UGA Law Student Animal Legal Defense Fund Chapter

So, the call to action is to contact ACC officials and thank them for all their hard work on this and other animal welfare issues, but to say you only support the proposed amendment if the following changes are made:

1) No micro-chipping requirement for feral cats. This adds $25 to the cost of each cat.

2) No feline aids/leukemia test requirement for all feral cats. This adds another $25 to the cost of each cat.

3) Either no colony registration and fees at all, or registration only for colonies of 5+ cats, no fee, and Animal Control is not in charge of registration records (they only deal with dogs in this city/county, and they don’t WANT to deal with cats). Instead a request for proposals is put out for a local group to handle it without government funds, and a report can be sent to city officials once/year or as needed.

The proposed ordinance amendment can be viewed at:

http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/documents/pdf/clerkofcommission/agenda/14.pdf

Here’s a letter people can send to contact the mayor and commissioners and city lawyer:

All you have to do is copy and paste the section below into an e-mail or word processor, add your mailing address, email address, and/or phone number, and send it to the people listed at the end of this message. Please feel free to personalize these letters as you see fit.

SUBJECT: YES to legalized TNR for feral cat management in Athens/Clarke County

I am pleased that Athens/Clarke County is taking steps towards legalizing and promoting humane feral cat management using TNR. I have read the proposed amendment, and support it with the following changes:1) Remove the $40 fee. I understand the fee is being imposed because Animal Control would need the money to oversee the registration database. However, it is unfair to impose a yearly fee on feral cat caregivers when registration is not required for pet cats and dogs. Once a pet owner has had their animal spayed/neutered (if they even do so), the only required cost for them year to year is for a rabies vaccine, available for $5 at monthly pet care clinics at places like Pet Supplies Plus. Feral cat caretakers are already volunteering their time and money to feed and vet these cats; $40 a year, especially for someone caring for cats in their own backyard, is an unnecessary burden. We fully support a requirement that caretakers spay/neuter outdoor cats that they are feeding, which is already more than is required of pet owners. We need a feral cat management ordinance that promotes and facilitates TNR, not hinders it.

2) Remove the requirement (part of registration) that an animal rescue group must sign off on and take responsibility for colony caregivers. No local group will sign off on caregivers if they are then somehow responsible for the caregiver’s actions. Caregivers are not employees of local non-profit rescue
groups, so there is no way the groups can be responsible for them. Again, this will hinder TNR efforts, rather than encourage them, because if no local group is willing to take responsibility for caregivers, colonies cannot be registered.

3) I would suggest removing the burden of registration completely – a burden for caregivers and Animal Control – and instead simply require that anyone feeding feral cats in ACC must get them spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and eartipped, and keep records on the cats in their care. Or, only require registration for colonies of 5+ cats, do not impose a fee, and allow a local rescue group to handle the registration database. The rescue group can then be sure each caregiver receives a handout detailing proper guidelines for feral cat caretaking.

4) Remove the requirement that *all* cats must be tested for feline aids and leukemia. This adds a $25 cost for every cat TNR’d, on top of the $35 feral cat spay/neuter and rabies package. The American Associations of Feline Practitioners, as well as many feral cat organizations, recommend against spending funds to test for the virus, as spaying or neutering cats seems to effectively control transmission – as neutered cats are less likely to engage in territorial fights. Instead, animals removed for adoption are tested, as are any cats that appear ill.

5) Remove the requirement to micro-chip feral cats. This adds another $25 to the cost for every cat. The micro-chip scanner cannot be used on a cat in a trap; the cat would have to be unconscious or dead to get the scanner close enough. Eartipping along with photos attached to each cat’s vet record is sufficient for id.

More cats, more people, and more wildlife will benefit if people are able to choose TNR versus trap and kill. Having TNR as an alternative to killing or to feeding bans will positively impact more feral cats in the community. Critics of TNR continue to say it cannot be effective on a large scale. It doesn’t have to. It is effective at the scale of the individual colony. If it solves one person’s problem to their satisfaction on their property, meaning they have gone from an unmanaged, unsterilized, unvaccinated, unhealthy population of feral cats to a managed, monitored population of healthy sterilized and vaccinated animals then that is effective on that scale. Many programs have experienced a snowball effect, where one neighbor TNR’s the cats on his property, and his neighbor likes what he sees so does the same.

