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The Evolution of the Cat Revolution

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This feature comes from our Spring 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

NFCD_CampaignPoster_SM-407x630After 25 years of Alley Cat Allies’ work, the world is a different place for cats. Our incredible success making Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) a mainstream practice has saved countless cats, but you know there’s more to be done—that’s why you look to Alley Cat Allies. We’ve had a successful generation of advocacy, but in many ways, this is just the beginning. As we prepare for what’s next, we have to take a moment to appreciate the story of our movement so far. We’re on the front lines of the revolution to save cats’ lives, and there’s a big change coming. That’s why the theme of National Feral Cat Day® 2015 is “The Evolution of the Cat Revolution.”

October 16, 2015, will mark the 15th annual National Feral Cat Day®, and with Alley Cat Allies’ 25th anniversary year in full swing, this promises to be our biggest celebration ever. Each year we ask cat advocates across America (and the world!) to hold a National Feral Cat Day® event, but this year we’re inviting you to do so much more. It’s not just about the cats—it’s about the people who work on the cats’ behalf. From feeding a stray cat, to speaking at a community meeting, to spearheading the campaign for a local TNR ordinance, being an advocate can mean many things, and there’s always room to grow. Our movement to save cats has evolved from the simple idea that community cats deserve to live, and blossomed into a worldwide call to save cats, change communities, and help shelters be feline friendly instead of the number one documented cause of death for cats.

So, what comes next? Alley Cat Allies is working on big plans to create more systemic change in shelters and communities nationwide, but your next step depends on where you are now. National Feral Cat Day® 2015 will help you decide the course of your personal cat revolution evolution. Every cat advocate is a critical part of our movement, and you are going to love everything about The Evolution of the Cat Revolution.

Cats and Us

To tell the story of the cat revolution, we’ll go back in time. Not the founding of Alley Cat Allies in 1990—a little further back. Actually, a lot further back. Even before the Great Pyramid was built in Egypt. Ancient Egyptians’ love of cats is well known, but in the past several years, archaeological evidence has revealed that cats and people were living together thousands of years before that—about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region. It’s hard to identify with people who lived so long ago, but we had at least one thing in common—love of cats.

It’s that love of cats that still motivates us today, but to hear more about how we got from the Fertile Crescent in 7500 B.C. to National Feral Cat Day® in 2015, and how we’ll get to a world that protects all cats, you’ll have keep up with Alley Cat Allies!

The Challenge

The threats facing cats are clear—outdated animal control and shelter policies, punitive ordinances, misinformation, and lack of education. We work to address each of those challenges, every single day. But National Feral Cat Day® is a special day for you to share your stories of cat advocacy, and to bring more of your community along with you as you protect cats. That’s your challenge this year: advance yourself, and advance the movement to save cats’ lives.

This year, National Feral Cat Day® is about more than a celebration on October 16. National Feral Cat Day® is about how the changes you make, big or small, have an impact on cats. The Evolution of the Cat Revolution is about your personal evolution in the movement. Make sure to join us on social media, and keep visiting our National Feral Cat Day® website as we reveal more about this year’s celebration and how you can evolve. Don’t wait—visit www.NationalFeralCatDay.org.


In Your Backyard

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This feature comes from our Fall 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

Alley Cat Allies is working with and supporting cat advocates and communities across the nation, helping them protect cats.

Spay & Neuter Clinic Thrives With Help of TNR Grant

Colorado’s Fort Collins Cat Rescue and Spay and Neuter Clinic has been recognized for its near 35,000 spay/neuters on community cats and dogs. Its founder was honored by local paper The Coloradoan as one of its 2015 Colorado Super Women, and Alley Cat Allies is proud to say that we also support the clinic’s work and provided funding in November 2014. We gave the Fort Collins Cat Rescue $1,000 toward a mission to vaccinate and spay/neuter nearly 100 community cats.

Even More TNR in Missouri

Missouri communities have been increasingly embracing TNR, and now we can add Bland to the list of cities making the change! In June, Alley Cat Allies bolstered an emerging TNR program in Richland, Missouri, with a grant, and its success created a domino effect. In July, the Bland City Council passed a TNR ordinance inspired by Richland’s. Neighboring cities are now in the process of considering new ordinances of their own.

Alley Cat Allies awarded a grant of $9,000 to help the low-cost spay and neuter clinic, Protect Every Pet, provide TNR services in Bland and beyond. With your support, we look forward to continuing our work in Missouri to help
other communities protect cats!

Supporting TNR in Texas Communities

We helped advocates in Arlington, Texas, pass a TNR resolution in 2013, and now we’re helping streamline and improve the community’s TNR policy. Since the resolution, the advocacy group Friends of Arlington Animal Services (FAAS) has used a shelter-neuter-return program to save community cats that would have otherwise been killed in the shelter. The group has trapped, neutered, and returned a total of 3,000 community cats so far. Alley Cat Allies awarded a grant of $7,500 to FAAS for TNR, humane education, and more local programs to protect cats.

Spreading the TNR Revolution

We help municipal governments all over America pass ordinances that protect community cats. We are also the only group in the country researching the number of ordinances and policies that
support TNR—there are 524 in the nation today! Here are the communities we helped pass ordinances in the past year.

  1. Bowie, Maryland
  2. Rockville, Maryland
  3. Detroit, Oregon
  4. Cheyenne, Wyoming
  5. Dunbar, West Virginia
  6. Richland, Missouri
  7. Gainesville, Texas
  8. Lake County, Florida
  9. Crocker, Missouri
  10. Bland, Missouri

You can support TNR ordinances in your community by visiting www.alleycat.org/Ordinances.

TNR: From the Alley…To Main Street

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This feature comes from our Fall 2014 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

Thanks to mainstream support of TNR, Rufus is happy and healthy in his outdoor home.

Thanks to mainstream support of TNR, Rufus is happy and healthy in his outdoor home.

