Compassion is NOT a Crime

Around the world, compassionate people care for cats who live outdoors. These community cat caregivers are good Samaritans who devote their time, energy, and resources to provide outdoor cats with food, veterinary care, and love. In the process, they improve the lives of the cats and their community.

The effort and dedication of caregivers should be celebrated—but all too often, they are punished instead by archaic laws and policies.

Although the tide is turning thanks to the proven benefits and public support of humane, effective approaches like Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), many communities still have laws on the books that are cruel to cats and penalize the people who care for them. Despite the fact that many of these laws are difficult to enforce, they can still result in fines, citations, and discourage new and seasoned advocates alike from helping cats and kittens. To help protect cats Alley Cat Allies provides essential resources and information to empower cat caregivers to know their rights, and advocate for humane laws where they live.

 Alley Cat Allies also works to end harmful laws including but not limited to:

  • Feeding bans, which are ineffective, lack scientific support, are inherently cruel, and do not come close to achieving their intended goals.
  • Imputed ownership, or laws that define someone as an owner for feeding or providing shelter for an animal. Community cat caregivers are not the cats’ owners and should not be subject to the legal responsibilities (and their penalties) of ownership.
  • Leash laws, which penalize caregivers and increase the risk of community cats being impounded in shelters.
  • Licensing requirements, which can lead to more cats in shelters and caregivers penalized as owners or pushed into stopping care.

Please join us by advocating for common-sense, compassionate policies that save cats’ lives, address the needs of communities, and reflect the humane values of our society.

What you can do:

Find out what local laws or policies affect cats in your community.

Learn how you can advocate for better laws and policies where you live.

Know your rights and what to do if you are cited for caring for cats.

Sign our pledge to show your support for community cat caregivers