Opponents of TNR are always going to say it does not work because their definition of success means zero cats outdoors – pet, stray, or feral. Those who support TNR as a management tool agree that success means cat populations are reduced and controlled and breeding eliminated with TNR programs, and that TNR also reduces nuisance behaviors and the risk of rabies in managed colonies.

Dozens of scientific, professional, and citizen organizations support TNR programs. The Humane Society of the United States, National Animal Control Association, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, American Veterinary Medical Association, California Veterinary Medical Association, Cornell and Tufts Universities Schools of Veterinary Medicine, New York City Center for Animal Care and Control, Orange County (Florida) Animal Services, Maricopa County (Arizona) Animal Care and Control, Hawaii Humane Society, Massachusetts SPCA, San Francisco SPCA, National Humane Education Society, Alley Cat Allies (

www.alleycat.org), Maddie’s Fund, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, Cat Fancier’s Association, Doris Day Animal League, Petsmart, SPAY/USA and many other organizations have acknowledged the benefits and effectiveness of using TNR to manage feral cat colonies.

I vote YES, with changes, to legalizing TNR and feral cat management in Athens/Clarke County.

Sincerely,
(your name here!)Send to:

Heidi Davison, Mayor
235 Wells Dr
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Numbers: (706) 546-9643 (h) / (706) 613-3010 (w)
E-mail:

davison@athensclarkecountyga.govDoug Lowry, District 1 Commissioner
190 Hancock Ln
Athens, GA 30605
Phone Number: (706) 613-8443
E-mail:

lowry@athensclarkecountyga.govHarry Sims, District 2 Commissioner
170 Cone Dr
Athens, GA 30601
Phone Number: (706) 546-1683
E-mail:

sims@athensclarkecountyga.govGeorge C. Maxwell, District 3 Commissioner
PO Box 7073
Athens, GA 30604
Phone Number: (706) 208-0686
E-mail:

maxwell@athensclarkecountyga.govAlice Kinman, District 4 Commissioner
323 Milledge Terrace
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Number: (706) 613-6668
E-mail:

kinman@athensclarkecountyga.govDavid Lynn, District 5 Commissioner
226 Hill St
Athens, GA 30601
Phone Numbers: (706) 369-0458 (h) / (706) 542-6581 (w)
E-mail:

lynn@athensclarkecountyga.govEd Robinson, District 6 Commissioner
255 Deerfield Rd
Bogart, GA 30622
Phone Number: (706) 254-8883
E-mail:

robinson@athensclarkecountyga.govKathy Hoard, District 7 Commissioner
248 Springdale St
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Number: (706) 353-1918
E-mail:

hoard@athensclarkecountyga.govAndy Herod, District 8 Commissioner
315 Brookwood Dr
Athens, GA 30605
Phone Number: (706) 543-0281
E-mail:

herod@athensclarkecountyga.govKelly Girtz, District 9 Commissioner
562 Pulaski St
Athens, GA 30601
Phone Number: (706) 369-9457
E-mail:

girtz@athensclarkecountyga.govMike Hamby, District 10 Commissioner
125 Jennings Mill Parkway, #3312
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Number: (706) 338-3970
E-mail:

hamby@athensclarkecountyga.govPatrick Rives, Superintendent
ACC Animal Control
45 Beaverdam Rd.
Athens, GA 30605
Phone Number: (706) 613-3540
Fax: (706) 613-3545

Bill Berryman
Athens-Clarke County Attorney
P.O. Box 1868
Athens, GA 30603
Phone Number: (706) 613-3035
Fax: (706) 613-3037

W. Alan Reddish
Athens-Clarke County Manager
P.O. Box 1868
Athens, GA 30603
Phone Number: (706) 613-3020
Fax: (706) 613-3029