HomeMy WebLinkAboutFree Roaming Cat Task Force Draft ReportDRAFT
Orange County Animal Services
Free Roaming Cat Task Force Recommendations
Prepared by DeWana Anderson, DVM
August 1, 2014
Table of Contents:
1.Summary
2.Goals
3.Benefits
4.Strategies and Initiatives
5.Resources
6.Program Evaluation
7.Appendices
1. Summary
In 2010, OCAS developed and implemented it’s Strategic Plan to Manage Pet
Overpopulation (appendix A). By incorporating plans for low cost and targeted
spay/neuter surgeries and developing relationships with placement partners, this plan has
been very successful in both decreasing the overall number of pets that enter the
sheltering system and increasing the number of live releases from the shelter. (XXXX)
As a county and community of people that care deeply about their pets, we feel can do
much better. The free roaming cat population in our county is still very large and
constitutes a large portion of the pets we shelter. In 2013, 1400 cats entered the shelter.
Only 4% or 56 of those cats were returned from the shelter to their original owner.
Overall, 35% were euthanized and 65% were either placed into adoption organizations or
new homes. Over 20% of the dog population sheltered was reclaimed by their owners. It
is suggested that 3 times the number of cats sheltered exist and free roaming in a
community (JAVMA cite) and that each un-spayed female can produce 2.5 litters each
year each consisting on average of 6 kittens (JAVMA cite). XXXX
We don’t know the exact reason for the discrepancy in cat and dog reclamation, but we
do know that the cat’s ability to survive outside a home for extended periods is good so
they are not as likely to enter a shelter quickly after wandering away from a property or
caretaker. Think of it this way, if you drive by a dog without a person on a public street you
try to capture it or call animal control/first responders for help in making it safe and getting it
back to his owner. If a cat is running across a public street, we all just try not to hit it with our
car but rarely is there an effort to collect the cat and find out if it has a family.
These independent cats or free roaming cats are cats that are loosely associated with
one or more families, caretakers, or a community or have no association with anyone.
1
DRAFT
Testimony from several members of the veterinary community cited that many families
have one or more inside cats that they claim as their pet but also sometimes feed and
provide less substantial shelter for one or more outside cats that they do not claim as
their pets. (Appendix meeting notes from partners meeting)
THIS PROBLEM impacts each and every person in our county. There are too many cats
and many of the cats that are lucky enough to have owners aren’t being cared for in a
way that protects our community health, our wildlife and the cats themselves. Shelter
statistics can’t even begin to identify how many cats are out there and cats don’t
understand boundaries between communities and counties. We would never tolerate
dogs roaming the streets yet we turn our head to cats and shrug them off as okay
outside. And although cats may be able to survive on the streets, the survival isn’t
always good survival. Cats currently stay in the shelter system two times longer than
dogs adding to the cost of sheltering. Cats are less likely to be returned to their original
owner adding to the cost of sheltering. Cats are 4 times more likely to be exposed to
rabies (in 2013 there were 20 cats and 5 dogs in North Carolina that tested positive for
rabies- this does not represent the number of cats that died from rabies virus that were
not tested). Cats are currently a large burden on the resources that we have and they
don’t have to be.
The independence of the free roaming cat and it’s loose association with a caretaker or
family make it a more complex issue requiring a multimodal approach if we are to
decrease the overall number of cats. We will focus on public education, community
partners, targeted spay/neuter programs and identification as the main targets in our
plan.
The free roaming cat task force (FRCTF) was established in December 2013 and has held
13 public meetings with special focus on partners in the community, cat caregivers,
wildlife experts and concerns, and general public comments. We’ve learned about
community programs in Asheville, Charleston, Gainesville, Spartanburg, Wake County and
Miami that align with Orange County demographics and general community concerns.
Although each of these communities took a different approach to controlling their cat
population, they all had common themes that we wish to incorporate into our plan-
education of the community, community participation, and partnerships with community
groups to allow more cats to be spayed/neutered, vaccinated and identified. Each of
these communities was incredibly proud of their accomplishments and their ability to work
together and help end unnecessary euthanasia (appendix meeting notes).
From these meetings, we feel we have been able to identify ways to reduce cat
euthanasia today and tomorrow even further by reducing the intake of cats into the
shelter system. With decreased numbers of cats in a community, the overall health and
welfare of the cat improves as does the public health of the citizens in the community. In
addition, the overall cost for sheltering cats and cat nuisance calls decreases
dramatically leading to less tax dollars spent on sheltering.
2. Goals
2
DRAFT
Our goal is simple, reduce cat euthanasia now and in the future by decreasing the number
of free roaming cats in Orange County and the number of cats entering the shelter
system.
3. Benefits
The benefits of decreasing the number of free roaming cats are far reaching and will
have many positive influences on our community on all socioeconomic levels.
•The overall cost of sheltering and animal control nuisance calls will be reduced thereby
decreasing tax dollars spent.
•There will be less predation on wildlife species as the population of outside cats
decreases.
•The overall health and welfare of the free roaming cat improve as they are more
adequately vaccinated, identified and not producing multiple litters. Fewer cats
equals fewer internal and external parasites and less disease associated with the
stress of living outside.
•Our public health will improve as fewer cats means less spread of zoonotic disease
(Rabies, fecal intestinal parasites and protozoal parasites).
4. Strategies and Initiatives
The number and span of free roaming cats makes this a problem that’s bigger than
Animal Services can handle by itself. There are several organizations and initiatives
already in operation in Orange County that can be expanded on and utilized to help meet
our goals.
