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FOOD DRIVE - Hard Times, Still Soft Hearts for Cats
The call to SCA’s Hotline was heartbreaking. "Ivanna" in South L.A. could no longer feed her cats... Read More
I Spayed LA
SCA has recently embarked on this innovative spay/neuter project that targets some of the poorest demographic areas in Los Angeles. Read More
Fundraisers
If you have a creative idea for a fundraiser or would like to host your own house/office party to benefit SCA - please contact us! Read More
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» 2011
» January-February-March
» To Return or Not to Return
To Return or Not to ReturnBy Christi Metropole It is that time of year. It’s awful if you are a trapper or kitten tamer. There are so many kittens, not enough foster homes or forever homes. You want to go out and TNR (trap/neuter/return), but you are afraid you will run into litters that you have no place for. Your belief is that all kittens in colonies need to be taken in and adopted, however you have no place so you don't even dare to trap. You hear of some people who trap and fix kittens and put them back. You are aghast. How can they do that.? Doesn't every kitten deserve a warm, cozy bed? You long for the winter months when there are very few kittens. It is fine to fix kittens and put them back. I am here to tell you that. It is perfect? No. It is optimal? No. But its practical and its not immoral. Actually, if you go out and TNR cats, you are so far above the moral high ground you have a long way to fall before you are even with the rest of your community. There are some who believe that all kittens should be taken away and some even go as far as to take them to the shelter where their chances of making it out alive are slim to none. We at SCA completely disagree. And yes some places are safer than others. And yes some colonies are threatened and you need to thin the heard however, the shelters are teaming to the brim with kittens. Some believe its better to TNR all cats and kittens and rescue from the pound where they are sure to die. And yes, some kittens on the streets are sick and need taking in. It’s not black and white, but if not having a foster home for kittens is stopping you from trapping, rest assured, it is ok. You are doing some of the most important animal welfare work there is and its ok to fix kittens and put them back. This is all about progress, not perfection. May 07, 2011 More Stray Talk |
Interview with Christi Metropole
Christi Metropole, Executive Director of SCA talks about the pet overpopulation crisis and what we do to help Read More
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Comments (4)
jane:
Aug 05, 2011 at 06:08 PM
I recently adopted a young cat that was almost dead. She was recently spayed and had the tipped ear of a feral spay. But she was not feral and had no idea how to survive outdoors, so she starved until rescued again as stray. Sweet cat, but why spay and then release to death?
Jacqueline Chauser:
Sep 24, 2011 at 01:33 PM
As compared to turning a kitten into the pound for death? I think the point of this article is there is no bullet proof way to save all these cats. Sometimes controlling the population is the best we can hope for. Either the cats live a few weeks as strays or a few days in the pound. The need for homes is beyond overwhelming and at a time when the economy is crap, people are losing their homes, and others are being driven out of their homes by wildfires and natural disaster. I think anyone who does this work knows, cats will die. We can reduce population so less are born to suffer, get a few placed, dwell on our successes. It's depressing if we let it be, or as this article points out, we can acknowledge we are doing more than 99% of the population to help these cats.
Stephanie:
Feb 10, 2012 at 11:36 AM
I have been doing TNR for over 20 years. I have seen something in the last few years that has made me feel very different about releasing kittens. I have witnessed a hawk try to pick up a six month old cat. This was in an urban neighborhood, not out in a rural area. The cat was too big for it but that didn't stop it from trying over and over again to get it. I have also seen owls in recent years try to get at cats which I never saw them do before. Can anyone stand to think about a tiny helpless kitten being swooped up and taken to a nest and eat alive piece by piece as it is crying out in unimaginable pain? I cannot. Wildlife especially birds of prey seem to be more aggresive than ever. I have also heard this same opinion from other cat people. I am not advocating taking kittens to kill shelters either. There is a better option and sadly its not being done.
I am a harsh critic of most of the cat organizations I come in contact with because they do a failing job at recruiting TNR volunteers and foster homes, not to mention doing the needed fundraising to properly run their groups. Their reply seems to always be they don't have the time. More volunteers means time saved. I have yet to see ONE cat group in my area sit out in front of a pet store and recruit volunteers and ask for donations. They seem to do the common things like advertise on Craigs List, they are likely to get very few reliable people from there, ask in their newsletters and on their website. They need to get boots on the ground and start doing a much better job at getting people to help. They need to do TNR workshops to get to these cat feeders who by enlarge are the ones helping outdoor cat populations to grow substantially since the majority are not fixing the cats in time. These are the cats that I strongly believe are filling up the cat wards in the back of shelters, the cats that are being fed and not fixed, NOT the ones that have no feeder and whose offspring often do not survive long. These nuisance feeders wait until there are kittens at their colony then start to seek out s/n help. This tragically means a significant waste of funding for these groups since obviously it costs far less to fix one female cat than her and her surviving kittens later on. Where are the spay neuter winter campaigns these groups should be doing? That would also save them significant amounts of money to get to many of these females before they have litters. That is also not being done in my area. So much more can be done to make the terrible choice of putting back kittens on the street a rare one.
Stephanie:
Feb 10, 2012 at 11:42 AM
If these groups need more motivation to do more s/n in the "off months", one more reason is vets aren't stacked up with s/n appointments then so it will be easier to get the cats in. Need more reasons? It is far less likely to run across distemper in colder months and URI also, not to mention nursing cats. BEAT THE HEAT, literally, and fix more cats in the fall and winter. They will see a good reduction in the numbers of kittens later on.