The following is a copy of an email, sent by Pacific Animal Foundation in 2011, to the Mayor and Council of every Municipality in British Columbia.

Dear Mayor and Councillors:

Council may recall receiving our first email in July 2009, entitled "Feral Cats in Your Community - What to do?"  A copy of that email is found at this link:

Pacific Animal Foundation - TNR Initiative - Email to all BC Municipalities – Part I
TNR Initiative to All municipalities

We received numerous emails thanking us for providing communities with reliable, factual information about feral cats and the very successful practice called Trap/Neuter/Return (or "TNR").  Many Councillors were under the impression that the feral cats in their communities were covered under their animal control contracts and were surprised to find otherwise.  A simple call or email to your animal control provider to ask what happens to your community's feral cats will advise you how feral cats are handled in your community.

The practice of TNR is gaining wide popularity around the world, especially in the USA and Canada because it works and is the ONLY effective practice that does.  And it does it humanely.  By practicing TNR, communities are reducing the new litters of feral kittens being born on their streets.  This directly lowers the numbers of unwanted kittens being turned into pounds and shelters.  If a municipality can lower its animal control costs and save taxpayers money by lowering the numbers of unwanted animals in their municipal pounds, then it's a win-win situation for all.

Decades of trapping and killing feral cats has not worked.  The National Animal Control Association in the USA has recognized this and officially changed its policy toward feral cats in 2008.  Please see the NACA article titled
"Taking a Broader View of Cats in the Community".

Quoting from that article:

"The previous policy was really aimed at cleanup, and this (new policy) is designed to be more community-minded  . . .   Before, some agencies were simply holding the policy up and going, 'This is proof [of] why we should do this, because this is the leading national animal control agency, and their policy is [to] capture and potentially euthanize.'  And that is not the direction the communities are going.  That's not the direction that NACA's going.  So we've amended our policy to address that . . "

Our group can offer some hard data to prove that TNR is effective and successful in our community. 

 Click here for District of North Van. Municipal Animal Shelter  stats

A recent scientific study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2009, has found that the vast majority of pet cats are neutered.  It states, however, that "the most comprehensive research to date indicates that less than 3% of the stray and feral cats are neutered."  The search results mean that, in order to reduce feline overpopulation, the focus should be on programs aimed at neutering stray and feral cats.

See "Vast Majority of Pet Cats Are Neutered" - Alley Cat Allies 2009

You may want to review current policies with your animal control provider and discuss implementing a TNR program for your community.  If every municipality would set aside some funds annually within their animal control budget for TNR, then your community would see fewer feral kittens either on the streets or surrendered to your local shelter.

See - "Research Data re: Feral Cats"

Cat licensing is not a new concept.  As far back as the early and mid-1990's, the idea was receiving attention.  Several jurisdictions in the U.S. even enacted licensing programs against the advice of several prominent groups of animal organizations who cautioned against it.  A number of those jurisdictions have repealed their legislation citing various reasons for rescinding the law.  Toronto, Ontario