Rufus, an unneutered adolescent brown tabby, was enjoying life outdoors with his family when Hannah Shaw met him. Hannah reached out to her local shelter, which was helpful and responsive—this shelter has fully embraced Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). They lent Hannah traps and even neutered Rufus at no cost. Fortunately for Rufus, TNR has become the mainstream approach for caring for outdoor cats in communities nationwide. Hannah still visits Rufus regularly; and since discovering him, she has joined our team here at Alley Cat Allies as the campaigns manager—helping cats from coast to coast!

We celebrate helping cats every day of the year, and one day in particular, we shout our triumphs from the rooftops. This October 16 marked our 14th National Feral Cat Day®, and we had a lot to be proud of! We are overwhelmed by the success of the movement over the past two decades. Caregivers across the country are helping more and more cats live healthy lives outside, and shelters everywhere are stepping up to adopt positive community cat policies. More cats are free to enjoy life outdoors, like Rufus. Together, we truly are achieving a better world for cats.
There’s no question—TNR is now the mainstream approach to caring for community cats. We hear this from our ever-growing network of Feral Friend Network members, see it in local governments throughout the United States, and feel it from the support of compassionate people like you. And so that was our inspiration for this year’s National Feral Cat Day® theme—TNR: From the Alley…to Main Street. The incredible expansion of TNR couldn’t have happened without the generous, unwavering backing of our supporters, and it truly is reason to celebrate!

Event Highlights

So many great events took place this year! More than 500 in total, with at least one in every state, including Washington, D.C. From food drives to free spay and neuter days to fundraising dinners, cat lovers brought their A game.

One very special Alley Cat Ally pledged his support to community cats for National Feral Cat Day®—the Cat Daddy himself, Jackson Galaxy! Jackson has a huge following of cat lovers, and he used his influence to spread the word that every single cat deserves protection and care through a Public Service Announcement made especially for Alley Cat Allies. And throughout the country, supporters like you did their part to strengthen the conversation on community cats. Great events took place everywhere, including a feral food drive in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an art show in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a TNR workshop in Phoenix, Arizona, and a spay day in Raleigh, North Carolina. And so many, many more!

It’s this strength of all the cat advocates together that allows Alley Cat Allies to make enormous improvements for cats everywhere. Thank you to all who participated!

On the Map

news_NFCD2014MapWe are inspired by the hundreds of towns and cities that are now embracing TNR. To demonstrate how our country is becoming more and more compassionate toward kitties, we created a map detailing communities that are creating safe places for cats. Each point on the map represents either a nonprofit that conducts TNR, a Humane Alliance High-Volume Spay/Neuter clinic, a municipality with a TNR ordinance or policy, or Feral Friends Network members, all across the country!

Now that 2014 National Feral Cat Day® is on the books, we’re looking forward to continuing to fill the map throughout the next year. We are going to continue working with shelters, local governments, and communities not yet on our “map of cat protection,” to persuade them to adopt lifesaving practices and create a better landscape for cats everywhere.

In Your Backyard

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This feature comes from our Fall 2014 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

Southern Souls Animal League

Thanks to your support, Alley Cat Allies is helping the small but fierce nonprofit Southern Souls Animal League in Barbour County, Alabama. Barbour County is the third-largest county in the state, yet there is no animal shelter or animal control. Jo Vaughn and her two partners in the nonprofit are Good Samaritans who have been caring for community cats in Barbour for years, and last October they decided to form an organization. They launched Southern Souls Animal League (SSAL), pledging to take care of cats and dogs in their area. So far it’s been a great success, but not without its obstacles. The closest spay and neuter clinic is 50 miles away—but that hasn’t stopped SSAL. And with Alley Cat Allies’ help, 69 cats were spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and eartipped in August alone! Vaughn says community members are thrilled that the cats are being helped, noting that not too long ago, she was able to trap 30 cats in one trailer park. The cats are beloved members of a community that their colonies, happier and healthier than ever! Your support allows Alley Cat Allies to partner with such inspiring organizations. Thank you for helping us spread lifesaving programs, like Trap-Neuter-Return, to every corner of the country!

Stephanie, Glen Burnie Cat

This past September, children weren’t the only ones heading to school—a beautiful little cat named Stephanie found her way into Richard Henry Lee Elementary School in Glen Burnie, Maryland. A tortie with tiny white toes, Stephanie was hardly a threat, yet the school evacuated children and called animal control. The publicity around this event—which went national—gave Alley Cat Allies an opportunity to talk about shelter policies and the need for lifesaving programs for cats on both local and national platforms. Our president, Becky Robinson, published an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun on Sept. 4, 2014. Luckily, Stephanie was caught after hiding for four days in the school. Thanks to her fame, her life was spared at the shelter. She has been safely transferred to Alley Cat Allies’ Feral Friends Network member Rude Ranch Animal Rescue. There, Stephanie is receiving veterinary care, including spay surgery and vaccinations. She will be placed in a loving home. But many cats like her are not so lucky. Thanks to your support we can continue to fight to make every single community a safe place for cats.

Detroit, Oregon, Ordinance

Because of your support, Alley Cat Allies is able to secure safe communities for cats coast to coast. Every cat’s life counts! In order to make our vision a reality, we work with public officials who often reach out to us for guidance on implementing positive ordinances and policies for cats. Recently Shari Flanders, mayor of Detroit, Oregon, contacted Alley Cat Allies with interest in instituting a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) ordinance. Our Staff Attorney Liz Holtz was happy to draft an ordinance for the town, which permits a TNR program in order to stabilize and eventually reduce cat populations, benefit public health, improve the quality life for residents, and ensure lifesaving programs for cats. The ordinance passed! That’s 430+ municipalities and counting! Add Detroit, Oregon, to the roster of communities we are changing with your help.

