Increasingly, animal shelters are realizing that they can be a part of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs that provide a life-saving option for community cats. In some areas, shelters even participate in TNRwhat we call Shelter-Neuter-Return (SNR).
Shelters can enact humane approaches for community cats by connecting them with TNR programs, or performing those services in the shelter if they have the resources. This ends the cycle of impounding and killing healthy community cats, and allows shelters to focus more resources on adoptable animals, which is what they are designed for.
Alley Cat Allies helps shelters implement programs and policies that save cats’ lives, and works with local governments to change ordinances that prohibit TNR. We know that change can be difficult, both for shelters and the community, but we also know that shelters and residents win when communities adopt humane programs for cats. We work with shelters nationwide to help explain TNR programs to the public and to shape successful, life-saving policies.
Alley Cat Allies’ Future Five: Shelter Partners to Save Cats’ Lives
Our Future Five program helped five shelters from diverse areas of the country adopt and expand humane programs. The selected shelters committed to an official Feral Cat Protection Policy, which means that they will stop impounding feral cats who are almost always killed in shelters and instead support Trap-Neuter-Return, only accepting feral cats to divert them to TNR or Shelter-Neuter-Return programs.
All five shelters have been successful, and demonstrate that wherever your shelter is, it can change for community cats too!
Transform YOUR Local Shelter
Whether you work at a shelter or if you’re member of the public, we have resources to help transform your local shelter to save more cats’ lives.
Resources for shelters
- Transforming Shelters to Save More Cats: A Blueprint for Change
- Talking to Your Community About Cats: A Guide for Shelter Staff and Municipal Leaders
- Reducing Shelter Admissions and Saving Lives with a Cat Help Desk
- Saving Cats and Kittens with a Foster Care Program
- “What about Complaints?” Managing Communications When Your Shelter Adopts a SNR or TNR Policy
- How to Support Trap-Neuter-Return in Your Community without Doing It All
- Trap-Neuter-Return Ordinances and Policies in the United States: The Future of Animal Control
Resources for residents who want to change their shelter
- Obtaining Animal Shelter Records: A Guide for Advocates
- Transforming Shelters to Save More Cats: Activist Toolkit