LOS ANGELES Dec. 10, 2020 Alley Cat Allies President and Founder Becky Robinson praised the unanimous vote by the Los Angeles City Council in favor of funding their new Citywide Cat Program for Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). The Council’s vote clears the way for the city to use municipal funds to operate the Citywide Cat Program, which will spay and neuter 20,000 cats per year while also providing ongoing funding for pet cats.
“We extend huge thanks to the City of Los Angeles and City Council for their vision, leadership and perseverance through years of bureaucratic red tape to do the right thing for people and cats in L.A.” Robinson said. “The good news is that the Citywide Cat Program is smart, effective and humane cat population management. In the years to come, L.A. will be a shining model of the many benefits of non-lethal cat population management. Not for the first time in its storied history, L.A. is ushering in the future.”
The Council’s vote to approve an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Citywide Cat Program makes it possible for the city animal services to resume undertaking and funding Trap-Neuter-Return in the city after nearly a decade of legal proceedings side-lined the city from engaging in this important part of its mission.
A core aspect of the City Cat Program is its support for Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). Under TNR, cats are trapped, spayed/neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, ear-tipped for identification, and returned to their outdoor homes. TNR stabilizes cat populations by breaking the breeding cycle of cats.
TNR is good public policy and it is mainstream. It is practiced in thousands of communities in the U.S., with hundreds more recognizing it as official policy. L.A. is now the largest to have done so, and its Citywide Cat Program and the committed funding of it offer much for other communities to emulate.
The financial and organizational support of the City of Los Angeles will exponentially increase the amount of TNR undertaken. Over the past decade, TNR has been undertaken and funded solely by individuals and non-profits in L.A. Going forward, a great partnership will exist under which individuals and non-profits will continue to engage in TNR, but they will now do so with less financial strain. More cats and communities will soon be beneficiaries of this important life-saving and life-improving program.
About Alley Cat Allies
Alley Cat Allies is the leader of a global movement to protect cats and kittens. Now in our 30th anniversary year, we are joined by over half a million supporters worldwide.
Alley Cat Allies believes every cat deserves to live out his or her life to the fullest. We exposed an entrenched system in which animal control agencies and shelters have been killing millions of cats for over a century. Today, the programs we introduced in the United States are mainstream.
To achieve our goals, we collaborate with grassroots advocates, animal shelters, municipal managers, and lawmakers to replace deadly laws and policies with ones that protect cats.”¯ We defend all cats by offering cutting edge education online, in person, and through one-on-one dialogue. We advance lifesaving innovations such as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and Shelter-Neuter-Return (SNR), high-quality, high-volume spay and neuter, microchipping, anti-declawing legislation, and any program that best serves the interests of cats.
Our website is www.alleycat.org, and we are active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.