Celebrating 25 Years of Cat Advocacy

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This is a special year for Alley Cat Allies: it’s our 25th anniversary! For a quarter century, we have supported caregivers, changed laws, improved shelters, and most importantly, saved cats. Since the beginning, our vision has been to protect cats, no matter which side of the door they lived. In 1990, Alley Cat Allies was born in an alley in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C–and cat advocacy would never be the same. Back then, there were only a few local groups carrying out Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) for community cats. Most organizations, even the most well-known national groups, did not work on behalf of community cats. These cats who made their home outdoors were routinely rounded up and killed in shelters and animal pounds. We began to lead a new movement that would change everything by promoting TNR and helping to establish lifesaving programs across the country. For 25 years, we have provided a voice to the often overlooked community cat, and we will always be their strongest advocate.

TNR_ErinMoco

Now that TNR is an established, mainstream practice, the time is right to face, head-on, the largest threat to cats: being killed in shelters. Our work to change the shelter system to save cats has already begun. Alley Cat Allies’ Future Five: Shelter Partners to Save Cats’ Lives program was established to create a set of model shelters across a variety of locations and circumstances. The Future Five shelters have already taken amazing strides to save cats. They’re saving more animals, increasing spay, neuter, and vaccination access, and ensuring the safety of community cats.

We built the cat protection movement—and with your dedication and support, together we have come a long way and saved so many lives. We have also changed shelter policies in communities across the country. But not every community has embraced TNR and lifesaving programs yet. So as we celebrate 25 years of Alley Cat Allies, we also look to the future of advocacy, and we need your support as we move into the next generation of cat protection.

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A Quarter Century of Cat Advocacy

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This feature comes from our Winter 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

The original colony—25 years ago in an alley in Adams Morgan.

The original colony—25 years ago in an alley in Adams Morgan.

Happy New Year! It’s a very special time for Alley Cat Allies—2015 marks our 25th anniversary. That’s 25 years of supporting caregivers, changing laws, improving shelters, and most importantly, saving cats. As we move into Alley Cat Allies’ next generation of cat protection, we want to share the story of how we got to this point. The road has not always been easy, but your support has allowed us to experience incredible success. We need you by our side as we charge full speed ahead into the next 25 years.

Alley Cat Allies built cat advocacy from virtually nothing. Our vision from the beginning has been to protect cats, no matter on which side of the door they lived. But the populations of cats who live outside, often in family groups called colonies, were greatly misunderstood and needed us the most. Feral cats, often referred to as “community cats,” were regularly rounded up and killed in virtually all shelters and animal pounds. We have come a long way and saved so many lives together as well as changed some shelter policies—but not every community has embraced Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and lifesaving programs.

In 1990, the year of our founding, there were only a few local groups carrying out TNR for community cats. Most organizations, even the most well-known national groups, did not work on behalf of community cats. But Alley Cat Allies began to lead a new movement that would change everything. Ellen Perry Berkeley’s article “Feral Cats” in the July 1990 issue of Cat Fancy is a record of the early days of TNR and of the groundbreaking work of longtime Alley Cat Allies friend, AnnaBell Washburn. AnnaBell is a pioneer of TNR in the US, and the story of her TNR efforts on Martha’s Vineyard was an inspiration to Alley Cat Allies as we became the first national group dedicated to protecting all cats.

After 25 Years of Advocacy, There is Nationwide Support for TNR

Alley Cat Allies' Founder, Becky Robinson, with AnnaBell Washburn, an early advocate of TNR.

Alley Cat Allies’ Founder, Becky Robinson, with AnnaBell Washburn, an early advocate of TNR.

We have achieved so much together since those early days. One of our most critical successes is the mainstream acceptance of community cats, and allowing them to live full lives through neutering, vaccinating, and returning them to their colonies. We still refer to the program as simply “TNR.” These days, all of the leading animal organizations support TNR and hundreds of communities embrace TNR as policy. TNR is practiced by over 600 nonprofits and countless good Samaritans. We see striking evidence of this success everywhere we look.

Alley Cat Allies was instrumental in writing and passing several TNR ordinances around the country, including in Baltimore, Maryland, and in Washington, DC. As a result, thousands of cats have benefited from new programs.

National Feral Cat Day®, An Annual Triumph

Your generous support allows Alley Cat Allies to make a historical impact. It’s not just policies that are on the rise—it’s people. Far and wide, compassionate people like you are helping grow our movement. Just look at National Feral Cat Day®—from the very first one in 2001, to last year’s massive success of over 500 events, National Feral Cat Day® is truly a nationwide celebration of cats. This year we’ll celebrate the 15th annual event, and we’re sure it’ll be the biggest so far. That’s because TNR is practiced by so many people, and National Feral Cat Day® unites them all!

Famously successful Boardwalk Cats Project

One of the famous Boardwalk Cats in November 2014.

One of the famous Boardwalk Cats in November 2014.

Alley Cat Allies has cared for the community cats on the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, since 2000. The Boardwalk Cats Project is endorsed by the city, and the results of the TNR program are impressive. The feline population has decreased 71% and the healthy and beautiful resident cats have an average age of 12 years—solid evidence that community cats can live long and healthy lives, and that TNR stabilizes and eventually reduces cat populations.

The Internet Loves Cats!

Alley Cat Allies first got involved with social media in 2008, and we’ve been gaining popularity and reaching new audiences ever since. Our online presence is vibrant—every day we share stories, photos, and support as we interact with thousands of people who care about cats.

Our work isn’t done yet—the cats still need us

Looking at all that we have achieved together so far, can you just imagine what the future holds? Alley Cat Allies set out to change the way our nation treats cats, and we have made incredible strides to improve cats’ lives throughout the country. We have provided a voice
to the once-overlooked community cat, and we will always be their strongest advocate. Now that TNR is an established, mainstream practice, the time is right to face, head-on, the largest threat to cats—being killed in a shelter.

Shelter kittens from Lee County Domestic Animal Services, one of our Future Five shelters.

Shelter kittens from Lee County Domestic Animal Services, one of our Future Five shelters.

Whether a cat is feral, stray, or a pet, she could be in grave danger in an animal shelter. Alley Cat Allies and our supporters believe this is unacceptable. Shelters should truly be safe havens, but in our country, most of them are anything but. What’s more, few states
require that shelters report data about what ultimately happens to the animals placed in their care—so communities don’t even know what’s happening at their local shelter.

