ALLEY CAT ACTION® Alley Cat Allies Newsletter | alleycat.org | Fall 2024 For Alley Cat Allies’ More Than 1.4 Million Supporters and Activists Across the Nation and Around the World Follow us on social media! /AlleyCatAllies If not for Alley Cat Allies and our supporters like you, a deadly removal of community cats in Puerto Rico would be underway right now. The United States National Park Service (NPS), which announced intention to eradicate cats from the San Juan National Historic Site late last year, planned to start ripping cats from their outdoor homes as early as October 1, 2024. Alley Cat Allies’ legal efforts and refusal to back down forced the NPS to agree to halt all movement on its cruel plan until a federal court decision in 2025. Cats like Bella, Mufasina, and Llorin are still eating, sleeping, and playing amid the surf-swept rocks of their outdoor home because of our action—and our supporters like you who make it possible. Other organizations believed affecting the NPS’s plan wasn’t possible. Alley Cat Allies has faced the “impossible” before. Once upon a time in 1990, humane programs for cats like Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) were considered impossible, too. We made our name by proving otherwise and launching TNR into MAJOR VICTORY to Protect Puerto Rico Cats We didn’t back down, so the U.S. National Park Service did the mainstream in the U.S. and worldwide. Now, after launching a historic federal lawsuit against the NPS and celebrating our latest victory, we continue our fight until the NPS abandons its inhumane and illegal plan permanently, and community cats in Puerto Rico are protected and supported as the community members they are. These cats’ future still hangs in the balance. Learn more and share our victory far and wide at alleycat.org/PuertoRico. BELLA MUFASINA LLORIN WATCH: Fighting Deadly NPS Plan to Remove Puerto Rico Cats
www.alleycat.org 2 | ALLEY CAT ACTION, FALL 2024 Cats and people live healthily side-by-side, as we have for thousands of years. Additionally, vaccinations provided during TNR improve cats’ health and address community health concerns— though cats are extremely unlikely to spread rabies, toxoplasmosis, or any other diseases. The truth is one of our movement’s most powerful tools to save cats and kittens. Misinformation costs millions of cats their lives every year, and Alley Cat Allies works to set the record straight. From Puerto Rico to Alabama and worldwide, we fight to end cruel and deadly anti-cat policies. These policies all have a common origin: a failure to understand cats and their natural place in the environment and our communities. That’s why we need the voices of compassionate advocates, loud and in unison, to join us and Share the Truth. Because the truth is… Cats have lived and thrived outdoors for thousands of years, and it is their natural environment and their home. Today, we call them community cats. Policies that impound, and inevitably kill, community cats in shelters under the misguided notion that they “belong” indoors are fundamentally flawed, cruel, and ineffective. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the only humane and effective approach. When misinformation threatens cats, the truth saves their lives SHARE THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS Community cats can live as long and fulfilling of lives in their outdoor homes as indoor cats do in theirs. And, they have equally low rates of disease. If the cats’ health is a concern, TNR is the primary way community cats receive rabies and FVRCP vaccinations and treatment for any other medical issues. TAKE ACTION Receive our action alerts and other emails. alleycat.org/SignUp With just a few clicks, you can make a difference in cats’ lives and help transform communities. Here are online resources to help: SAVE A CAT WITH A MOUSE DONATE Support our work with cats and kittens. alleycat.org/Donate QUESTIONS? Looking for assistance with cats? Get the help you need! alleycat.org/GetHelp LEARN Advocate for cats in your community. alleycat.org/CommunityChange
