The following is a letter from the President of Alley Cat Allies, Becky Robinson.
COPIED MESSAGE
Last night’s city council meeting proved that the citizens of Cape May and this country care deeply about the lives of stray and feral cats. More than 100 dismayed residents packed the auditorium to discuss a plan that would virtually eliminate the city’s groundbreaking and highly successful twelve-year old Trap-Neuter-Return initiative.
The city is in a terrible predicament. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection are essentially holding an unrelated program hostage until the city council approves a flawed, ineffective beach-management plan that would lead to the trapping and ultimate killing of the local stray and feral cats.
The fact is, for most cats, impoundment is a death sentence! 72% of cats entering shelters nationwide are killed. And statistics are even worse for feral cats – like those in Cape May. Virtually 100% of feral cats that enter shelters are killed.
I’m proud to say that I opened the public comment period by questioning what would happen after the city eliminated the proven and effective Trap-Neuter-Return program.
Fortunately, the city council chose to delay a vote on the beach-management plan and try to find a solution that would genuinely protect the endangered shorebirds while respecting the community’s twelve-year old efforts to manage feral cats with Trap-Neuter-Return.
It is clear that the city council and residents of Cape May want to do the right thing to maintain the city’s place at the forefront of progressive and innovative communities.
Alley Cat Allies is committed to continuing to protect the cats of Cape May – and cats across the country. With your support, we will continue to fight for the cats of Cape May and make sure the world knows that feral and stray cats deserve humane care.
For the Cats,
Becky Robinson
President
