Please add your voice in support of feral kitties

The New York Times published an awful opinion piece about cats a week ago, essentially a call for killing feral cats because they prey on songbirds. I wrote a response and posted it here - 

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-evi...esponse-to-mr-conniffs-column-in-the-ny-times (it includes a link to the original piece)

I need your help in spreading this article. If you can share it through Facebook, here's a Facebook link - 


Also, please like and add comments to the Facebook post. It makes Facebook show this to more people.

Or just share it around in emails or wherever you think may be a good place. If you have comments to the blog post, by all means, please do post them in the comment section there. Let's keep the thread here for questions and suggestions on how to share this, if you have any.

Thank you!

I "liked" the page and shared the article on my FB. Great article, Anne. Also sent it out via emails to others who aren't on FB.

Thanks for the post, Anne!

i shared it on my FB and liked it

I liked and shared.  I am certainly a friend of ferals.  I totally support TNR .  I have several colonies of ferals that I feed .  They have all been trapped and been "fixed".  If I can't trap a cat, I will use the FeralStat powder that prevents the feals from getting pregnant.  The life of a feral is usually short and not very nice so I try to do everything I can to make their life a little better.

Will read, like and share. Thanks! Just need to figure out how to do those things /:3

We have a self made millionaire here in NZ, who repeatedly makes headlines about putting cats down to save native birds, need to have cats licenced like dogs, etc. Unfortunately this seems to egg on certain lowlifes who delight in cruelty. There have been cases of cats been shot with arrows, cats poisoned and other incidents. Prosecutions for animal cruelty are handled by NZSPCA which is short funded, so many are not followed up. I would like to see animal cruelty cases here handled by police as I think they do in USA.  

shared on facebook

Here are the letters to the editor in response to the opinion piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/a-lively-debate-over-outdoor-cats.html

As usual, Ingrid Newkirk from PETA had to put in her two cents.

I shared it on my FB wall too

Great response, Anne - consider it shared!  

I think I have the fattest feral-born colony around our area - and my thin pocket book is proof, along with those healthy looking bodies.

I try to feed them so much nourishing food that all they do is just look at a bird and go back to sleep.  I'd love to have them all safe inside, too, but ... .  

Anne - thank you so very much for sharing this with us. I would have not otherwise seen the article by Mr. Conniff nor would I have seen your beautifully, strong, to the point, truthful and well written response. I thank you for it. Your last paragraph couldn't have said it more perfectly and that is how I see the world we live in too as far as the wildlife goes. I am also feeling proud to be part of your cat site knowing that you have such a great understand of the feral cat and HOW they came to be - by the hand of irresponsible cat ownership - NOT by their choice. BIG KUDOS, Anne and a BIG THANK YOU.

jcat said:

Here are the letters to the editor in response to the opinion piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/a-lively-debate-over-outdoor-cats.html

As usual, Ingrid Newkirk from PETA had to put in her two cents.

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I saw that yesterday   I couldn't believe her response. Simply outrageous. You gotta love their choice of letters in response and how they ordered them   

Thank you for the support, everyone! I also got a very nice response from the good people at the "Best Friends" shelter in Utah. I know many cat writers are upset over this column and are writing responses too. 

@linkfarm  I've heard about the New Zealand situation. It's appalling. I'm relieved to say that in my country, Israel, it's illegal to kill cats or dogs. Only qualified veterinarians are allowed to humanely put down dogs or cats. It's even illegal to remove cats from your property or re-locate them. Got a cat "problem"? Arrange for TNR. At this point, it's actually the only legal solution here. Unlike PETA, our animal rights activists support this approach and I have to give them credit for working hard and achieving these legal changes. 

I was sent this link - 

http://strangebehaviors.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/sorry-cat-lovers-tnr-simply-doesnt-work/

This is a blog post by the same writer. He simply can't tell the difference between feral cats and strays that are taken into shelters. I commented on this blog, and thought I'd share that here - 

1. 
   Mr. Conniff, I’m frankly baffled that after writing about the topic for so long, you still can’t tell the difference between feral cats and shelter cats. TNR for feral cats has nothing, I repeat, nothing, to do with shelters having to PTS cats. Simply not the same cats.
   