ALLEY CAT ACTION, SUMMER 2024 | 3 www.alleycat.org Leading biologists and environmental watchdogs agree that climate change, habitat destruction, pollution, and other human-led factors are far and away the top threats to wildlife. By advocating for TNR programs and policies that curb human activity that is the true threat to ecosystems, we improve the lives of cats, wildlife, and us all. TNR is the only humane and effective approach to community cats. Through this critical program, cats are humanely trapped, brought to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, and eartipped, then are returned to their original outdoor homes to thrive. Catch and kill in shelters, meanwhile, is an endless cycle of slaughter that does not reduce cat populations nor benefit communities. For Cats’ Sake, Share the Truth SHARE our truth cards at alleycat.org/TruthAboutCats. Our incredible donors are fearless cat advocates on the ground, too! Catherine, who lives in Montreal, Canada, became interested in Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) 20 years ago by learning from Alley Cat Allies’ educational materials and TNR guidelines. All these years later, Catherine continues to protect community cats—and her steadfast support as part of our Catalyst Society monthly giving program is invaluable to Alley Cat Allies’ work to save cats’ lives the world over. “Alley Cat Allies are leaders in the field and really set the groundwork for other groups,” Catherine told us recently. As the leader of the global movement to protect cats and kittens, our goal is to inspire more people to become leaders in their own communities. We couldn’t be prouder to have helped Catherine in her own journey as an advocate—which included educating municipalities on the lifesaving power of TNR and eight years as a TNR coordinator, during which she made an impact for thousands of cats. Today, Catherine continues to care for three large community cat colonies and says she gives out of admiration for Alley Cat Allies’ work. We admire you too, Catherine, and thank you deeply for all you do for cats! Our donors are the reason Alley Cat Allies can save cats’ lives every day. Learn how you can give at www.alleycat.org/Donate. Or, consider a planned gift at alleycat. org/PlannedGiving (CFC#10964) (EIN #52-1742079). For more information, call 866-309-6207. PROFILE IN GENEROSITY Catherine Mann COMMUNITY CATS SHARE THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS A Pocket Guide alleycat.org COMMUNITY CAT Smithville, New Jersey INTRODUCING A NEW ALLEY CAT ALLIES RESOURCE! © 2024 Alley Cat Allies. All rights reserved. Click Here To view in FlippingBook format!
www.alleycat.org 4 | ALLEY CAT ACTION, FALL 2024 SAVES CATS WORLDWIDE Thank you for an amazing October 16! Victor, from Paris, is featured in our Global Cat Day 2024 video series! Check out and share all of the videos at GlobalCatDay.org. To all who participated in Global Cat Day 2024—you are an incredible force for good for cats the world over! People from across the globe celebrated this critical day of action and shouted loud and clear that Cats Are Community™ and deserve to be protected like community. Those who held National Feral Cat Day® actions on the ground to help cats and who spread education, awareness, and advocacy on the web this October 16 helped our movement grow and strengthen beyond words. With cats around the world still facing deadly threats from cruel and misguided local and even federal agency policies, our strength and tenacity is more critical than ever. From New Orleans to Paris, Alley Cat Allies was busy on Global Cat Day, too! We kicked off our Global Cat Day Feline Frenzy® events in Wilson and Sumner Counties of Tennessee with a goal of reaching 200 cats and kittens within two days. Spay and neuter, TNR, vaccination, other needed veterinary care, and no-cost cat food were all on the table—and the events were an impactful and lifesaving success! On behalf of the millions of cats and kittens who need our voices right now, thank you for an amazing Global Cat Day. Now let’s save more lives together! Learn how you can take more action at GlobalCatDay.org. A COMMUNITY CAT from Tennessee who benefited from Alley Cat Allies’ Feline Frenzy® WATCH: In Paris, France, Cats Are Community WATCH: In Lebanon, Tennessee, Cats Are Community
