News
Community Cats Benefit After Flood
March 04, 2009, 2:17PM MT
By Denise A LeBeau
Iowa groups and individuals get involved with TNR and management
Iowa groups and individuals get involved with TNR and management
by Denise LeBeau, Best Friends staff
Mary Blount of the Iowa Humane Alliance with the help of Best Friends is bringing Trap-Neuter-Return (and Manage) to the small community of Oakville, IA and beyond. From TNR presentations to hands-on larger scale spay/neuter projects for free roaming cats, the time is right to get the community cats the help they need in the places that need it most!
The next TNR project in Oakville will be March 5th through 8th. If you’re interested in volunteering or would like more information, please email volunteer@iowahumanealliance.org or call (319) 621-6861.
After The Flood
Since the flooding, (click here for more info from the Rapid Response Community) people and officials in Iowa municipalities like Cedar Rapids are looking at ways to rectify the free roaming cat problem that has recently become much more apparent.
“We go into areas that are abandoned because of the flood, where the houses are still standing and we see cats sitting on porches and sitting on window sills in broad daylight. It’s like a little Kitty Village, only we know that we’ve got to get a program in place to fix these cats, and move the ones that can’t be re-released into neighborhoods that are going to be razed. That’s one of our challenges right now, but we’ve got a lot of momentum going to get the cats the help they need,” Blount shared.
Public Opinion and A Plan
Getting a pilot program in place is one of the most important goals of Iowa Humane Alliance and their affiliates. To this end, Blount and her colleagues have been giving Trap-Neuter-Return presentations at community centers in the rural towns of Iowa. Cedar Rapids has hosted two well-attended presentations, where one City Council woman approached Blount afterwards and told her how impressed she was with TNR and its long term benefits.
“The public response has been so positive and we’re getting so much great press! The second largest paper in Iowa, the Cedar Rapids Gazette, has come out in favor of TNR and is garnering support for the cause.”
Some of the challenges that TNR is facing in Cedar Rapids are existing leash laws, and an ordinance which states that anyone feeding an animal is the owner. Iowa Humane Alliance has been asked to submit a proposal for a pilot program to the head of Animal Control. The proposal was requested to include sustainability and cover the legal issues – items like securing written permission from home and land owners to allow feral cats on their property. The pilot program should help get the city to mend their ordinances to support the project!
“It’s a lot of work and we’ve been using resources from Best Friends that Shelly Kotter has kindly shared, along with information from HSUS. There is so much documentation on how TNR is the most effective method in feral cat management that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
Iowa Humane Alliance is also gathering as much information regarding the cats and their caregivers in Cedar Rapids as possible. They’re getting feedback from people that are in the area and on the ground helping the cats. While identifying these informal colonies is important – it is also illustrating how the area desperately needs a TNR program, there are approximately a dozen identified colonies with intact cats – but this is just the tip of the iceberg!
“Now is the time to bring together the stakeholders: the officials, the public, the animal advocates and the press! People are more interested in helping than ever. The key is the public/private partnerships to get everyone on board. City Councils think TNR is wonderful, they want it, but they don’t have the money to implement the programs they need, so we need to get creative and get the private sector on board too!”
Municipalities want favorable public opinion and while TNR is a very effective program it is also the most humane. This is the perfect combination of everyone working together for the common good – whether you like cats or not.
“Flexibility is imperative, you can’t be a control freak when you’re trying to get a TNR program off the ground! We listen to the officials and try to understand and address their concerns. One City Council member from Cedar Rapids said, ‘it’s so refreshing to see an organization come to a meeting with suggestions and not just complaints!’ This is what we’re all about – bringing everyone to the table to get a sustainable solution that everyone can support!”
New Clinic on Horizon!
The various organizations coming together to form a loose spay/neuter coalition will need one major component – a high volume and high quality clinic. They’ve already done all the research and are actively seeking the funding to recreate the Humane Alliance model to meet their area’s spay/neuter needs! Iowa Humane Alliance is accepting donations to help make this new facility a reality as soon as possible.
The Spay Neuter Future
Here are the groups that are joining forces in the Spay Neuter Coalition so far:
• Iowa Humane Alliance
• Witty Kitties, Inc.
• Johnson County Humane Society
• Spay Iowa
• Safe Haven of Iowa County
• Muscatine Humane Society
• Cedar Valley Humane Society
• Cedar Rapids Animal Control
Get Involved!
Volunteer with Iowa Humane Alliance to help trap and transport the ferals of Oakville. To find out more please email volunteer@iowahumanealliance.org or call Mary at (319) 621-6861
(this project will need volunteers for all 4 days from March 5th through 8th)
For further information about Iowa Humane Alliance and how you can get involved, please email info@iowahumanealliance.org
*please note their website is currently under construction, but should go live in the near future
You can send donations to:
Iowa Humane Alliance
PO Box 5292
Coralville, IA 52241-5292
Support the Best Friends Feral Cat Program Click here to make a donation.
Volunteer or Donate to the organizations making the difference:
• Witty Kitties, Inc.
• Johnson County Humane Society
• Spay Iowa
• Muscatine Humane Society
• Safe Haven of Iowa County
To check out some of the recent press go to:
Flood Cat Strut video
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/39758557.html
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/39697317.html
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090218/NEWS/702189946
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/search?crit=flood+cats&SearchCategory=%25&Category=SEARCH
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090126/NEWS/701269994
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090127/NEWS/901279997
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090205/OPINION/902049979
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090217/NEWS/902179997
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090217/NEWS/902179983
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090218/NEWS/702189946
http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/midwestfloodscausestraycatbaby-1192
images courtesy Iowa Humane Alliance