Delaware City Neuter

Delaware City has become the latest Delaware municipality to adopt an ordinance promoting the “trap-neuter-return” approach to feral or “community” cats.

The community cat initiative won praise from Alley Cat Allies, the nation’s largest cat-advocacy organization, which said more than 350 local governments across the country – including Dewey Beach, Milford, Milton, Harrington and Rehoboth Beach in Delaware – have adopted trap-neuter-release or TNR ordinances.

Trap-neuter-release involves having volunteers humanely trap cats, which are taken to veterinary clinics for spay/neuter surgery and rabies vaccination.

Delaware City has become the latest Delaware municipality to adopt an ordinance promoting the “trap-neuter-return” approach to feral or “community” cats.

The community cat initiative won praise from Alley Cat Allies, the nation’s largest cat-advocacy organization, which said more than 350 local governments across the country – including Dewey Beach, Milford, Milton, Harrington and Rehoboth Beach in Delaware – have adopted trap-neuter-release or TNR ordinances.

Trap-neuter-release involves having volunteers humanely trap cats, which are taken to veterinary clinics for spay/neuter surgery and rabies vaccination. Kittens and people-friendly cats are placed in foster care or for adoption, while others are returned to their outdoor areas, most frequently with “eartips” or a small part of the left ear trimmed off when they are under anesthesia to indicate that they have been sterilized and given rabies vaccine, Alley Cat Allies said.

“Congratulations are in order for Delaware City for recognizing that adopting TNR is the best path forward in forging positive change for cats and for the residents who care for them,” Becky Robinson, Alley Cat Allies’ founder and president, said in a statement.

She said local governments’ embracing the concept is “eliminating ‘catch and kill,’ which is cruel, costly and has never worked.”

Delaware City Council worked with her Washington, D.C.-based organization in advance of the ordinance’s adoption.

The measure, adopted Jan. 28, aims to “recognize the need for innovation in addressing the issues presented by abandoned, stray, lost, or feral cats in the community.”

Alley Cat Allies noted that “feral cats are the same species as pet cats, but they are not socialized to people and cannot be adopted into homes,” adding that they typically live healthy lives in colonies, “but are almost always ‘euthanized’ [i.e., killed] in animal pounds and shelters, at enormous taxpayer expense and with no benefit to the community.”

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.

Source: Delaware Online