Cats that had a bounty on their heads now receive a reprieve
By Lori Skaggs, Best Friends Network VolunteerWhat would you do if you were the Mayor of a small farming community that was being overrun with cats that were being abandoned in your town and your residents were complaining? What if you really wanted to protect the strays (and the community’s pets) from the possibility of an agonizing death due to poisoning or a nonfatal gunshot wound and you didn’t fully understand the most current and humane methods of dealing with the problem? Then throw in the fact that you’re town is so small there is no humane society or animal shelter to assist you. What would you do?
Given those circumstances, you might do just what Mayor Vance Trively and the City Council of Randolph, IA decided to do and notify your residents that you would pay $5 for every cat that was brought to you alive. This would give you the opportunity to return cats to owners while weeding out the strays and ferals, so you could ensure that they were humanely dealt with. However, Mayor Trively had no idea what kind of response this decision would receive from animal rights organizations, rescues and advocates from all over the country once the press (including the BBC out of England) got hold of the story.
Associated Press Writer, Melanie S. Welte, was the first reporter to pick up the story which was published by
The News & Observer on March 12, 2008. The story was quickly picked up by several animal rights organizations including Alley Cat Allies and Best Friends Animal Society who immediately contacted the Mayor to offer alternative solutions such as TNR.
Thanks to the quick thinking of Tiffani Hill, Best Friends Volunteer Manager and other Best Friends volunteers and representatives, Alley Cat Allies representatives, other animal welfare organizations, and the outcry from numerous animal rights advocates around the country, the Mayor and City Council announced that the bounty on cats had been cancelled during a City Council meeting on Thursday evening. The Mayor and City Council have agreed to meet with representatives from Best Friends, Alley Cat Allies and Feline Friendz to discuss a more humane program of trap-neuter-release to be implemented with the help of these organizations.
Originally, Trively was reported as indicating that there would be no help in the town of Randolph to support a TNR program through donations. TNR is a program of trapping, spaying or neutering and vaccinating, and then returning the cats to their original location. This program is the program of choice for most animal rights organizations and rescues and is generally accepted as the most humane and effective method of managing stray and feral cat populations.
Since the story broke there have been numerous comments posted on the city’s website in support of TNR as well as the websites of Alley Cat Allies, Best Friends and The Animal Law Coalition. As more people become aware of the benefits of TNR, people are standing up for outside cats and are winning. Recently, a State Senate Bill in Hawaii was withdrawn by its author, Senator Nishihara, after letters, emails and phone calls poured in. Rather than the original SB2017 that would have fined people who fed feral cats up to $1,000, Senator Nishihara, is now drafting a Resolution to support TNR volunteers.
Many states are enacting laws that will allow people to care for feral colonies. Maybe this is in response to the U.S. Public Opinion survey sponsored by Alley Cat Allies in 2007 where an overwhelming 81% of the responders supported TNR or maybe people are just tired of the automatic solution to problem animal situations being that of euthanasia. Whatever the reason, we are beginning to see kinder options for animals being considered more often.
The number one reason that opponents of TNR cite as their defense for euthanasia of feral cats is that they cause local wildlife to decline because they are predators. Scientific studies prove that cats have low success rates in hunting birds and may actually help some bird populations by hunting mice and rats that do go after eggs and hatchlings. In studies conducted by Roger Tabor, he found that the diet of an unfed feral cat mostly consists of garbage, insects, plants and rats.
When a cat belongs to a managed colony, the colony managers find that their cats are far more willing to hang out and wait for food to be brought to them. Alley Cat Allies defines a “managed feral cat colony as a group of feral cats living together and having strong blood ties in which all cats have been sterilized and vaccinated and are provided daily food and shelter by a volunteer caregiver. The caregiver regularly monitors cats and captures any who need veterinary care, in addition to trapping any newcomers to be sterilized and vaccinated. A properly managed colony is a healthy, stable colony in which no kittens are born.” When colonies are managed, the colony naturally declines over time and eventually disappears as colony members pass away.
We have to remember that the cats who populate our colonies today, are the descendants of domesticated cats that have been left on their own to breed out of control by humans. We owe these cats the courtesy of caring for them and respecting them. After all, they didn’t ask to be put in the position they’re in.
Thank you Mayor Trively and members of the City Council for listening to other options for solving the difficult situation that Randolph finds itself in.
How you can help the cats in Randolph, Iowa:Write a letter to the Mayor thanking him for listening to alternative suggestions to solve Randolph, IA’s dilemma:
Mayor: Vance Trively
107 S Main St
Randolph, Iowa 51649
How you can help ferals locally:Join the
feral cat community on the Best Friends Network
Find a local feral cat organization through the
Alley Cat Allies Feral Friends NetworkPhoto by Trow Snow, Best Friends Staff PhotographerArticle posted by Brandi Bennett, Best Friends Network