ALLEY CAT ACTION, FALL 2024 | 5 www.alleycat.org 7920 Norfolk Ave., Suite 600 • Bethesda, MD 20814-2525 Tel: 240-482-1980 • Fax: 240-482-1990 www.alleycat.org OUR MISSION: To transform and develop communities to protect and improve the lives of cats. ALLEY CAT ACTION, Volume 35, Issue 1, FALL 2024 © 2024 Alley Cat Allies. All rights reserved. We may make this material available for use by other groups, but none of it may be reproduced in any format without specific written permission from Alley Cat Allies. Alley Cat Allies is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and tax-exempt organization. Alley Cat Allies’ federal employer ID number is 52-1742079, and our CFC number is 10964. All contributions, donations, and gifts are tax deductible, as allowed by law. Rallying Against Ripping Cats from Their Homes in Alabama After discovering that owned and community cats faced deadly policies in Birmingham, Alley Cat Allies called on the city and its mayor to cease persecuting cats and their caregivers immediately. In a shocking situation caught on video, tabby cat Nemo was lured from her own front porch by animal control officers and impounded. Thankfully, her family was able to reunite with her. Birmingham was also revealed to be targeting community cats and threatening fines and other measures against compassionate people caring for them. Alley Cat Allies sent a letter asking the city to stop its aggressive action and rallied advocates to join us. We will continue to stand in defense of Birmingham’s cats and keep our supporters updated. Defending Cats in Mogadore, Ohio The village of Mogadore, Ohio, caused the deaths of at least a dozen cats between June and August 2024 due to a policy that effectively placed a bounty on community cats’ heads. By paying the fee for residents to surrender cats to Summit County Animal Shelter, Mogadore encouraged people to round up cats outdoors and have them impounded. If the shelter deemed the cats too “feral,” they killed them. Alley Cat Allies immediately urged the village’s mayor and council to stop the killing and rallied advocates from around Ohio to do the same. We are taking legal action to protect the cats of Mogadore and are committed to ending all lethal action against them. TNR is the only humane and effective approach—killing will never be. Another 1,000 Cats Helped in Atlantic County We officially reached our goal to provide spay and neuter, TNR, and other medical care including Convenia® injections to 1,000 cats and kittens in the New Jersey county between June and October! On top of this impressive milestone, we provided these same lifesaving resources to 3,000 more cats in the county in the last two years (and saved thousands more in our over two decades of work in the area). Alongside access to care, our initiative with the Humane Society of Atlantic County provides no-cost cat food to more than 450 community cats every day. That is an immense impact—and it’s all thanks to our donors and supporters! SHRIMP Birmingham, Alabama Our Impact for Cats in Legislation and Beyond for CATS TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES Ivan, provided with neuter and critical care through our work in Atlantic County.
6 | ALLEY CAT ACTION, FALL 2024 www.alleycat.org Critical Care for Community Cats in Mississippi Because of our supporters like you, Alley Cat Allies can answer the call to protect cats across the U.S. and beyond. Honey, Darla Mae, Reggie, Rowdy, and Teddy are among many cats we’ve helped in Mississippi this year—and that’s just one state of many in which we’ve been active in 2024. By working with and supporting local programs, advocates, and resources, we help provide TNR, other needed veterinary care, cat food, and much more to cats, whether they live indoors or outdoors. We’re so grateful to you for making it possible! From a Suffering in a Shelter to a Bright Future If you met Opal and siblings Aster and Orchid today, you’d never guess they were once languishing in inhumane conditions in a municipal shelter. The kittens were dehydrated and suffering from upper respiratory infections, while Opal was anemic and contending with a coccidia infection. Alley Cat Allies took a stand to save them, and all have beautifully blossomed under our care. With the right veterinary care (plus a lot of TLC!), Opal, Aster, and Orchid healed fully and took the next steps in their journeys toward a much happier tomorrow. Colby and Jack Find Forever Homes Adorable brothers Colby and Jack are among many kittens who received access to care this summer through Alley Cat Allies’ close work with veterinary clinics. This dynamic duo recovered beautifully and revealed ORCHID HONEY COLBY AND JACK OPAL ASTER These cats have many years ahead of them because of YOU themselves to be sweet and endlessly playful young cats. They spent plenty of time socializing with kittens their age (who also received treatment thanks to our supporters like you) until they found adoptive homes of their own!
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