New Cook County Trap-Neuter-Return Legislation
National Feral Cat Day on October 16, 2007 marked a landmark day in Cook County. The Cook County Board of Commissioners decided in favor of humanely and more practically controlling the hundreds of thousands of free-roaming cats in our communities. They approved a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) policy for addressing free-roaming cat colonies and a set of responsibilities for owners of domesticated cats that help prevent additions to the free-roaming population from stray or abandoned domesticated cats.
With the sponsorship of Commissioners Mike Quigley and Joan Patricia Murphy and the support of President Todd Stroger, the Cook County Board passed a new ordinance allowing feral-cat caretakers registered with the county through humane societies to trap feral cats humanely; have them spayed or neutered, vaccinated and tagged; and return them to their outdoor habitat with provisions for food, water and shelter. Why? We need to stop the unchecked breeding humanely and practically. Hundreds of animal advocates will volunteer their time and numerous humane organizations will commit resources to make TNR work in Cook County.
Until now, the governmentally sanctioned solution has been to trap and kill the animals as a way to control the feral-cat population. But that does nothing to control the numbers that result from unchecked breeding or the expense of euthanasia, not to mention the ethical dilemma that poses for many. One female cat and her offspring can produce over 420,000 cats in just seven years! The sterilization of the feral cat colonies will reduce the population over time as well as help reduce nuisance behaviors such as female yowling and male spraying. A managed (fed, sheltered, medically cared for, and non-breeding) population will reduce in size over time and thus gradually reduce the risk posed by these colonies to other wildlife.
Two key elements of the new ordinance:
Specifying the responsibilities of owners of domesticated cats, including:
- adequate food, water and shelter
- reasonable care to guard against the cat creating a nuisance
- not permitting the cat “to roam unsupervised off their property”
- not abandoning a domesticated cat By Cynthia Bauthurst
Specifying the responsibilities of feral-cat caretakers and their sponsors, including:
- requirements for, and duties of, the sponsors, such as helping to resolve complaints and maintaining specified documentation
- requirements for, and duties of, the caretakers, ensuring that the cats are spayed or neutered, ear-tipped, identified with an electronic device such as a microchip, vaccinated, fed and provided sustenance
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