   No cat organization in its right mind would ever TNR a stray or abandoned cat. These cats belong in a shelter (hopefully on their way to be adopted to a good forever home). They will be neutered but never ever “released”. Please take a few minutes to read my response to your NY Times piece here –
   http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-evi...esponse-to-mr-conniffs-column-in-the-ny-times

My comment is #4. The response I got was that TNR groups take adoptable cats from shelters and release them into feral colonies   For some reason, I can't post another reply. It generates an error message for me. Either way, I thought I'd post it here for those of you who are involved with TNR to give him a piece of your mind, if you're feeling inclined to.

I have no clue where he came up with that nonsense. I've never heard of a shelter letting anyone take a cat unless they sign papers acknowledging that the cat will be a house pet, usually adding the condition that the cat be kept strictly indoors. I can't imagine anyone 1. wanting to release a shelter cat (stray or surrendered one) into a feral colony (why would they???? they don't have enough ferals to care for already???) or 2. any shelter letting them do so.

I'm getting the impression this whole anti-cat campaign is created by some very misguided people who know extremely little about feral cats and TNR.   It's scares me to think that such ignorance could end up costing the lives of innocent cats.

ETA: Moving this thread to the Feral Care forum. 

Anne said:

I was sent this link - 
http://strangebehaviors.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/sorry-cat-lovers-tnr-simply-doesnt-work/

This is a blog post by the same writer. He simply can't tell the difference between feral cats and strays that are taken into shelters. I commented on this blog, and thought I'd share that here - 

1. 
   
   Mr. Conniff, I’m frankly baffled that after writing about the topic for so long, you still can’t tell the difference between feral cats and shelter cats. TNR for feral cats has nothing, I repeat, nothing, to do with shelters having to PTS cats. Simply not the same cats.
   
   
   
   No cat organization in its right mind would ever TNR a stray or abandoned cat. These cats belong in a shelter (hopefully on their way to be adopted to a good forever home). They will be neutered but never ever “released”. Please take a few minutes to read my response to your NY Times piece here –
   http://www.thecatsite.com/a/the-evi...esponse-to-mr-conniffs-column-in-the-ny-times
   
   
   
   

My comment is #4. The response I got was that TNR groups take adoptable cats from shelters and release them into feral colonies :frusty:  For some reason, I can't post another reply. It generates an error message for me. Either way, I thought I'd post it here for those of you who are involved with TNR to give him a piece of your mind, if you're feeling inclined to.

I have no clue where he came up with that nonsense. I've never heard of a shelter letting anyone take a cat unless they sign papers acknowledging that the cat will be a house pet, usually adding the condition that the cat be kept strictly indoors. I can't imagine anyone 1. wanting to release a shelter cat (stray or surrendered one) into a feral colony (why would they???? they don't have enough ferals to care for already???) or 2. any shelter letting them do so.

I'm getting the impression this whole anti-cat campaign is created by some very misguided people who know extremely little about feral cats and TNR.   It's scares me to think that such ignorance could end up costing the lives of innocent cats.

ETA: Moving this thread to the Feral Care forum. 

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This is OUTRAGEOUS and I am fuming over his comments to you Anne. nfire: I am NOT good at these types of interactions and confrontations but assure you my heart is pounding over this imbecile. I don't think Laurie has seen this so I am going to PM this thread to her and see if she wants to take a stab at him. (pun intended ) She will bury this guy right along side of you. I want to put in my rebuttal and argument to his ignorant theories but don't have the words right now.. :frusty:

Okay, I just took two of my husband's blood pressure pills - I must live in a bubble because I just can't believe this guy, and his followers, are for real - gotta go lay down and chill now.

Oh, I am so annoyed by the PETA person...

