pet connection

Ledy Vankavage and Bonney Brown are about to present a talk on TNR programs, with a focus on not only protecting free-roaming cats but also their caregivers. Vankavage is senior legislative attorney for Best Friends Animal Society and American Bar Association vice-chair for the ABA’s animal law committee. Bonney Brown is executive director of the Nevada Humane Society. Her work there to increase adoption rates has increased the save rate for Washoe County shelters to 90 percent. And away we go.

A lot of what I’m talking about are laws relating to feral cats–apologizes for how boring it might be. Vankavage has had a feral cat colony on her property for years. She didn’t know it was there when she bought the house. “They were there before we were.” The first year they trapped and sterilized 60 cats. Twenty years later, they’re down to 20 cats. Talking about the mission of Best Friends: no more homeless pets. “We are never going to achieve no kill without addressing homeless cats and the pit-bull type dogs in shelters. Loves the book Switch, which talks about how to change things when things are hard. Applies to no kill. First somebody has to start acting differently. In changing things systemically, or changing legislation, you have to have both the emotional and the logical argument; one without the other won’t work.

You go with the rational side first. Think out of the box as activists–new venues for adoption. We must expect our politicians to be compassionate leaders when it comes to animals. Gives example of Lincoln rescuing kittens on the battlefield.

Cat populations are defined by ownership status (owned or unowned), lifestyle (indoor only, free-roaming pets, free-roaming unowned cats), socialization status (friendly or feral). There’s a continuum: cats can move from one population to another. Discusses the terminology “community cats.” Feral is scary; “community” sounds more friendly. Community cats exist worldwide in all environmental niches; they can have adverse impacts on public health and environment. Sympathetic citizens offer these cats food and comfort.

Defines feral cat and how she came up with this definition for an Illinois law. Definition includes feral cat means a cat that is born in the wild or is the offspring of an owned or feral cat and is not socialized or lives on a farm. Because we classified farm cats as feral cats, farmers could get them altered for a low price ($15), which encouraged them to do so.

The above bill was a very hard bill to pass. County or municipality has to have a feral cat ordinance before caretakers can get cats sterilized at low price. Historically, feral cat policies have been costly. Discusses National Animal Control Association policy statement on community cat management. NACA has come out in favor of TNR (trap, neuter, return), which is a change–a good one.

One of the problems facing TNR is some people have a fear of cats. Feral cats don’t have good chances if they enter shelters. Make an economic argument not to bring them into shelters; that TNR is a more economically sound management technique for feral cats. “It’s time for cities to try the Tom Sawyer approach by enlisting feral cat caretakers to help and save money.

Community cat fiscal impact calculator

Dispels myths about feral cats: they live nasty, short, brutish lives so you should just kill them anyway. Tells the story of Jones, who lived a relatively long, happy life on her property.

Family income is the strongest predictor of whether house cats are neutered. Surprise! Shows that we need targeted spay/neuter to help low-income people get their cats sterilized.

Neutering assistance programs save money; shelter admissions and euthanasias have gone down in New Hampshire.

Who is an owner? This is what we get into a lot of trouble with. I did not want people to be considered owners of feral cats. You really can’t own feral cat. It’s by mutual agreement and they (cats) can cut it off at any time. A couple of reasons you don’t want to be considered an owner: liability and pet limit laws.

She defines owner as any person having a right of property in an animal or who keeps or harbors an animal or acts as its custodian…Owner does not include a feral cat caretaker participating in a TNR program: www.ilga.gov for a copy of these laws.

Part of the law is that there are no registration fees for feral cats. The Illinois law limits liability for vets who sterilize feral cats or for feral cat caretakers who trap cats for TNR programs or for political subdivisions allowing feral cat colonies and TNR programs. Again, this was a very hard bill to pass; ran into opposition from veterinarians, animal control and trial lawyers (who wanted to be able to sue).

When picking a sponsor, you want someone with clout, someone who can make a phone call and make opposition from, say, trial lawyers, disappear. That’s what happened in this instance.

Are feral cats “pests” under the municipal code? The bill makes sure that feral cats and other companion animals are not defined as pests.

Are feral cats an invasive species? Gives example of Australian island where feral cats are eliminated and then rabbit population explodes and erodes environment.

Is TNR legal? No federal laws address it and most state laws do not. The ESA and Migratory Bird Treaty Act does not mention TNR. There has been no use of these laws against TNR to date. Attendee says in her state they are now trying to call it abandonment when cats are TNR’d. I think the state was Kansas.

“That’s why you have to be so vigilant.”

Los Angeles ordinance prohibits feeding nondomesticated mammalian predators. The city of LA cannot implement, encourage or faciliate implementation of TNR until adequate review of TNR was completed, according to court ruling. California’s environmental quality act is extremely broad.

According to Defenders of Wildlife, primary cause of song bird decline is habitat loss, not feral cats.

Talks about all the places where TNR ordinances have made an impact: Clark County, Nevada; Indianapolis; Cook County, IL; Salt Lake City.

Feral Freedom: feral cats are not entering the shelter. Shelters give people traps, sterilizes cats, puts them back. Affects feline live release rate. Costs $150,000 to $250,000 or more/year, so expensive, but it is saving money in Jacksonville.

Legislation makes a huge difference.

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