|
|
||
Mandatory spay/neuter is the only answer Date published: 12/2/2008
This is in response to the Nov. 14 editorial titled "Fixing felines." The mandatory spaying legislation proposed by the Rappahannock Humane Society to the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors is the only way to control the crisis in the cat overpopulation.
The editorial stated we should employ a trap-neuter-return program and educational programs. Who and where are the people for this massive undertaking? Are so many out there willing to haunt the woods, getting ticks and illness, just for their own satisfaction? If there were enough of these generous people, it is obvious that we would not have the problem we have today. To suggest that government should not interfere or be responsible for this is like saying that through volunteers and education, all the complicated issues of our communities would be solved. Did the writer consider that the volunteers cannot possibly pay for feline leukemia, AIDS, and rabies tests, then feed and shelter these cats for 10 to 20 years? I'm not even mentioning the impact on wildlife these cats in the wild are causing. We must be the stewards of our environment, and this includes demanding from our government the solutions and laws to make our environment safe for those with no voice--such as children, the mentally and physically incapacitated, and animals. I taught school for 50 years, many years in science and environmental study, and certainly gave time in my classroom to humane treatment and attitudes toward animals. But I know that, without laws, education Georgia L. Strentz Fredericksburg
I don't think there is ever - only one solution to a problem but folks who don't spay and neuter are causing a lot of heartbreak for others....
When the neighbors cart decides to have kittens under my deck and the owner doesn't want them - then what?
What am I supposed to do with 4 cats that I did not want to start with?
You'd enforce this law the same way you do the rabies law and the dog tag law.
If an animal does not have a tag - you call the animal control folks and have them removed.
We have a farm which seems to mean open doors to people who would drop cats, feral or otherwise near the sheds and barns where other cats live. We feed what we can out of our own pockets, can't possible trap, etc. etc. there are too many. I am fed up, not with the cats, but with people who have just pushed their problems on to us during the dead of night. Where are the laws that protect us against them? We might at some point have to resort to euthanasia. No choice in our case.
mkibler, you are correct - in some cases feral cats can be rehabilitated. Shelters do not consider them adoptable b/c so few shelters can foster a cat for that length of time. Feral cats are normally euthanized as soon as captured. Some progressive shelters have barn cat programs for feral cats that have been s/n and vaccinated, as an alternative to euthanasia. Interesting factoids - about 50-60% of kittens come from feral cats. About 90% of all owned cats are s/n already.
...is misleading. There is never only one solution to a problem. Saying that MANDATORY spay/neuter is the ONLY way is wrong on so many levels. This would require a law - to make it mandatory - so I ask: Who is going to enforce this new law and how will we pay for the enforcement? What will the penalty be for an owner who doesn't obey this law? What about people who fall on hard times and have to delay the mandatory spay? Voluntary spay/neuter programs are very effective at a much lower cost to the taxpayer.
Rational, feral cats are adoptable, but it takes more work than the vast majority of people are willing to do. I speak from experiance - have two feral cats that are well adjusted with my other cats and even the dogs.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
