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Barb... Thanks so much. I get an email newsletter from Pets & Animal World (PAW) and have copied their information on TNR below. I am a member of PETA, but I am NOT happy with their position on tnr. :( The following below
article appears in the Feb. 2005 edition of "The Caregiver Connection,"
the newsletter of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance (NJARA)
Feral Cat Program. If you are a
feral caregiver who lives in New Jersey, please contact Rebecca at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and sign up for NJARA's Caregiver Network. Many
thanks to Rebecca for the following information!
Don't buy into the cruel myths about feral
cats and kittens.
Discover the compassionate solution that really works!
Many well meaning feral cat advocates and TNR supporters are unknowingly writing checks to organizations that are opposed to TNR. These groups are working feverishly to educate the public about the dangers of TNR and the benefits of trap and kill programs. The following is intended to inform and educate all feral cat advocates about those organizations trying to sabotage all that you work for every day. PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PeTA) >From www.peta.org: "Having witnessed first hand the gruesome things that I can happen to feral cats, we cannot, in good conscience, advocate trapping, altering, and releasing as a humane way to deal with overpopulation." "PETA cannot in good conscience oppose euthanasia as a humane alternative to dealing with cat overpopulation." >From www.askcarla.com: "The act of releasing a cat is, in the eyes of the law, abandonment and is illegal in many areas." Carla also makes a point to say that if colonies exist they should only be "situated in an area where they do not have access to wildlife and where the weather is temperate." >From PETA's publication Why all Cats Should be Indoor Cats: "Euthanasia is a tragic necessity." PETA's factsheet Trapping is the Kindest Solution actually encourages people to trap and kill feral cats. It reads: "Please do not allow the prospect of euthanasia to deter you from trapping cats. If you leave them where they are, they will almost certainly die a painful death. A painless injection is far kinder than any fate that feral cats will meet if left to survive on their own." AUDUBON SOCIETY The National Audubon Society passes down their resolutions to their regional chapters, who then make their own statements. >From www.audubon.org: The National Audubon Society states that they "will work with the scientific, conservation, and animal welfare communities to educate the public about the dangers that feral and free-ranging domestic cats pose to birds and other native wildlife." The New Jersey Audubon Society has taken a stance that is strongly opposed to TNR and feral cats. >From www.njaudubon.org: "These cats suffer short, miserable lives, and can cause flea infestations and transmit serious diseases to humans." "(Cats) can transmit serious diseases to humans, such as cat-scratch disease, plague, or rabies. Avoid contact with stray animals and call your local animal control officer who can safely and humanely remove the animal." AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY (ABC) With their "Cats Indoors!" campaign, ABC has blamed feral cats for the decline in bird and other wildlife populations and is attempting to eliminate TNR efforts. In the Nov/Dec 2003 issue of Best Friends Magazine, Cats Indoors! Director Linda Winter states that feral cats should be adopted, killed or placed in feral cat sanctuaries. >From www.abcbirds.orgjcatsj: ABC "strongly opposes managed free roaming cat colonies." >From ABC's publication "Managed" Cat Colonies: the Wrong Solution to a Tragic Problem: "TNR clearly is not in the best interest of birds and other wildlife or the cats...It also undermines efforts to encourage responsible pet ownership by keeping cats indoors." HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES (HSUS) The HSUS tends to dance around the issue of TNR. To avoid conflict they do not take a firm stance about feral cats, however, their negative impression of free roaming cats is clear. >From HSUS's Statement on Free Roaming Cats: "Free-roaming cats...are often hit by cars or fall victim to disease, starvation, poisons, attacks by other animals, or mistreatment by humans. Free-roaming cats also prey on small mammals, songbirds, and other wildlife; spread zoonotic diseases such as rabies; defecate on other people's property; and cause car accidents, among other problems." THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY >From www.wildlife.org: The Wildlife Society opposes "the passage of any local or state ordinances that legalize the maintenance of 'managed' (trap/neuter/release) free-ranging cat colonies." If what you just learned has made you upset, please react by contacting these organizations and telling them so. It is important to spread the word about these "animal welfare" and wildlife organizations that are promoting the killing of feral cats or, at the very least, are not speaking out in favor of TNR. We are able to respond to the points raised by these anti-feral cat organizations with common sense and scientific proof. These groups fall back on the premise that feral cats suffer and lead short, miserable lives. Yes, it is true that some feral cats suffer, but certainly not all. Killing cats is not the answer to eliminate suffering. Enacting TNR programs is. Caring for the cats and ensuring that they do not reproduce relieves suffering and allows the cats to live out their rightful lives as intended. While it is true that feral cats do kill some wildlife, numerous studies by Daniel Castillo, Dr. Julie Levy, and wildlife biologist Roger Tabor (among others) prove that feral cats are not to blame for depleting species of wildlife. Tabor states that humans are to blame for the decreasing bird populations, "We just don't like to acknowledge that it is our fault. It's not a case of the cat being the worst offender. It isn't even remotely the worst offender. It's us." Everyone needs to realize that we all have the same goal: less feral cats. We just choose to go about accomplishing this using a humane, proven effective, lasting method. Any suggestion to place the cats in sanctuaries is foolish. There simply aren't enough sanctuaries, barn homes and the like to house the tens of millions of feral cats estimated to be living in the United States. Stanford University's Department of Environmental Health and Safety conducted a study that found that feral cats pose virtually no risks to the public safety. The way to eradicate any risk of rabies from a feral cat is through a TNR program. Feral cats who are TNR'ed are vaccinated against the disease, thus eliminating any concern about feral cats carrying rabies. Traditional trap and kill methods are inevitably unable to trap every cat in a colony. Those cats who avoid being trapped will be left to reproduce at will, with all resulting cats being unvaccinated. With a TNR program, caregivers continuously monitor the colony and alter and vaccinate all members. There is little reason to worry about feral cats carrying the diseases FIV or FeLV. Feral cats and indoor domestic cats have approximately the same rate of infection from these diseases, with the percentage of cats infected with FIV being 2-5% and FeLV 3-7%. Alley Cat Allies, the premier organization for feral cat and TNR advocacy, states that, "despite concern over viruses, there is no feline disease that ends more lives than euthanasia due to overpopulation." Feral cat caregivers are responsible, compassionate, intelligent people who know first hand that TNR does not fall under abandonment statutes. To abandon an animal by definition means to relinquish care. A managed colony of feral cats is the exact opposite. Cats receive water, food, shelter, medical care and love. This is hardly abandonment. The bottom line is that TNR is the only proven, humane method of effectively managing the feral cat population. The organizations in opposition to our work do not have a realistic answer as to how to control the feral cat population. Their suggestions are poorly researched and have proven over time to be ineffective, costly and cruel. Hopefully this new information will encourage you to speak up for the cats. Our rational, scientifically backed voices need to be louder than those spreading the anti-TNR message.
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Brenda.....
http://www.whiskersandwicks.com
http://www.cheqnet.net/~bksmith
"The only risk you ever run in befriending a cat is enriching yourself." - Colette
Don't Take Your Organs To Heaven. Heaven Knows We Need Them Here.
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