Thank you for addressing a portion of the litany of problems with allowing cats to roam outdoors. There is a new trend by “no kill” “rescue” groups, which oppose all euthanasia, to release even tame cats into the not-so-great outdoors to take their chances as part of trap-neuter-release programs. In addition to killing wildlife and running afoul of it, these cats succumb to freezing winter weather, traffic, infections and infestations, human beings with evil intentions, and other perils.

As a humane officer for many years, I’ve seen it all and can attest to the fact that cats’ predation on other animals aside, it is not kind to allow them to come to such harsh and painful ends. Trap-neuter-return is illegal in most states because it constitutes abandonment of an animal, and should be in all.

INGRID E. NEWKIRK
President, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals
Washington, March 24, 2014

Is she joking?! How she calls it a new trend to rescue or TNR....puts quotation marks around the word "rescue" groups, like saying we SUPPOSEDLY consider ourselves NO-KILL, RESCUES. That we're not RESCUING anyone, or helping them. That clueless so-and-so!

Being a humane officer for years does NOT mean she knows anything about what RESCUE is, I know several animal officers and they do NOT see it all, WE do. WE are the ones who do the hard work, the thrill of the victorys, the pain and agony of defeat. The endless tears shed.

Does she know how THAT feels? No. Animal officers go out on calls and pick up animals, ship them back to a shelter where they sit in a cold, small, metal crate and wait to be killed. Sick, starved, injured, it doesn't matter to them, their work is done.

This is where us so-called "RESCUERS"  step in, WE do the dirty work, WE put our raised money out for medical care, WE spend our own personal time, money, gas, late nights trapping, or racing a cat to the after hours vets, and many times neglect our families, for our mission to save and help any and all who are in need.

WE would never, ever put a non feral cat out to live on the streets to suffer and starve. If they are not adoptable cats, we foster them until we do find the right home, whether it is as an indoor/outdoor mouser, or someone who is fine with a shy cat, or a disabled cat. Or an older cat.

WE don't oppose ALL euthanasia either, if a cat is not going to have quality of life, we will not save them at all costs, this is ludicrous! But we make damn sure they know they are cared about and not left alone to die. They are gently allowed to go in our arms, not yanked out of that cage terrified for their very lives, knowing what is coming from the smell of death, and stabbed in the heart while being tightly held by their scruffs! Then tossed in a big pile before their brain even stops.

Oh how I could go on.

Who is this person anyway! I thought PETA was FOR the animals??

NO animal should be taken out of this world due to being neglected or abandoned. 

TNR IS the only real humane answer.

Just wow! I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way when I say the PETA peons, I mean advocates are completely out of touch with reality and the PETA cult leaders, oops again I mean ranking officials are so detestable. It's pretty clear they are against pet ownership, and would happily euthanize all of our animal companions. I just had to get that off my chest sorry

Anne said:

I was sent this link - 
http://strangebehaviors.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/sorry-cat-lovers-tnr-simply-doesnt-work/

This is a blog post by the same writer.

Click to expand...

I added a reply to the blog. Still so

GloriaJH said:

 
Okay, I just took two of my husband's blood pressure pills - I must live in a bubble because I just can't believe this guy, and his followers, are for real - gotta go lay down and chill now.

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Sometimes living in a bubble works better, with all of these idiots out there. Please take care of yourself and try not to think about them 

I admit the response there by PETA's president was very upsetting for me as well. I've always been pro animal-welfare and not animal-rights, but what they're doing isn't even about animal rights. I live in Israel and we have a very strong animal rights movement, yet they whole-heartedly support TNR and oppose to mass killing of cats in shelters, or anywhere else. I posted elsewhere about this but our local groups had a huge influence on the latest legislation which makes it illegal to kill cats or even re-locate feral cats. TNR is the only legal option in Israel today. The only exception is for the head vet of the ministry of agriculture to announce a rabies outbreak in a locality, and that changes the rules some, but I don't think they ever used that one.

I support the local animal rights movement, even if I disagree with some of their philosophy. I know many of their activists are involved in cat rescue and manage feral colonies. They've done a lot both for farm animals and for cats and dogs.IMO, these things go hand in hand together. I really don't get PETA and how they became to be so anti-pets.