08/02/2022
THE UGLY TRUTH
TNR is the most horrible situation one can put themselves in and yet, the most rewarding.
You need to be strong mentally, physically and emotionally. You need an open mind, a strong stomach, be able to stay calm and discuss situations rationally with irrational people, including our elected officials.
You will see things you would have never believed to exist. Now that you’ve seen it, you feel you must help, regardless of those irrational people (quite often the caretakers).
Do we want cats living outside? No, but at this stage we often have no choice. Some conditions aren’t ideal and the cats, pre-neutering, look and are absolutely sad. Once neutered and vaccinated, they tend to put on weight, groom themselves and stop fighting. Their appearance isn’t so hard and their attitude changes in most cases for the friendlier.
In many situations, trappers/caretakers will see a possibility of socialization and will work towards adoption, rather than returning.
Returning can be hard. We just want to save them all, but know we are doing our best for them and stopping future generations.
Their life on the streets is hard, no matter how well the caretaker feeds, waters and provides shelter, there are always predators, whether man, beast or Mother Nature. Cats are very smart and so often outwit them, but as they age, they slow down, lose their hearing and their eyesight goes bad.
TNR IS AN ENDLESS CYCLE
As long as there are people who don’t agree and are ignorant of the situation, there will always be a need. Many say it makes no difference. But by preventing litters, doesn’t it just make sense? 🤷🏻♀️
NEED TO START A TNR PROGRAM?
Do your research, know your local laws, get numbers from local rescues, shelters and pounds on those returned, adopted and euthanized. Track TNR progress, segregate those from males to females and estimate how many litters have been prevented from happening in your cat overpopulated area. Contact successful counties and ask for their numbers. And be sure, if allowed, to get County cost saving by not having to pay the expenses of intake, care, euthanasia, disposal, payroll and supplies.
Seek out a grant writer for funding, there are hundreds of grants out there.
TRAP AND KILL IS INEFFECTIVE IN THE LONG RUN
Cats are opportunistic, if there is food, water or shelter, they will remain. By killing them, it only opens up the opportunity for more unaltered cats to move in and continuing the cycle, aka the Vacuum Effect.
After going through the TNR program, cats get very protective over their colony and rarely will allow new cats, especially unaltered cats to join. It does happen though, usually with a passive newcomer.
Hundreds of thousands of feral cats across the globe need our help. Every cat neutered is helping the cause. We will never see an end to feral cats in our lifetime, but TNR will help in the reduction of this situation.
Meanwhile, learn, educate, volunteer and save lives.
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In the attached photo are nine TNRd cats. In one night, seven of them disappeared. This is a harsh reality. This is why we fight so hard for TNR. Stopping the breeding to save future generations from this atrocity.
