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Starving dog at Marlin's dog pound. Image: KWTX. |
Saturday, 24 February 2024
Marlin's police chief, city manager and animal control officer accused of animal cruelty
Sunday, 14 January 2024
Council proposes criminalising the feeding of feral and stray cats
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Meeting to discuss criminalising the feeding of feral cats. Two women for TNR face the meeting's chairperson! Guess who won! Image is a screenshot from the video below. |
"Since the Tusc TNR program was instituted in the City of Dover 5 years ago, the city has seen a significant reduction in complaints from residents regarding feral cats. As of October of 2023, the group had trapped, neutered and released 862 cats and adopted out another 228 kittens. In particular, we previously had an area of town behind several restaurants and other businesses, which we received a number of complaints about. The TNR program came in and has significantly reduced the number of feral cats in that area. The TNR group works closely with the city administration to target areas of town as needed and reduce the feral cat population. The City of Dover has a great working relationship with the Tusc TNR program."
Monday, 1 May 2023
TNR woman at odds with Iowa city over feral cats
NEWS AND VIEWS: I love this woman. She's gentle and kind. She is concerned about cat welfare. And she's become connected with the community cats in Edmonson Park, Oskaloosa, Iowa, USA as she's looked after them for a long time under TNR principles.
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Woman is tearful over the prospect of losing the feral cats she cares for. Screenshot. |
The story is so typical of the cat world. The authorities - the local council or city administrators - have a businesslike vision of their city. It needs to function well. Their viewpoint is in no way sentimental. But in seeking this efficiency their decision-making lacks compassion. And it lacks sufficient concern for animal welfare.
This inevitably leads to a conflict between some individual residents and the council as is seen the video on this page.
It is a paradigm example. Something similar has happened a thousand times before across the US. It is happening right now.
Nearly always a lady or small group of ladies fighting the local authority over the care of feral cats who were put there by negligent human behavior.
The woman wants to find a compromise which saves the lives of the cats in her care. Is that asking too much? The council should listen and stop being bully-boys.
Thursday, 1 July 2021
Residents of Knox City, Melbourne ordered to keep cats inside 24/7
KNOX CITY, MELBOURNE - NEWS AND COMMENT: This might be a world first but if not, it is one of the very few city councils to order that their citizens keep their domestic cat companions inside the home 24/7. And it seems that the order to do this will go on indefinitely unless somebody changes the ordinance or local law. The mayor of the city council disagrees with it as you can see in the Facebook post below.
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Knox City. Pic in public domain. |
The reason is to protect wildlife and that is always the reason in Australia for confining cats. The authorities across the continent, to varying degrees, have become somewhat obsessed with protecting native species and I can understand that because humankind is destroying native species with global warming and other human activities. They have to do something about it and as they can't change themselves, they force change upon the cat.
Note: the embedded FB post below may stop working one day. If so, I am sorry.
Dear Residents, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to write to me and express your views in relation to the new...
Posted by Mayor Lisa Cooper - Knox City Council on Wednesday, June 30, 2021
I have read that the owl kills more wildlife than the cat! I'm not sure that that is true but it's a thought. The cat is cast as the culprit in the decimation of native wild species as the Australian authorities see it. But the feral cat does more damage than the domestic cat and you can't confine feral cats but you can shoot them, poison them and kill them in any way you want, which is exactly what happens in Australia according to the news media.
The 24/7 cat confinement in Knox City which is a suburb of Melbourne begins on October 1, 2021. It will no doubt result in some cat owners building enclosures in their backyards for their cats as a substitute which I think is a good idea. It is perhaps the beginning of the end of allowing cats to roam freely. There will probably come a time, in Australia initially, but in other countries eventually when the concept of 24/7 cat confinement becomes a norm in society.
The council rules state that cats can still go outside as long as they remain on the property of their owner. From October 1 there will be a transition period during which time owners will receive a warning if their cat is found in someone else's property. After the transition period cat owners will be fined AU$91 if their cat is found away from the property. Repeated breaches of the rule will result in a fine of more than AU$500.
The Mayor of Knox City would have preferred a compromise solution namely a 7 PM to 7 AM overnight cat curfew but it did not get the council vote. The mayor is disappointed and it is her who said that on her understanding owls are the biggest predators of wildlife and yet domestic cats are continually blamed.
Her argument is that as cats do most of their hunting at night a night-time curfew would do the job to protect animals. Although many non-cat owning residents of the suburb are happy with the 24/7 confinement order.
Monday, 3 May 2021
Argument over trapping and killing vs trapping, neutering and releasing
In this instance, it seems without notification, Brooklyn and Parma Heights Animal Control published a Facebook post about its policy to trap and euthanise feral cats. It was published last Tuesday apparently and then deleted. I believe that it was deleted because of the comments underneath the post by the citizens of that community.
Essentially the Facebook post said that the authority's policy was to trap and humanely euthanised all intact feral cats (see below). They also said that they "will attempt to relocate ear-tipped cats". What that means is that those cats which have been part of TNR programs and therefore have been ear-tipped will be treated differently and that there will be an attempt to relocate them.
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Facebook post on Brooklyn and Parma Hts Animal Control policy on feral cats introduced without consultation. Screenshot. |
I think that you can guess what they said. One veterinarian in the area said that it seemed as if the clock was being turned back. Her name is Danya Linehan and she said, "I felt like I'd been thrown back about 30 years. It's been a very long time since I've seen anyone propose a solution of rounding up and killing cats to the overpopulation problem since we've been so successful with what we call TNR."
Another, Michelle Pierce, the owner of a Cleveland-based TNR rescue, said that trapping and killing is not a permanent solution and in any case other cats come into the area after the original ones have been killed. It is no solution at all whereas TNR stabilises the colony and stops them reproducing. It also stops nuisance behaviours and gradually the population dies out.
The problem with TNR for many residents is that it is too slow a solution. And that's why the local authority steps in to try and produce an instant solution and that can only be killing.
Another obvious problem which constantly returns is that it is almost impossible to be absolutely certain that you are trapping a feral cat and not someone's pet. When you trap a domesticated cat they sometimes behave like feral cats which means that under the policy proposed by Animal Control they end up being killed which is the crimes of criminal damage and theft under the law of America if you wanted to pursue that course of action. You may struggle to get the local police to act upon that and you may struggle to get the authorities to prosecute themselves on that but it would be a crime nonetheless.
The article on the Cleveland news website 5 ABC NEWS 5 CLEVELAND has been updated to tell us that on Thursday, Brooklyn and Parma Heights Animal Control said that they have suspended trapping feral cats "momentarily". Clearly they have observed and understood the reaction their policy. I hope that they take stock and try the more common sense route which can only be TNR.
I said at the beginning that they did not consult with residents. Any authority wishing to trap and kill feral cats as a solution would be wise to consult with the community first because you need their approval and their involvement because, as mentioned above, there will be outdoor domestic cats. They need to be inside if the authority is trapping outside. More important than that is that you have to seek the agreement of residents that feral cats can be killed and many of them will disagree.
The argument outlined above is one which recurs constantly in America. It is a problem based upon patience. TNR requires patience while killing is near instanteous. The former is a long-term solution. The latter is a quick but flawed fix which does not last.
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