Changing our nation’s shelter system is no easy task, but it’s what we must do—we owe it to the cats. The work has already begun. Alley Cat Allies’ Future Five: Shelter Partners to Save Cats’ Lives program was established to create a set of model shelters across a variety of locations and circumstances. Already, incredible change has taken place. They’re saving more animals; increasing spay, neuter, and vaccination access; and ensuring the safety of community cats. That’s just the beginning. With your support, Alley Cat Allies will work with even more shelters to help them save cats.

In Your Backyard

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This feature comes from our Winter 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

Montgomery County Partnership

Shelters across the country look to us for assistance, and because of your generosity, we’re able to help them create policies that save lives. Alley Cat Allies has begun a promising partnership with Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center. We are working closely with the shelter to develop a workshop program and new humane policies to save cats’ lives. One of the first cats to be saved is sweet Molly, an eartipped kitty who had been at the shelter for two months. Thanks to the new partnership, Molly was returned to her original caregivers!

Cheyenne, Wyoming, New Ordinance

An ordinance encouraging Trap-Neuter-Return is on the books in Cheyenne, thanks to Rebecca Larkman and her colleagues at the Cheyenne
Animal Shelter. The new ordinance, drafted by Alley Cat Allies, passed exactly one year after Rebecca attended our national conference and, inspired by the “Architects of Change for Cats” theme, returned home with a mission to protect Cheyenne’s cats. “I never paid attention
to the details until after you all taught me so much,” Rebecca said. Because of your support, we are able to provide advocates like
Rebecca with the tools they need to change the world.

Garland, Texas Grant

Because of your support, Alley Cat Allies is donating essential Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) equipment to Garland Pawsibilities, a local nonprofit TNR group. With this added equipment, the group will now be able to TNR 40–50 cats per month in addition to regular community workshops. Alley Cat Allies is excited to support the community’s pilot TNR program, and we hope that the Garland City Council adopts a formal ordinance soon.

Judge Finds Alabama Spay/Neuter Lead Veterinarian Not Guilty

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Dr. Margaret Ferrell, lead veterinarian at Alabama Spay/Neuter Clinic, a high-volume spay/neuter clinic in Irondale, Alabama, was found not guilty by Administrative Law Judge James Jerry Wood. The Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (ASBVME) had charged Dr. Ferrell with 30 charges, and of the three witnesses who testified against Dr. Ferrell, none had ever observed Ferrell perform examinations or surgeries. Judge Wood found that none of the charges brought against Dr. Ferrell were credible, and he recommended that the ASBVME drop all charges. Ultimately, the ASBVME found Dr. Ferrell not guilty on 26 of 29 charges.

Although none of the witnesses who testified against Dr. Ferrell ever observed her work, Dr. Phillip Bushby, a board-certified veterinary surgeon who specializes in spay/neuter procedures, performed an unannounced observation of Dr. Ferrell and her staff in April 2014. After hours of observation covering 17 cases, Dr. Bushby testified that Dr. Ferrell is one of the best surgeons he has seen in 42 years.

This case is a victory for high-volume spay/neuter clinics which provide quality care and an essential service to communities across the country. It is also a testament to the sacrifices that hardworking veterinarians make to save lives and make their communities a better place for people and animals.


NAVC Conference a Huge Success

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Last week, we attended the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) Conference in Orlando, Florida, and it was a huge success! Alley Cat Allies and Dr. G. Robert Weedon of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine had a fantastic audience for our session on the importance of pediatric spay/neuter. Our booth was a popular destination for veterinary professionals to chat with staff, pick up our printed resources, and take a selfie with Frank the Feral! Over 16,000 veterinarians, veterinary technicians, exhibitors, students, and more attended this year’s conference. This was a great opportunity for Alley Cat Allies to reach out to our friends in the veterinary community who play such an important role in Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and other lifesaving programs for cats.

Check out our photos from this year’s NAVC Conference, and we’ll see you next year!

NAVCbooth NAVCMaterials NAVCSession NAVCCynthia NAVCWeedon NAVCAttendees

Celebrating Hilde

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This feature comes from our Spring 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

news_HildeHilde was 14 years old—nearly as old as the Boardwalk Cats Project itself. We’re always devastated to lose a cat, but we know Hilde had a long and rich life. The beautiful black and white cat always came running for meals, but as Alley Cat Allies’ Kim Kean said, “Hilde was committed to being feral.” A community cat like Hilde, who was not socialized to people, would never have survived if taken to a shelter. Trap-Neuter-Return and the Alley Cat Allies’ Boardwalk Cats Project saved her life and let her live out her 14 years with her family in the only home she’d ever known. As one of our Boardwalk Cats, Hilde was spayed, vaccinated, and looked after by a dedicated team of volunteers who loved her, even though they could never touch her. Cats like Hilde remind us why it’s so important to advocate for policies that protect all cats, regardless of their level of
socialization.

Learn more about our Atlantic City Boardwalk Cats Project.
Become a volunteer.

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The Evolution of the Cat Revolution

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This feature comes from our Spring 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

NFCD_CampaignPoster_SM-407x630After 25 years of Alley Cat Allies’ work, the world is a different place for cats. Our incredible success making Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) a mainstream practice has saved countless cats, but you know there’s more to be done—that’s why you look to Alley Cat Allies. We’ve had a successful generation of advocacy, but in many ways, this is just the beginning. As we prepare for what’s next, we have to take a moment to appreciate the story of our movement so far. We’re on the front lines of the revolution to save cats’ lives, and there’s a big change coming. That’s why the theme of National Feral Cat Day® 2015 is “The Evolution of the Cat Revolution.”

