To protect cats in Puerto Rico, Alley Cat Allies has filed for a temporary restraining order and injunction against the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) to halt its plan to remove and kill community cats living on the San Juan National Historic Site. This legal action is a direct response to the NPS fast-tracking its reckless and unlawful scheme, which it aims to begin as early as October 1, 2024.
“Alley Cat Allies is committed to ensuring that the NPS operates within the bounds of the law and respects the lives of the cats and the values of the communities it serves,” said Yonaton Aronoff, a lawyer representing Alley Cat Allies. “This restraining order is a crucial step to stop a cruel and ineffective plan to kill cats; a plan that is against the wishes of the people of Puerto Rico and flouts the principles of justice and transparency.”
Alley Cat Allies’ historic lawsuit against the NPS, filed in March, and this motion for a temporary restraining order are grounded in strong legal arguments that the NPS’s plan violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The NPS has failed to provide a valid justification for removing and killing cats and rejecting Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), the only humane and effective approach to community cats, or unowned cats who live outdoors.
The restraining order aims to stop the NPS from taking any more steps to further its plan, including its recent Request for Quotation for agents to remove cats on the historic site. The NPS, if allowed to proceed, would not only kill innocent cats and devastate the local community, which considers the cats to be community members, but also set a dangerous precedent for how federal agencies can bypass legal and ethical standards.
The NPS’s plan, which includes trapping and removing cats in a manner that will inevitably result in killing, is both cruel and futile. A well-documented phenomenon called the “Vacuum Effect” means new cats will inevitably move into the area when the existing cats are removed, setting the NPS up for an endless cycle of killing when it could instead support sustainable, nonlethal action like TNR.
The public deserves and expects transparency and accountability from federal agencies, especially when their actions have profound implications for community welfare and environmental stewardship. Alley Cat Allies’ legal challenge underscores the importance of upholding the law and ensuring that federal actions are effective, humane, and in the public’s best interest.
Alley Cat Allies calls on the public—in Puerto Rico, across the United States, and worldwide—to join its fight to defend the community cats currently threatened by the NPS. Killing cats and kittens for simply existing outdoors is never justified or necessary, and federal agencies have a duty to operate with humane and lawful practices.
For more information or to support Alley Cat Allies and its work to protect Puerto Rico’s cats, please visit www.alleycat.org/PuertoRico.
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About Alley Cat Allies
Alley Cat Allies believes every cat deserves to live out his or her life to the fullest.
Founded in 1990, Alley Cat Allies is the leading advocacy organization for cats with a mission to transform and develop communities to protect and improve the lives of all cats and kittens. Together with our over 1.4 million supporters, we work toward a world where cats are valued and every community has humane and effective programs and policies to defend them.
Through our fearless advocacy, humane care, education and outreach, and law and policy activism, we empower and mobilize citizens, advocates, grassroots groups, shelters, veterinary professionals, and elected officials across the United States and around the world to improve their communities for cats through nonlethal, evidence-based approaches. Our website is www.alleycat.org, and we are active on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.