(Spring 2012)
The following is a copy of a recent email, sent by
Pacific Animal Foundation, to the Mayor and Council of
every Municipality in
Dear Mayor and Councillors:
With the recent
municipal elections in November 2011, many municipalities in BC have new
Mayors and Councillors.
We would like to take this opportunity
to provide those new Councils with information on feral cats which are
found in every community.
In fact, another name for a feral cat
is a “community” cat.
Re-elected officials may
remember our previous two emails (in July 2009 and February 2011),
called “Feral Cats in Your
Community – What to Do?”
Those emails were sent to every
Council in
Feral cat rescue groups have been practicing TNR in BC since the early 1990’s – 20 years now – and the groups have tried to convey to the general public and municipal officials, that TNR is the ONLY effective practice when dealing with feral (or community) cats.
If TNR were not successful in reducing
the numbers of feral cats in a jurisdiction, then new TNR programs would
not be springing up all around the
An acknowledgement of
this concerned public attitude is reflected by many US and Canadian
municipalities changing their department name from “Animal Control” to
“Animal Care and Protective Control”.
Whether or not “welfare”
is a priority for your municipal council, the business case for TNR is
overwhelmingly the smartest move.
Every municipality in the country is
looking for ways to reduce costs and animal control budgets can provide
that reduction if the right programs are in place.
By implementing a
municipal long term Trap/Neuter/Return
(TNR) program for feral cats, the investment will pay off in the form of
significantly reduced numbers of kittens being born on the street and
surrendered to pounds. That, in turn, will be reflected two ways -
lower animal control costs for the municipality, and stopping future numbers
from increasing exponentially to populate the municipality and/or enter the
shelter system.
TNR halts the numbers and reduces
them, and it is humane.
Please see following link:
Lowering
Your Animal Control Costs
In fact, progressive
communities are embracing rescue groups in their jurisdictions and
working with them to
reduce feline overpopulation.
In addition to supporting TNR and
working with feral cat rescue groups, the following code updates
are from the City of Jacksonville, Florida:
Please see following link:
Other Progressive Code Updates
-
no hold on feral animals – (cats can be transferred immediately to feral groups)
-
if no traceable ID on impounded tame cat, then the cat may be sterilized immediately upon intake (while in possession of animal control) and placed in adoption area as soon as 2 days after impound (but still have 6 day required hold)
-
small kittens or puppies (less than 6 months old and requiring maternal care) have no required hold (so they can be immediately transferred to rescue groups.
Statistics for reducing
shelter numbers by using TNR are available all over the internet, and our
group is happy to provide the numbers for our own North Vancouver District
municipality (approx. 90,000 residents).
Please
see following links:
District of North Vancouver stats – 2009 and 2010; and
District of North
Vancouver stats - 2011
Spaying and neutering
the feral cats is the primary and most important issue.
Any official obstacles such as colony registration, caregiver contracts, or
feral feeding bans, should be removed to streamline
the process.
Return of the cats to their original
colonies is highly recommended over relocation which can slow down and
hamper the Trap/Neuter/Return project.
Sanctuaries for feral
cats are not a viable option.
Sanctuaries are expensive to run, are
usually filled to capacity very quickly, and, often because they are at
maximum capacity, animal welfare standards can be compromised.
Feral groups in BC have provided the information and leadership to communities with their expertise, gained from 20 years of the hands-on street trapping and monitoring feral colonies. The groups almost single-handedly have worked on reducing the numbers of feral kittens and have given a better quality life to those adult feral cats that have chosen the outdoors as their home.
In the process, caregivers have been
threatened, intimidated and harassed although they are actually
providing their community with the
solution to
overpopulation.
Conversely,
bylaw officers have also experienced difficulties when trying to enforce
(archaic, ineffective) municipal laws.
Feral feeding bans do not work and are
counter-productive to reducing feline overpopulation.
Please see following link:
Feral Feeding Bans Do
Not Work
It is time municipal
officials recognize the contribution of feral cat rescue groups and
caregivers and invite them to work with municipal
officials in mapping a TNR strategy for their jurisdiction and finding
ways to fund TNR through the municipal animal control budget.
The groups have carried the financial
burden for whole communities and it is not their sole responsibility to
do so.
It is the
whole community’s
responsibility and there are also various community businesses that
should be joining in that effort.
Please see following link:
An outstanding Canadian example of developing a feral cat management plan is the City of London, Ontario. Two years ago when I was speaking with Mr. Oke, (City of London), he advised me that 7 TNR pilot projects had been funded and that, when the City asked for assistance from local veterinarians, they were overwhelmed with offers of discounted fees to assist the City in its feral TNR projects. One veterinarian offered to open his clinic on Sundays specifically for feral TNR. Please see the link below:
City of London, Ontario - Animal Services - Feral Cats
Our common goal is to
reduce the number of free-roaming feral cats.
We need to do this humanely and with
fiscal responsibility.
The sooner municipalities embrace and
implement TNR with broad community support, the faster the numbers will
come down and nuisance calls and overflowing shelters will be a thing of
the past.
Public support will be easier to
obtain if your community is not attempting to control through killing.
“Strategies for saving feral cats (and their offspring, who can make up the bulk of the kitten population in shelters) cannot rely solely on aggressive adoption programs or strategies appropriate for adoptable and treatable pets. TNR is not only humane; it is the most effective way to reduce the number of homeless cats.”*
(*Source: “Building a No-Kill Community” by
Nathan Winograd)
Any cost-effective solution to
tackle the cat overpopulation challenge in your jurisdiction
MUST
include a TNR program for
feral cats.
We hope the information
in this email is helpful to your Council.
Please feel free to contact us, if you
have questions.
Sincerely,
Lana Simon,
Director