December Edition

Thanks to the support of loyal donors like you, we've been very busy this month protecting cats around the country. Here are just a few of our current projects and successes:

An important victory took place for cats this winter, when a judge found Smithsonian bird researcher Nico Dauphine guilty of attempted animal cruelty for trying to poison cats in her Washington, DC, neighborhood. Dauphine’s inflammatory articles and biased studies have long perpetuated the false “cat vs. bird” debate and threatened cats’ lives. Alley Cat Allies applauds her dismissal from the Smithsonian and has called on the scientific community to discontinue and disregard her flawed research.
Read Becky Robinson’s article about the impact of this important verdict.
Learn more about the real threat to species—humans.

Tippy never tips the scales one way or the other; this black-and-white, indoor/outdoor cat likes everything both ways, preferring to go outside while the sun is up (and you’re at work) and then come indoors to curl up at night. She’s between two and three years old and never tires of tearing after leaves and acorns. Although she mostly plays nice, she’s also a little naughty of course, so playful feline friends and older kids are her best companions. The world is her playground—can you keep up with Tippy?
Read more about our adoptable cats.

In late November, a Harrisonburg, Virginia, resident reported that a cat had been hit by a car near his home. When a city police officer responded to the call, instead of seeking medical help, he decided to “euthanize” the cat by violently beating the cat to death with his police baton, striking the injured animal 15 to 20 times on the porch of the citizen's home. Despite an internal investigation, this officer remains on the job. While the Virginia State Police now take on the matter, we have contacted the mayor and are urging the state to press cruelty charges.
Read the press release.

National Feral Cat Day made the late night spotlight this year, when comedian Andy Richter performed a skit about TNR on Conan. Although Andy may have the particulars of TNR a little mixed up—he returned his “cats” inside the studio—we were thrilled to see National Feral Cat Day and the humane approach for cats explained and recognized in front of such a wide audience. We sent Andy and Conan some “I ♥ Feral Cats” shirts to show our appreciation—as well as a couple of tips on how to improve their TNR efforts next time.
Watch the video clip from Conan.

This winter, our phones are ringing off the hook with calls from people trying to help cats in their communities. But we can’t keep our National Cat Help Desk running without you. Winter is emergency time for us, and we have set a fundraising goal of $50,000 by our end-of-year deadline. Please make an Emergency Winter Donation today and contribute as much as you can to help us inform the public, promote and teach Trap-Neuter-Return, and save the lives of thousands of cats.
Donate today.

Alley Cat Action – Find out more about what we’ve been up to in the Fall issue of our newsletter.
Cats & Environment Resource Center – For more than 10,000 years, cats have been a natural part of the landscape.