This is a follow-up to a recent letter written by Kathryn Gabrielescu of Whiskers Rescue Inc., Sayreville, regarding the ordinance passed in Sayreville pertaining to stray/feral cats.
I attended some of the town hall meetings where this issue was brought up. Whiskers Rescue represented its agenda with relevant facts and statistics. The group also has a tremendous amount of experience with trap-neuter-return (TNR) and the long-term outcomes of it. The Board of Health and the mayor had no statistics of any kind.
What this ordinance boils down to is that TNR is set back to, “You can trap them and try to solve the problem humanely; but it is illegal, and you cannot feed them once you spay and neuter them.” New Jersey lags far behind other states in this issue. The feral/stray cat epidemic has been created by man’s negligence to his domestic pets. Whatever you tame, you take responsibility for. We don’t seem to know what to do with feral cats or how to accurately define them. They are not socialized, they cannot be adopted, but they are not wildlife either.
The reactive versus proactive approach using trap and kill when the population explodes has been the traditional method. This does notwork for several reasons. It provides the semblance of solving the problem in the short run. TNR is not perfect, nor is it appropriate for every situation pertaining to this matter. It has always amazed me how quickly people look for fault with this grassroots method of controlling the stray-cat population. The reality is that trap and kill is inhumane and ineffective. If you looked at the records of Blumig Kennels, which contracts with the town of Sayreville, you would have an accurate idea of just how many cats brought to that facility are euthanized. If feral cats by definition are unsocialized animals, then who is adopting them? If for the most part they are not adoptable, are they being euthanized or adopted? It is being done in a manner that is behind closed doors. You know … out of sight out of mind. Whiskers Rescue offered to fund a great deal of this undertaking with the town of Sayreville, but the offer was refused.
Unsocialized cats are not being taken in by animal control to the shelter and adopted out; often they are euthanized, and the colony will breed out to fill that void. People will always feed when their hearts go out to a starving animal that they cannot touch but that is not a squirrel or skunk. It is man’s negligence with his own domesticated animals. Essentially, to do the right and humane long-term solution is illegal. Caring individuals and groups will be driven back underground. Do you know what it is like to feel like you’re selling drugs when you are feeding a starving animal? Rescue groups will steer clear of Sayreville and be reluctant to break the law. Who suffers? The cats suffer. Howdo I know this? I have had the good fortune to have had the help and education of Whiskers Rescue and one very helpful good friend several years ago when I first discovered what a feral cat actually was. When I saw the problem where I lived and began to understand it, I was shocked and overwhelmed. I had no idea what to do. Whiskers Rescue took the time to educate me. This group funded a great deal of the TNR done in my colony, an area of Sayreville where I used to reside that is now a controlled colony. This group also did much of the hands-on trapping with me and forme at this colony. It was the most difficult education I have ever had. Once you can see, you cannot go back to not seeing.
This ordinance may seem like a small issue, but it represents an archaic step backward for the animals born out of man’s negligence to man and what he domesticates. Educating the public and long-term humane solutions are needed. RachelWillyung Cream Ridge section of Upper Freehold Formerly of Sayreville