•Public Outreach/Community Education
Our public education and outreach is targeted towards educating our community
about opportunities for low cost or no cost spay/neuter programs, the benefits of
keeping cats indoors, the importance of vaccinations and care of cats and
identification.
Already in our community we have several groups working towards these goals.
Enhancing and encouraging their work, will allow greater overall success.
•Kids for Kindness is a non-profit that started in Hillsborough and teaches 4th
graders the importance of spaying and neutering pets and the reality of
sheltered pets.
•Independent Animal Rescue is a non-profit that has a huge positive influence
on the free roaming cat population providing underprivileged citizens with low
or no cost surgery opportunities and fostering feral kittens to make them
adoptable and less likely to stay outside.
•Veterinarians are already seeing cat patients every day and will be enlisted to
help spread the word about the benefits of keeping cats inside, identification
3
DRAFT
of pets and the overwhelming benefit of spay/neuter and environment
enrichment.
•Our animal services staff are already posting flyers and door hangers in
areas where free roaming cats are centered for low cost spay neuter
programs.
•Our shelter staff can include information in the adoption information that
goes home with each adopted pet that targets the benefits of keeping cats
indoors, demonstrates how to enrich their inside environment, and the
benefits of identification of pets adopted.
In addition we will encourage other community participation by:
• Setting up a volunteer core for public participation, i.e. a grassroots outreach
to reach community members about spay/neuter possibilities, identification,
and public health issues.
•OCAS will set up programs to train caregivers in safety, trapping and handling
of cats, the importance of spay/neuter of colonies and building caretaker
trust in Animal Services as part of the team building process.
Triangle wide we would like to join with other Animal Service agencies in an
advertising campaign (billboards, social media, door to door community saturation) to
encourage spay/neuter, vaccinations and identification of cats as well as educating
people about how to enrich the environment inside their homes to be more
satisfying to the cat.
•Targeted Spay Neuter
As long as cats are outside and reproductively active, there will continue to be a
surplus of cats. There are several programs already in place that we can build on
to spread the word and make low cost and no cost spay neuter opportunities
available.
•Animal Kind has been operation in Orange County since (insert date) and has
provided DHHS qualified clients with over 400 spay neuter surgeries each year
at the lost cost of $20 or free.
•Independent Animal Rescue works with apartment communities and
neighborhoods to identify problem cat areas and offers targeted spay neuter
and the foster for feral program to allow kittens that may have stayed on the
street to have the opportunity to be tamed and adopted.
•We will address how to keep up with the identity, reproductive capability, and
vaccination status of cats within the colony of feral free roamers.
•The SNAP mobile spay neuter clinic is already in operation. We can direct
more citizens to that opportunity and also present underprivileged citizens
with Litter Patrol and other vouchers for subsidized spay/neuter
opportunities.
4
DRAFT
•TNR (trap neuter return) will be utilized in established feral colonies to
decrease the number of kittens produced and increase the overall health of
the colony. Colonies will be identified with a caretaker and identified as
individuals so vaccine, reproductive capacity and health of each individual can
be maintained. OCAS will try to subsidize the cost of spay/neuter, vaccines,
identification and registration.
•Timeline for success
TIMETABLE
Initiative Outcome
Year 1 Education when adopting from
OCAS
Indoor cat promotion
Education via Veterinary
Community
Indoor cat promotion
Continued coordination with
Kids4Kindness regarding schools
Indoor cat promotion, spay/neuter
education
Public Affairs Campaign
Year 2 Partnership formations what are the mutual or common
ground needs?
Program evaluation framework
created
baseline database, shared
guidelines for tracking and
evaluation
Expand $20 Fix to Cat
Caretakers
increase number spay/neuters
Year 3 Fosters for Feral Kittens reduce free roamers
Evaluation of Program compare year 1 to year 2
Identify areas for Pilot Program
Year 4 Pilot Program increase number spay/neuter
5
DRAFT
Pilot Program Evaluation
Evaluation of Program compare years 1-2-3
Year 5 Partner Referrals increase number spay/neuters
Cat regulations neede changes identified
Evaluate Sustainability
With enhanced education and targeted spay/neuter programs in place, there can be an
end to cat overpopulation.
5. Resources
As stated previously, free roaming cats are an overwhelming issue in this community with
an estimated 4,500 cats currently in population. Animal Services will not be able to handle
this issue alone, we must ask our community for help and educate the community that it’s
time for social change. We will need to work with and support community partners to get
these programs up and running. Groups that are already here and working are Animal
Kind, Independent Animal Rescue, Kids for Kindness, SNAP, veterinarians, Coalition to
Unchain Dogs and others. We can’t overlook or underestimate the importance and work
that these groups are performing.
6. Program Evaluation
As we progress into our plan to decrease the number of free roaming cats we want to
start looking at measures to evaluate program success.
•We will look at the number of litters of kittens presented to the shelter each year.
•We will look at the number of cats entering the shelter returned to their original
owners for a measure of success.
•We will look at the length of stay or total sheltered days.
•We will look at euthanasia numbers.
•We will consult with community partners annually to gather community statistics
and offer means of support to their programs.
•We will encourage our community partners to contribute the number of cats
they’ve worked with.
• We will be vigilant in identifying other partners that can help us succeed and
incorporate their help when possible.
7. Appendix
6
DRAFT
A.Meeting notes by date
B.Strategic Plan
C.cat stats
D.JAVMA articles on feral cat stats
E.Pilot Program ideas
•could be Trap Neuter Return to an existing maintained feral colony
•could be Trap Neuter Return to the area where the cat was found
•could be as much subsidized spay/neuter as possible to targeted areas
7