October 16, 2015, will mark the 15th annual National Feral Cat Day®, and with Alley Cat Allies’ 25th anniversary year in full swing, this promises to be our biggest celebration ever. Each year we ask cat advocates across America (and the world!) to hold a National Feral Cat Day® event, but this year we’re inviting you to do so much more. It’s not just about the cats—it’s about the people who work on the cats’ behalf. From feeding a stray cat, to speaking at a community meeting, to spearheading the campaign for a local TNR ordinance, being an advocate can mean many things, and there’s always room to grow. Our movement to save cats has evolved from the simple idea that community cats deserve to live, and blossomed into a worldwide call to save cats, change communities, and help shelters be feline friendly instead of the number one documented cause of death for cats.

So, what comes next? Alley Cat Allies is working on big plans to create more systemic change in shelters and communities nationwide, but your next step depends on where you are now. National Feral Cat Day® 2015 will help you decide the course of your personal cat revolution evolution. Every cat advocate is a critical part of our movement, and you are going to love everything about The Evolution of the Cat Revolution.

Cats and Us

To tell the story of the cat revolution, we’ll go back in time. Not the founding of Alley Cat Allies in 1990—a little further back. Actually, a lot further back. Even before the Great Pyramid was built in Egypt. Ancient Egyptians’ love of cats is well known, but in the past several years, archaeological evidence has revealed that cats and people were living together thousands of years before that—about 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region. It’s hard to identify with people who lived so long ago, but we had at least one thing in common—love of cats.

It’s that love of cats that still motivates us today, but to hear more about how we got from the Fertile Crescent in 7500 B.C. to National Feral Cat Day® in 2015, and how we’ll get to a world that protects all cats, you’ll have keep up with Alley Cat Allies!

The Challenge

The threats facing cats are clear—outdated animal control and shelter policies, punitive ordinances, misinformation, and lack of education. We work to address each of those challenges, every single day. But National Feral Cat Day® is a special day for you to share your stories of cat advocacy, and to bring more of your community along with you as you protect cats. That’s your challenge this year: advance yourself, and advance the movement to save cats’ lives.

This year, National Feral Cat Day® is about more than a celebration on October 16. National Feral Cat Day® is about how the changes you make, big or small, have an impact on cats. The Evolution of the Cat Revolution is about your personal evolution in the movement. Make sure to join us on social media, and keep visiting our National Feral Cat Day® website as we reveal more about this year’s celebration and how you can evolve. Don’t wait—visit www.NationalFeralCatDay.org.

In Your Backyard

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This feature comes from our Fall 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

Alley Cat Allies is working with and supporting cat advocates and communities across the nation, helping them protect cats.

Spay & Neuter Clinic Thrives With Help of TNR Grant

Colorado’s Fort Collins Cat Rescue and Spay and Neuter Clinic has been recognized for its near 35,000 spay/neuters on community cats and dogs. Its founder was honored by local paper The Coloradoan as one of its 2015 Colorado Super Women, and Alley Cat Allies is proud to say that we also support the clinic’s work and provided funding in November 2014. We gave the Fort Collins Cat Rescue $1,000 toward a mission to vaccinate and spay/neuter nearly 100 community cats.

Even More TNR in Missouri

Missouri communities have been increasingly embracing TNR, and now we can add Bland to the list of cities making the change! In June, Alley Cat Allies bolstered an emerging TNR program in Richland, Missouri, with a grant, and its success created a domino effect. In July, the Bland City Council passed a TNR ordinance inspired by Richland’s. Neighboring cities are now in the process of considering new ordinances of their own.

Alley Cat Allies awarded a grant of $9,000 to help the low-cost spay and neuter clinic, Protect Every Pet, provide TNR services in Bland and beyond. With your support, we look forward to continuing our work in Missouri to help
other communities protect cats!

Supporting TNR in Texas Communities

We helped advocates in Arlington, Texas, pass a TNR resolution in 2013, and now we’re helping streamline and improve the community’s TNR policy. Since the resolution, the advocacy group Friends of Arlington Animal Services (FAAS) has used a shelter-neuter-return program to save community cats that would have otherwise been killed in the shelter. The group has trapped, neutered, and returned a total of 3,000 community cats so far. Alley Cat Allies awarded a grant of $7,500 to FAAS for TNR, humane education, and more local programs to protect cats.

Spreading the TNR Revolution

We help municipal governments all over America pass ordinances that protect community cats. We are also the only group in the country researching the number of ordinances and policies that
support TNR—there are 524 in the nation today! Here are the communities we helped pass ordinances in the past year.

  1. Bowie, Maryland
  2. Rockville, Maryland
  3. Detroit, Oregon
  4. Cheyenne, Wyoming
  5. Dunbar, West Virginia
  6. Richland, Missouri
  7. Gainesville, Texas
  8. Lake County, Florida
  9. Crocker, Missouri
  10. Bland, Missouri

You can support TNR ordinances in your community by visiting www.alleycat.org/Ordinances.

TNR Stories: Hyattsville, Maryland

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Every year, Alley Cat Allies celebrates the lives of community cats on National Feral Cat Day—October 16. In 2016, we carried out a  successful Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) project with a community in Hyattsville, MD. Watch the video to see how we worked with the community to save cats, and keep them a part of their lives.

More TNR Stories to come! In the meantime, we invite you to join us in saving cats’ lives every day!

Cat Release Program

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This Letter to the Editor was published in Capitol Gazette (Annapolis, MD) on February 19, 2017.

Opponents of trap-neuter-return like Barbara Johnson (The Capital, Dec. 12) have no better options. Rounding up stray cats and killing them has been a disastrous failure. Each year millions are killed and we still face the same issues. Catch-and-kill wastes huge sums of tax money with nothing to show for it. Killing stray cats is an old idea. It hasn’t worked.

More importantly, Americans reject it. More than 80 percent prefer to leave stray cats outside rather than have them killed.

Trap-neuter-return, on the other hand, has been proven to manage outdoor cat populations well. One of the peer-reviewed studies on the topic showed that TNR decreased the unowned, community cat population by 66 percent on a Florida college campus. Other studies demonstrate TNR’s positive impact on stray cat behavior, which translates to fewer calls about alley cats to animal control departments that are already stretched thin.

