Alley Cat Allies are launching the premiere of Global Cat Day today. The motto of the day is : kindness for all catkind.
Alley Cat Allies is an organization dedicated «to transform and develop communities to protect and improve the lives of cats.»
“On October 16th, compassionate people around the world come together to stand up for policies that protect the cats in their communities.”
You wouldn’t bring a wild animal into your home, and that’s what a community cat (feral cat) is : a wild animal. Pet cats are socialized and domesticated, community cats live outside, and this is their home.
Community cats are not abandoned or lost. They are not pets in distress, but they are often mistaken with socialized cats who have been abandoned. Feral cats are born outside, and are for the most part unadoptable. If you bring them to a shelter, they risk to be killed because they are unsocialized and cannot be re-homed.
Local laws sometimes punish caregivers of community cats. Authorities don’t always understand that the best place for feral cats is outdoor. This must change.
In some areas, it’s allowed to kill cats who don’t have an owner. To us, that’s just cruelty. There are other ways to control feline population.
TNR (trap-neuter-return) is the BEST way to solve the problem. Cats are trapped, they are seen by a veterinarian, they are spayed / neutered, and returned to their home : the outdoor. Every TNR cat has the tip of his ear cut, you can recognize them easily.
If you want to help, advocate for community cats and educate your own community about «compassionate cat management».
