Rose
Rose Martin - Sunset Park, Brooklyn (My Feral Lady Rescue)
TNR certified Nov. 2020. Over 230 cats spay/neutered at my own expense since then. My neighborhood feral cat situation is that if I had the opportunity, I could find a cat to fix every single day without a break, for a year, within walking distance of my home, and have many to spare.
Government works best when it helps those who are already helping:
Are environmentalists expected to clean up the Gowanus with their bare hands because they love the earth so much? Cat rescuers currently buy their own equipment, PPE, transportation, food, all supplies and vet services even though the result of our labor benefits first and foremost home owners by protecting their property value. This is a community problem and needs community solutions, and the results benefit entire communities. Many residents love and care for these animals, at their own cost, and would do what is right for them (vaccines against rabies, distemper, spay/neuter at a minimum) if the services were made available to them. Feral cats lower property value. For that reason alone, government resources must be opened up to those currently doing the work to keep the populations down. Rescuers are proven to be able to do this labor. Help those who help themselves.
Trap Neuter Return works for feral cat colonies:
I’ll share a couple of examples of cat colonies I’m familiar with to illustrate how TNR works.
Colony A: for 18 years, my neighbor, a low-income, disabled animal lover has been feeding and caring for a colony in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She has arranged all cats to be TNRed (Trap Neuter Return), and monitors their health and well-being. Occasional newcomers are also TNRed. No kittens have been born in this territory for over 9 years, since TNR was initiated. No diseased cats die in the yard, no kittens are eaten by racoons. The number of cats in this colony is stable. 11 cats in 2015, 11 cats in 2023. One has passed away of old age. Several have been adopted out. Newcomers come to replace the ones who have gone, the ecosystem can support 11 cats, so 11 cats there are, and all healthy and happy.
Colony B: I received a call about an animal hoarder who was evicted a few blocks away. No TNR had ever taken place. A nice brownstone, normal sized yard. 30 cats had been let out to fend for themselves. A dead body buzzed with flies. The back area by the fence reeked with diseased diarrhea smell. A blind cat sat stock-still, unable to navigate the confusing new environment. 3 kittens screamed at the prospect of food, rushing towards us as a neighbor opened a hole in the fence to let us in. This block was NOT equipped to feed 30 cats, there was NO tradition of neighbors feeding cats, this ecosystem could NOT support 30 cats, and certainly not 30 cats still breeding and producing more cats every month.
The Brooklyn Cat Cafe and 3 independent rescuers took in the blind one, kittens, and 6 sick adults the first 2 days. I convinced a neighbor to begin feeding the starving cats, at my own expense, I still supply this feeder with food, out of my own pocket. ACC did not, at the time, and to my understanding still, remove cats from outdoor situations as they are considered feral. Most were not feral, they had been indoor pets, unceremoniously turned out to the streets. Pooping in yards, yowling at night, bleeding and giving birth on properties that did not feed or support them, lowering property value and upsetting good-hearted residents who do not want to see animals going blind from eye infections but unable to help in any way. After weeks of (self-funded) spay/neuter efforts, 30 cats were down to 12. A year later, between cats moving of their own accord or vanishing, only 3 cats remain. The ecosystem can sustain 3 cats, and in a year, no new kittens were born into this environment, and 3 cats remain.
Trap Neuter Return works. If NYC animal lovers are given the tools and resources to keep their own blocks clean, they will do so.
Pet owners want to do the right thing, government should help those who want to do right:
During the unprecedented global pandemic, low-cost veterinary resources once available to NYC residents vanished. Conscientious pet owners who relied on ASPCA mobile vans, vouchers for spay/neuter, or other options, have had, still have, nothing to turn to to get their animals fixed and vaccinated. NYC pet owners need to be able to care for their pets affordably. $800 for a spay is not realistic for most Sunset Park residents, but that is what it costs IF they can find availability AND can arrange transportation to veterinary offices very far away from them.
The reason you do not see litter after litter born, and torn in half by raccoons, in yards in Park Slope is that ENOUGH residents CAN afford a $800 spay and $50 Uber ride each way that they take proper care of their pets and do not get overwhelmed, confused, and desperate and turn to dumping beloved pets outside when they turn up pregnant or begin exhibiting nuisance behaviors like spraying an aggression that are solved by spay/neuter. Pet owners need affordable, local, multi-lingual, easy to access spay/neuter services for their owned pets. They want to do the right thing. We know this, because they used to take advantage of these programs when they were offered. When they were stopped with no reports on re-starting, the ones who suffer are the animals, but also the owners who relied on these services. There is no reason anymore to keep these services suspended. They should have come back before Broadway reopened, but regardless, it is now far past time to get back up and running. You want NYC to be a cosmopolitan, attractive, diverse and exciting city, that includes affordable opportunities for spay/neuter for owned pets.
You are a good person who does not want to see animals suffer and no one will help you.
If you went into your own backyard and found a mother cat and 6 kittens, would you know who to call or what to do? The vast majority of residents of this city would have zero idea what agency to call, and the sad truth is, NO city or state agency is currently equipped to do the best thing for this family, which is bring in the nursing mother and kittens until they are 12 weeks old. ASPCA may take orphaned kittens, ACC would direct you to feed the mother and monitor until the kittens are older, leaving them at risk or predation, the elements, and illness or accidents.
Only private rescuers are currently offering (at their own expense) to capture, house, offer vet services, transportation, spay/neuter, vaccinate against rabies and other diseases that affect owned pets and humans, and arrange eventual adoption of kittens (and return of mother, who will then be fed by whom, you? for 20 years?) . Even if you had resources you would like to direct to this situation, there is currently NO way for you to access ASPCA services. You must find, by internet searching yourself, a private rescuer who lives near you and pray they are not already over capacity, and beg them for their help. They are not obligated to help you by anything other than their own morality, and are exhausted by having to turn away requests like yours every single day.
If you saw a dog running loose in a park, you would have some idea where to start looking for help. Police, ACC, maybe a dog rescue organization, would at least be able to direct you on next steps. No such resources exist for cats ("Officer? There is a cat here who is hungry!" Imagine how that call to the police station would go). If you live in anything other than the most expensive areas of the 5 boroughs, I guarantee you walk past cats every single day who are in desperate need, and I don't blame you for not helping them, most people would not know where to start, and the truth is there IS no where to start. EVEN if you wanted to become the person who takes care of this, there is no mechanism in this city today for you to become a cat rescuer with access to ASPCA resources. You could pay retail rates (up to $800 per cat), or nothing. Those are the options today.
If you went into your backyard today and found a mother cat and 6 kittens, what would you do?