Johnson also refers to faulty science about the relationship between cats and birds. The study she cites used a sample size of just 69 birds, only six of which were observed being killed by cats. You don’t have to be a statistician to see that making a leap from six birds killed in the study to a claim of 4 billion birds killed nationwide doesn’t compute.

Here again is some truth: Scientists agree that habitat loss, climate change and pollution are the top threats to wildlife. Any serious conversations should start there, not by making the argument to kill millions more cats.

BECKY ROBINSON
President
Alley Cat Allies

 

You Can Be a Kitten Caregiver

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Neonatal kittens like one-week-old Corduroy require special care and attention.

Gina was in her backyard last April when she heard faint cries. She didn’t immediately see anything out of the ordinary, but she followed the sounds to her old shed, where she was surprised to find four tiny, meowing kittens. Gina knew they must be very young—they were smaller than any kitten she’d ever seen—but their mother was nowhere in sight. She wanted to help, but wasn’t sure how.

In the spring and early summer months, known as “kitten season,” stories like this are very common. This is the time when female cats go into heat and when most litters are born. That means an abundance of kittens! Although that sounds amazing, it’s actually a very uncertain time for all those kittens. Most people who find kittens outside hand them over to shelters. Most shelters do not have care programs for kittens who are neonatal (less than four weeks old), so instead many kittens are killed. It’s up to compassionate individuals to step up and save these kittens’ lives by keeping them out of shelters.

Taking care of neonatal kittens is a round-the-clock job for several weeks. The great news is, if mom can’t be found, humans can step in to help and anyone can learn how. Caring for kittens means you are saving lives. It’s an invaluable learning experience for you and your family, and it can be a truly fulfilling journey. Alley Cat Allies can guide you through every step, with plenty of online resources at alleycat.org/Neonatal.

Tip: Not sure how old your kittens are? Our Kitten Progression Guide can help! Visit alleycat.org/KittenProgression.

You found young kittens outside. Now what?

Always wait and see if the mother returns before taking kittens into your care.

Do not take the kittens to a shelter, unless the shelter has a neonatal program. First, try to find their best possible caregiver: their mother. Monitor the kittens from a distance for a few hours to see if mom comes back. If she does, leave the kittens with her. If you believe they are in danger, trap her and take them all in. Visit alleycat.org/FindFeralFriends to see if there is a Feral Friend in your area who can help you trap.

If the mother doesn’t return, take the kittens inside. You can contact local cat advocacy groups to see if they can take the kittens. However, if you’re ready to care for them yourself, we have the basics you need to know.

Taking care of neonatal kittens

Neonatal kittens must be manually stimulated to go to the bathroom.

First, make sure the kittens are warm and hydrated. Young kittens get cold easily, which can become life-threatening. Provide kittens with a soft nest, such as fleece fabric in a box.

Tip: A cool way to keep kittens warm—place them in an open cooler with a heating pad! Make sure they have some space to move away from the heat.

Susan Spaulding, co-founder of the National Kitten Coalition (kittencoalition.org) and a celebrated neonatal kitten expert, has advice to help you keep your kittens safe and healthy.

“Kittens should feel very warm if you pick them up and their gums should be bright pink and moist,” she says. “If they are not warm, start providing warmth immediately and seek help.”

Feeding your kitten

At six weeks old, Topanga is beginning to eat wet food, but also requires supplemental bottle feeding.

Neonatal kittens under four weeks old must be fed around the clock. They should only be fed kitten formula, which can be purchased at most pet supply stores. Make sure to pick up kitten bottles at the store too, as they’re specially designed for kittens. For more information on the supplies you’ll need, check out alleycat.org/KittenCareKit.

How often you feed depends on the kitten’s weight. Remember to weigh every kitten at least once a day! They should gain weight daily, and weight loss is a sign of problems.

“A general rule for healthy, stable kittens who are too young to eat solid food is to weigh the kitten and divide their weight in half to know the hours you need to feed,” says Susan. “Just follow the guide on your kitten formula to see how much to feed them.”

Tip: A four-ounce kitten will need to be fed every two hours. A six-ounce kitten, every three hours. An eight-ounce kitten, every four hours.

When feeding kittens, place them on their stomachs and arch the bottle so less air gets in. Do not feed kittens on their backs, as you might a human baby, or they may inhale formula and choke. After feeding, put them on your shoulder or on their stomachs and pat them gently to burp them.

Neonatal kittens must be stimulated to go to the bathroom after every feeding. Mom does this with her tongue, but you can use toilet paper or a damp cotton ball. Gently rub the kitten’s anal area to stimulate urination and defecation after every feeding.  A healthy kitten will urinate almost every time you stimulate them and have a bowel movement once or twice a day.

Balancing your life and your kittens

Caring for kittens is a round-the-clock job for a few weeks. Try to build a network of caregivers with family, friends, and neighbors. As the saying goes: it takes a village!

If your job allows you to bring your kittens in, keep them close to you in a container like a cooler, with a blanket, and provide the usual care.

“I have seen an entire office get involved in the care of these vulnerable babies, including helping with vet care costs and adoption,” says Susan.

If you can’t bring kittens to work, you can find help in your community: Stay-at-home parents may want to share the experience with their kids, someone living in a retirement community may appreciate the opportunity to help, or a friendly neighbor could assist. On top of ensuring that your kittens are safe and healthy, sharing your knowledge and your kitten care duties is a great way to bring your family or community together.

Some shelters provide resources to those who want to raise kittens. With help from Alley Cat Allies, the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center in Florida created a Wait Until 8 Program to help empower the community. When someone brings a young kitten to the shelter, the staff offers a Kitten Survival Kit and instructions to care for the kitten.

“We thought a few people here and there would take us up on the offer, but we found ourselves having to reorder and make kits all the time because people were super responsive,” said Scott Trebatoski, the Department Director of Pet Resources. “We saw dramatic reductions in neonatal kitten euthanasia because the community really stepped up!”

The next steps of kitten care

When kittens are over four weeks old, you can start weaning them by mixing their formula with wet food.

