It reads: "Click on his heart. We believe it's still there somewhere."

"We want to get his attention," Weischolek said.

Rodriguez said that the Friends of Surfside Cats has not made a good impression.

"The organization lost credibility with us," Rodriguez said.

Before the crackdown, Surfside gave the organization money to help spay and neuter the cats. In three years, the colony went from 100 cats to 25.

But the plug was pulled on that partnership when volunteers of Friends of Surfside Cats continued to feed the strays. Other residents in the community began to raise health concerns.

While the organization doesn't advocate feeding the cats, representatives say to not feed them is inhumane. They have asked the city to back off the cat feeders and let the remaining cats that have all been spayed or neutered live out the rest of their lives.

City officials say they have come up with a plan to deal with the stray cats problem, however they won't say what that plan is or when it will happen.

Rodriguez said, "We're going to find a humane solution to this case, always."