ACTION ALERT! Feds Trapping and Killing Cats in Georgia[w LETTER]

[Guest guest]

Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 11:51 AM

ACTION ALERT: Feds Trapping and Killing Cats in Georgia

 

 

We [cat-chat (AT) googl (DOT) com] were recently contacted by one of our members

regarding an urgent situation in Forsyth County, GA. We’ve also read several

news articles about the situation and we are asking for your help. As I write

this, cats are being trapped and killed by the Army Corps of Engineers in Lake

Lanier's West Bank Park.

 

The Army Corp posted signs last week warning people not to feed the

cats, because they were going to be removed. The Army Corps says the

cats are a danger to wildlife and visitors of the park.

 

Our member has been working with the local SPCA and Humane Society

since 2005 on TNRing the cats in the park. She has removed countless

kittens and adoptable cats and sterilized and vaccinated numerous

others. She told me that the Army Corps agreed to meet with her and

the rescue organizations to discuss the situation and possible

solutions. They told her no cats would be trapped until they met;

unfortunately, the Army Corps did not maintain their end of the deal.

Traps were set days before the meeting and thus far, they have been

unwilling to listen to rescue organizations. So far about seven cats

have been trapped.

 

ACR has tried contacting the Army Corps office via phone, but we have

been unsuccessful. So, we have emailed urging them to reconsider their

position and to sit down with the SPCA and Humane Society to work out

an agreement. It does not make sense for them to be trapping and

killing these cats when most of them have already been TNRed and are

being cared for. Please join us in this fight to save the cats at Lake

Lanier in Georgia. Write to the Army Corps of Engineers and explain to

them that eradication attempts do not work and there is no need to

remove the cats, especially when TNR has so many benefits.

 

Contact Information:

 

Lake Sidney Lanier

Corps of Engineers

Attn: Mr. Tim Rainy

PO Box 567

Buford, GA 30515

 

Phone: 770-945-9531

Email: CESAM-PA

 

 

MY LETTER TO CORPS OF ENGINEERS:

 

Mr.Rainy:

 

As a feral cat caregiver for the past decade, who lives in close proximity to

them and has had the ability to continuously observe their behavior and

conditions, I take great exception to the claims made by so-called " experts "

that feral felines " spread disease " and " decimate the wildlife. "

 

The colony which I oversee has remained relatively healthy for the entire 10

years I have been with them. The biggest threat to their health has

overwhelmingly been ear mite infestations, which if not treated can cause ear

infections and death. This poses absolutely no threat to any other species --

only to the individual feline. Most diseases which felines may carry do NOT

cross-transfer well to other species; and the average individual would be hard

pressed to get close enough to come into direct contact with wild felines for

communicable disease to even be a remote possibility. As someone who has nursed

feral newborns, the terminally sick and the old, and has often been scratched

and bitten, wiped up their poop, cleaned their vomit and urine, I can say

without hesitation that disease transmission is an infinitesimal risk.

 

To assert that feral cats are decimating the wildlife is uneducated and myopic;

it completely IGNORES the fact that these cats are just as often VICTIMS of

predators themselves. It also assumes that all cats are alike. [is every human

being an exact replica of one another in terms of their behavior?] Many felines,

when well fed, choose NOT TO HUNT. This will come as a shock to many who do not

have the ability to continually observe feral colonies, but, nevertheless, it

happens to be absolutely true. Domestication has bred the natural instinct to

hunt out of many of these animals, as they have become heavily dependent on

humans for their source of food. Just as human beings are unique individuals

with varying personalities, desires and behaviors, so too, are feral cats.

 

Hunters, cat-haters and those with personal vendettas against feral felines have

perpetuated the myth that these tossed-away victims of man's selfish

callousness, are some " menace to society " and therefore must be unceremoniously

exterminated. This, sir, is just another example of a witch hunt. Targeting a

specific group to demonize, and then perpetuating false propaganda in order to

win the public's sympathy and support for their mass annihilation. This is

morally and ethically repulsive.

 

I live in a remote location; one in which part-time vacationers who have homes

in the area, have repeatedly chosen to abandoned their domesticated animal

companions to starve to death. The inhumanity of a race calling itself

" civilized " has created the existence of feral felines. And now, you would

punish these innocents twice, for the sins of the very human beings which cause

their suffering in the first place.

 

Trap-Neuter-Return works. Please, stop proselytizing lies and misinformation to

further a political agenda and begin working with caring animal guardians toward

a peaceful, non-violent solution to a situation that these animals had no part

in creating.

 

Sincerely,

Brennan Browne

Canine Behaviorist