“Most kittens can begin eating canned food around four to five weeks of age,” says Susan. “After a week or so, they will move to pure solid food. But keep offering the bottle until the kittens are completely comfortable eating and drinking.”

Litter training should start when a kitten is around three weeks old. Make sure you use a shallow litter pan so they can easily access it.

When the kittens are eight weeks old and at least two pounds, they’re ready to be spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Take them to your local veterinarian or find a low-cost spay/neuter clinic near you. After the kittens recover, you can work on finding them loving homes of their own!

Tip: Spread the word to get your kittens adopted! Talk about your kittens with your friends, family, coworkers, organizations, and clubs, or your local veterinary office.

You have the power to save lives!

Caring for kittens is a big responsibility, but it’s worth it. Remember, you have the power to bring your family and community together to help a kitten grow up healthy and strong. All it takes is commitment and care.

The basics in this article are just the start. You can find information, resources, and advice you need to become a kitten expert at alleycat.org/KittenGuide. You can also check out our kitten care webinars at alleycat.org/Webinar.


Saving Cats, One Innovative Idea at a Time

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Thanks to Chesapeake Animal Service’s foster
program—promoted with billboards—these kittens were cared for in a foster home until they were old enough to be adopted.

People driving in the Chesapeake, VA, area this spring may have noticed some out-of-the-ordinary billboards.

Instead of featuring the next rest stop or tourist trap, these billboards advertised for one of the community’s greatest needs—kitten foster families.

This creative campaign helped Chesapeake Animal Services save kittens’ lives—by simply getting them out of the shelter. Across the United States, 70 percent of cats who enter shelters are killed. That number rises to virtually 100 percent for community cats, who are unadoptable, and unweaned kittens, who need round-the-clock care that most shelters lack the resources to provide. Chesapeake Animal Services is working to change this.

Thinking Big

Chesapeake Animal Services’ campaign began after Adams Outdoor Advertising donated its unused billboard space and helped create ads calling for families to foster kittens. With kitten season (the time when most kittens are born) underway, the shelter needed help and needed
to spread awareness.

Alley Cat Allies and the National Kitten Coalition cosponsored a presentation about Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and caring for kittens that also helped the shelter as it was launching this new kitten foster program.

One billboard counted down the number of foster families still needed. In March, it was 20. As of early June, they had seven new kitten foster families.

This creative advertising was the key to getting volunteers for the first year of the kitten foster program.

“I believe firmly that we would not have been able to get these families into our shelter without those billboards,” says Dyanna Uchiek, the shelter’s outreach and volunteer coordinator.

Empowering the Community

Any shelter can start a kitten foster program. Alley Cat Allies is helping shelters around the nation prove it to themselves through Wait Until 8 programs. Through these programs, shelters empower community members to become kitten caregivers—which keeps more kittens out of shelters.

The Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center in Florida started its own lifesaving Wait Until 8 program in 2015. Instead of taking in the young kittens people bring to the facility, the shelter provides those citizens with training and supplies so they can raise the kittens themselves at home. When the kittens are 8 weeks old, the caregivers bring them back to the shelter to be neutered, vaccinated, and adopted.

Wait Until 8 has made incredible changes for the Pet Resource Center, which, like most shelters, lacks the resources to care for neonatal (less than 4-week-old) kittens. Pet Resource Center Director Scott Trebatoski says that the shelter has saved thousands of kittens each year since implementing the program. For 2017, the shelter has its biggest goal yet: save every cat and kitten who comes in.

Getting Kids Involved

At the City of El Paso Animal Services in Texas, the minimum age for volunteers is 14. But the shelter has still found a way to get younger kids involved.

Their Kitty Reading Book Club began in January for kids 8 to 13 years old. It’s “an effort to get the younger generation of our community involved in volunteering, while also offering them the opportunity to brush up on their reading skills and provide our kitties some love and enrichment,” says Michele Anderson, public affairs specialist for animal services.

Once a week, kids in the club bring books to the shelter, or use ones the shelter provides, and read aloud to the cats to keep them company and help them cope with stress. Anderson says the cats get curious during the reading time, sitting right at their kennel doors or even in the kids’ laps. In this way, kids get to help with the vital process of socializing cats for adoption—all while having fun and getting their nose in a good book.

The Power of the People

These innovative programs save lives by simply tapping into their greatest resource—the community. And shelters aren’t the only ones doing it. Animal Balance, a U.S.-based nonprofit, provides high-volume spay and neuter services for dogs and cats on islands around the world. Alley Cat Allies partners with the group, including on its cat program, Trapped in Paradise. In many places where Animal Balance works, there are no animal shelters, so instead the community collaborates to save animals’ lives. Animal Balance brings together local veterinarians, animal protection organizations, and community members to get the job done.

All of these successes prove one thing: Never underestimate the power of people working together!

Get Ready to Fight for Humane Laws

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What could be more important than fighting for laws that protect cats? Thanks to your support, 2017 has been a great year for pro-cat laws, and we’re already preparing to continue that winning streak in 2018! State legislatures are getting ready for new sessions that begin in January, and we’re gearing up to support bills that have cats’ best interests at heart. To win this fight, we need your voice. We must stand together and speak out for laws that protect cats. Sign up today to receive our action alerts, and you’ll be notified when your support is needed to contact lawmakers and push for important protections. Here are a few of the state bills we’ll be working to make law in the coming year:

TNR Protections

Delaware House Bill 235 explicitly codifies protections for community cats by defining terms like eartip, the universal sign of a spayed or neutered community cat that involves the painless removal of the very tip of a cat’s left ear. This bill will also benefit caregivers by defining “free-roaming cat caretaker” so there’s no question that people can carry out Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and look after cats. It also makes clear that shelters can adopt Return-to-Field programs, which means officers can take community cats back to their homes. We urged lawmakers to pass this bill in 2017, and we’re hoping they will in the upcoming session. Delaware residents: Watch for our action alert in the new year!

