Catnip Nation's January Report - Fighting For TNR Ordinances In Rockland County, NY

In October I brought you the fourth installment of a series of posts by Tina Traster, Producer and Director of the documentary film Catnip Nation. This month Tina discusses the importance of TNR ordinances to address the feral cat issue. I could not agree more! This summer I toured Alley Cat Allies' Atlantic City Boardwalk Cat Project, which is proof that TNR works!  One of my goals for my blog this year is to write more about TNR to educate the public on this very important topic.Tell me your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you, Tina, for being a voice for feral cats, not only in Rockland County (my home town), but everywhere. It makes me proud and elated that the Village of Haverstraw, where I grew up, passed Rockland County’s first feral cat ordinance to support Trap Neuter Return (TNR). My niece went to high school with the mayor, Michael Kohut, and I went to school with his brother. (The Village of Haverstraw is small... everyone knows everyone else!) My dream is for this type of ordinance to be passed nationwide. Let's all help Tina and Catnip Nation spread the word by sharing this post. Are there TNR ordinances in your area? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. 

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Dawn  

TNR Ordinances are Needed to Address Feral Cat Issue

The TNR movement spans decades. Some say it started in England in the 1970s. We know it has gained tremendous momentum in the U.S. and abroad, but mostly in enlightened communities where government officials are open-minded and curious enough to take the time to understand what it is, how it works, and to acknowledge that there are no other workable solutions for winnowing down feral cat populations. 

In the course of making our documentary, Catnip Nation, we have become intimately familiar with the politics of community cats and TNR. In fact, when I’m not directing or working with my editor on Catnip Nation, I wear a different hat: I’m a member of a recently-formed group called Community Cats Initiative. Made up of TNR veterans, and other cat advocates, we have set about to educate and advocate for cats, and specifically for TNR, in Rockland County, New York. 

For nearly a year, we’ve been working with government officials in Clarkstown, Rockland County’s largest town, to pass an ordinance. There’s been a lot of back and forth, generous input from both sides, a mass campaign at a council meeting. We are still waiting to see the ordinance come to a vote. 




In contrast, the tiny Village of Haverstraw made history in December when it passed Rockland County’s first feral cat ordinance to support Trap Neuter Return (TNR). Mayor Michael Kohut understood the imperative of taking a practical and humane step toward controlling the population of stray or “feral” cats. Interestingly, members of CCI had only met with him once, back in October. But he’s smart. He got it. And without fanfare, he moved forward decisively. 

Stray cats, and often colonies of stray/feral cats, live in everywhere – behind shopping centers, near office buildings, in apartment complexes, by the river, in parks. EVERYWHERE! Feral cats live close to humanity because they find sources of food and water. Most of mankind feels an instinct to help the strays they see, so they feed them. 

A comprehensive Trap, Neuter, Return program, which is what the Village of Haverstraw endorsed with its newly passed legislation, turns random feeding into a cohesive approach to both feed but winnow down the populations through sterilizing and vaccinating.  

TNR is a tried and tested method of population control being used throughout the country and the world. Here’s how it works: There is a caretaker in charge of a managed colony. That colony can be anywhere from five cats to 50. The feeder comes at regularly scheduled times, feeds the colony, and then removes the food source, so as not to attract other wildlife. The colony caretaker – working with TNR groups – aims to fix all the cats, male and female. The TNR groups work with lower-cost spay-neuter facilities. The overarching goal of TNR is to reduce populations through sterilization and to stop the cycle of kitten births. Fixing cats also reduces nuisance behavior such as fighting, yowling, and spraying. The colony caretaker is like a manager – when a new cat shows up, they make sure the intruder is also fixed.

So where does the municipal government fit in? 

The Village of Haverstraw passed Rockland County’s first feral cat ordinance to support Trap Neuter Return (TNR). 

TNR works best when colony caretakers, animal control officers, law enforcement, and the community work together. When a town blesses TNR, the program operates in daylight. It is legitimate and the different parties can come to the table together. Additionally, the municipality helps to disseminate information and educate its citizens. It helps fund the efforts.  

Everyone can agree no one wants community cats. This is not a problem that can be solved overnight – TNR requires patience and participation. But it’s impossible to gain momentum unless enlightened public officials like Mr. Kohut step up and show leadership. 

There are tens of thousands of community cats roaming the streets. Until now, mayors and supervisors have let this issue fester – largely because they have not even realized that it is an issue. Many have mistakenly believed this is something that can be taken care of by the lone animal control officer or the shelter. This was never really the case; but it is certainly not so now. Killing cats is just not acceptable. It’s also not affordable or practical. Shelters are unable to house scores of feral cats, and many have said they will no longer take ear-tipped cats (cats in colonies that have been fixed are ear-tipped). 

Some municipal leaders simply want to turn their back on this issue. Pretend it doesn’t exist. Or hope that somehow it will be magically solved by a different government entity or by the good people of Rockland County who do this thankless work under the cover of night. Those leaders are misguided. They should look to Mayor Kohut, and to the leaders in New York City, Peekskill, Atlantic City, Washington, D.C., and the entire state of Utah for direction and inspiration. 

Community cats are not going to go away. Not unless town officials step up and embrace TNR, and pass ordinances to support these programs.

Please weigh in. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Tina Traster is a socially-conscious, award-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker. Her 30-minute documentary, This House Matters, is an examination on historic preservation in the Hudson Valley. The film has screened at the YoFi Film Festival, the Kingston Film Festival, the Hoboken International Film Festival, and the Nyack Film Festival. Traster's work has appeared in scores of newspapers, magazines and literary journals including The New York Times, The New York Post, Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, Redbook, Family Circle, Parade, Time Out New York, Audubon, Ski Magazine and many others. She is the author of the award-winning memoir Rescuing Julia Twice: A Mother's Tale of Russian Adoption and Overcoming Reactive Attachment Disorder. Since 2006, Traster has written the "Burb  Appeal" column for The New York Post.