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Home / What We Do / Produce Educational Tools / Newsletters / Hisses and Purrs

Good and bad stories impacting cats from around the nation. If you have a story to submit, email info@alleycat.org

Hiss... Hisses to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson for trapping and killing cats in a colony that a local couple had been looking after for more than 20 years. Pauline Cochran, 78, and her husband, Jack, 80, have been caring for a colony of cats on the museum grounds and paying for their veterinary care. But this year, citing health and safety concerns, the museum trapped 15 of the approximately 20 cats and decided to TNR only four. The other 11 cats were killed.
Purr... Purrs to Bobbi and Mark of Knoxville, Tennessee, and their quick-thinking neighbors for saving the life of Moses. The foursome found the tiny, orphaned kitten meowing in a garage with his eyes still closed. Although they were warned to be only “cautiously optimistic” about his chances of survival, Bobbi and Mark learned everything they could about neonatal kitten care and hand-nursed Moses into a healthy, active kitten — and an Internet sensation! They blogged the experience of bottle-raising Moses, introducing hundreds of visitors to the lifesaving practice of neonatal kitten care. Read Moses’s story at http://milkdrinkingfool.blogspot.com.
Purr... Purrs to a cooperative effort that saved two cats from being killed in Poinciana, Florida. Despite receiving permission from the local Walmart to do TNR for a colony of cats living outside the store, caregiver Denise Heiserman found that two of the cats were trapped by animal control and would be killed. Denise contacted Walmart District Manager Todd Peterson, who stopped the trapping, asked animal control to release the cats, and agreed to a pilot TNR program. With intervention from County Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr. and Deputy County Manager Beth Knight, animal control eventually released the two cats.
Hiss... Hisses to officials in Amarillo, Texas, who blocked a TNR program based on bad science. The Amarillo Bi-City-County Public Health District Board unanimously voted down TNR, citing rabies and toxoplasmosis. We know that feral cats are not a health risk — they are not a reservoir for rabies, and the transmission of toxoplasmosis most often comes from undercooked meat. This is very disappointing news from Texas.
Purr... Purrs to Mayor Craig Moe of Laurel, Maryland, who has endorsed a TNR program for the city. Earlier this year, Mayor Moe attended a Helping Community Cats workshop, where resident Helen Woods and Alley Cat Allies staff members spoke about the benefits of TNR. Kudos to Woods for championing TNR in her community and to Mayor Moe for moving Laurel in a more humane direction.
Purr... Purrs to Sutter County, California, for changing shelter policies to protect cats’ lives. Starting in September, the county shelter will no longer be accepting or picking up healthy stray and feral cats, following recommendations from Kate Hurley, director of the University of California, Davis Shelter Medicine Program, on how to reduce the number of animals killed there. According to Hurley, the vast majority of stray cats are healthy, and feral cats are better off in their outdoor homes.
Hiss... Hisses to opponents of AL 156, an important bill designed to protect spay/neuter in Alabama. Spay/neuter clinics operated by nonprofit organizations are threatened by a legal technicality, and this bill would have enabled them to continue operating. Although the bill passed both state legislative houses, opponents of the bill stalled its passage by spreading misinformation about spay/neuter clinics. Don’t be fooled:The truth is that procedures at spay/neuter clinics are conducted by licensed veterinarians who offer all animals high-quality care.
Purr... Purrs to First Coast No More Homeless Pets, Jacksonville Humane Society, and Jacksonville’s Animal Care and Protective services for teaming up and opening a dedicated shelter for kittens. All neonatal kittens and kittens of nursing mothers entering Jacksonville’s shelter will be transferred to this center, where this at-risk group will receive the special care they need to survive.
Hiss... Hisses to Worcester County, Maryland, Animal Control, which trapped and killed at least four pet cats following a complaint from a resident. According to news reports, the shelter killed the frightened cats without first trying to reunite them with their owners or holding them for the required ten-day period. Shelter staff also gave inconsistent accounts of which cats had been trapped and what happened to them. This tragedy underscores the dire need for reform in our country’s shelter system.
Purr... Purrs to TNR and spay/neuter groups Kathy’s Kitties, Heart of Texas Feral Friends, and Animal Birth Control Clinic for negotiating to save cats’ lives and implement a TNR program at Gatesville Prison in Central Texas. When a new warden began trapping and killing cats on the property, local groups rallied support for the cats and got the warden’s attention. With Alley Cat Allies’ help, they compromised by starting a TNR program for the prison at no cost to the prison or taxpayers. What’s more, the program may become a model for 18 prisons in the area, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s regional director.
Purr... Purrs to Pudding, the cat who saved his new owner’s life. Just hours after Amy Jung of Wisconsin adopted the big 21 lb. orange longhair, he saved her life by waking her from a diabetic seizure. Pudding then woke her son, who was able to get help for Jung. Jung’s doctor said that if Pudding hadn’t caused his owner to stir by sitting on her chest and batting her face, Jung could have slipped into a coma. Way to go Pudding!
Purr... Posthumous purrs to tireless and fearless cat caregiver Dorothy Max, who recently passed away at the age of 81. Every day, Max cared for hundreds of outdoor cats all over Northeast Ohio. Even in her advanced age, Max braved hazardous snowstorms and dangerous neighborhoods to make the daily rounds. Max led a volunteer group, Save Our Strays, who adopts out friendly cats through the local Petsmart and does TNR for the feral cats. Purrs also to Save Our Strays for carrying on Dorothy’s compassionate work.
Purr... The seven out of 10 pet owners who are against the killing of animals in shelters. A recent Associated Press poll found that the majority of pet owners do not believe that shelters should be killing healthy or treatable animals as a population control measure. This poll underscores our research findings: 80% of Americans believe it is more humane for cats to live out their lives outdoors than be killed in shelters.
Hiss... The Arizona Humane Society, which killed a citizen’s cat in need of medical care because he couldn’t pay for treatment. When Daniel Dockery brought in his wounded cat Scruffy, who he cites as helping him through recovering from addiction, the shelter refused to take credit card payment over the phone. Unable to pay in cash, Dockery surrendered his cat to the shelter so she would receive medical care. Instead of being treated, Scruffy was killed the same day for lack of resources.
Purr... Kathy Henderson, founder of the Bayonne Feral Cat Foundation, City Councilman Gary LaPelusa, and other activists for convincing the Bayonne, New Jersey, City Council to table an ordinance that would have severely restricted residents’ ability to care for feral cats. The proposal would have required applicants to obtain written consent from all nearby property owners; purchase $250,000 in liability insurance; and pay $250 in fees, among other onerous restrictions.
Purr... Susan Berger of Damascus, Maryland, who fought back when residents at her apartment complex requested that management catch and kill feral cats on the property. Berger, who has cared for a colony of about 25 cats since moving into the complex five years ago, educated MTM Management and the board of directors about the benefits of TNR and convinced them to allow the cats to stay.
Hiss... The animal shelter of West Valley City, Utah, for their disturbing treatment of Andrea. After a first attempt to kill this cat in the gas chamber failed, shelter workers gassed her a second time, then placed her into a plastic bag inside a freezer, where she was later found barely alive. Hisses to shelter staff and to the Salt Lake Tribune for celebrating the cat’s harrowing tale as a triumph of her will to survive, instead of acknowledging the value of all animals’ lives and how this tragedy is sadly indicative of the needless killing of cats that occurs in shelters nationwide every day.