Create a Spay and Neuter Program

Tennessee House Bill 1035/Senate Bill 122 establishes a state spay and neuter program for dogs and cats. The program has two main components: public education and a fund to reimburse cities and counties for low-cost spay and neuter services, making such surgeries for cats more affordable in the state. We supported this effort earlier this year. When this bill is scheduled for a hearing, we will be contacting Tennesseans to voice their support.

Register Offenders

Washington Senate Bill 5804 would help protect animals in the state by creating a registry of people who have been convicted of animal abuse. This list would be available to law enforcement, animal shelters, veterinarians, and others, to help ensure that animals don’t fall into the hands of these abusers. We’ve stated our support for this measure in a letter, and we will urge Washington residents to speak up as well, once the bill is scheduled for a hearing.

When you act to support bills, it pays off! Here are just a few of our successes that you made possible earlier this year:

  • In Connecticut, a bill was passed to help ensure the well-being of cats and other animals by requiring animal shelters to register with the state.
  • In Maryland, a law was passed that will increase state oversight of animal shelters.
  • In Nevada, a bill that makes it clear that TNR is legal—and that TNR isn’t abandonment—was passed.

That’s not all! Read more about our 2017 Victories.

And check out our current alerts

Planned Giving: A Legacy of Enduring Love

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Ray Harry and Sheila Ward with their cat Alakazam.

Ray Harry and Sheila Ward with their cat Alakazam.

For Sheila Ward and Ray Harry, including Alley Cat Allies in their estate planning made perfect sense.

Since early childhood, Sheila remembers admiring her grandmother, who took in abandoned kittens and puppies, nursed them back to health, and found their forever homes. Although she was surrounded by different animals, Sheila was most enthralled by cats.

Sheila’s passion for helping community cats grew as she volunteered in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, alongside Alley Cat Allies volunteers. “I was struck by the knowledge and commitment of these volunteers and was delighted to learn that there was a group dedicated to advocating for cats who live outdoors.”

Ray’s fondness for cats also grew after witnessing Sheila’s dedication to caring for them. She advocates for cats by speaking about the importance of neutering and caring for community cats. Ray provides invaluable support and does his part to care for their own cats, so Sheila can devote her time to volunteering with local animal groups.

When asked why they decided to add Alley Cat Allies in their estate plan, they said: “We believe that Alley Cat Allies is probably the most effective organization advocating for cats in the world. We love cats and have been strongly impressed with the scope of Alley Cat Allies’ success in helping them.”

To anyone making their financial plans, Sheila and Ray advise, “Adding Alley Cat Allies to our estate plan was quite easy. When making a will, it’s simple to add in a clause that leaves something … to Alley Cat Allies, in order to help all cats beyond our lifetime.”

For more information on Planned Giving, contact Alley Cat Allies at 866-309-6207 or plannedgiving@alleycat.org.

Profiles in Compassion: Kristin Stanley Turns to Alley Cat Allies to Transform Communities

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Kristin Stanley’s commitment to Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) began with a phone call nearly 15 years ago to Alley Cat Allies. She had been feeding a colony of 29 cats behind a local restaurant in San Angelo, Texas, in 2003, and found that many of them were not neutered.

She contacted us and, guided by our expertise, she recruited her friends to help trap the entire colony so they could be spayed and neutered, vaccinated, and eartipped. Just last December, she adopted the colony’s last remaining member.

“I made a commitment to these cats,” she said. “They deserve a chance to live happy, healthy lives. They deserve our respect and compassion.”

Over the past decade, Kristin has maintained multiple colonies around the city and even saved community cats at Angelo State University (ASU). In 2011, she learned of ASU’s plan to remove their resident community cats. Kristin connected with faculty and staff, a local nonprofit called Critter Shack Rescue, and community members. Together, they formed the ASU Cat Coalition, and their proposed TNR program was approved. In just one year, the coalition reduced the cat population on campus by more than 50 percent. To date, the ASU Cat Coalition has cared for over 177 cats, helped 83 kittens and cats find forever homes, and created a community of educated students and staff who care for the cats.

Earlier this year, Kristin once again reached out to Alley Cat Allies after she learned that the local shelter director was pursuing mandatory registration of community cats—a dangerous law for cats. Kristin and our staff attorney Molly Armus educated the San Angelo City Council on how this proposal would drive away caregivers, cost the city money, and endanger the cats. The city listened, and the proposal was dropped.

Because of her dedication, Kristin was asked to serve as a community cat expert on a committee that strives to create more humane and effective procedures at the local shelter. Kristin’s goal is to implement a city-wide program to conduct TNR and keep community cats out of the shelter.

“In just the last few years, there have been many more people in our community who want to help and who care about outdoor cats,” said Kristin. “I have hope for the cats’ future.”

Profiles in Compassion: Candy Peavy Works to Prevent Community Cats from being Impounded

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What do chimpanzees and community cats have in common? A fierce advocate named Candy Peavy.

Her advocacy work in Shreveport, Louisiana, began in 2005 when she helped start Chimp Haven, a sanctuary that takes in chimpanzees with a heartrending history: They were either retired from laboratory research, kept as pets, or used in entertainment. A few years later, a major donor to the sanctuary asked Peavy to bring her dedication to resolve an issue closer to home: the critical need for affordable spay and neuter services, especially for stray and feral cats, in Caddo Parish.

“When I started looking into it, I was stunned by how many issues surrounded community cats in our area,” Peavy says. “I had no idea that the euthanasia numbers in our local shelter were so high, all because there was no real support for these cats.”

Peavy worked to start a high-volume, low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Shreveport, and in 2008, Robinson’s Rescue opened its doors. The clinic vaccinates and eartips community cats for Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

Though TNR has been practiced in the area for years, Peavy pushed to get an ordinance passed. She says that will help to get local shelter and animal control officers involved in conducting TNR, and prevent community cats from being impounded.

Alley Cat Allies staff traveled to Caddo Parish in August 2017 to meet Peavy and connect with key stakeholders about adopting a TNR ordinance. Three months later, the ordinance was passed.

“This is such rewarding work,” she says. “When you have a passion for animals, you can power through anything.”

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