It all comes down to this! We have until April 13 to pass Ash’s Law—the first comprehensive statewide law to protect Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and community cats. If we don’t make that deadline, the bill will have to be considered again next year.
If you live in Maryland, please ask your Senator to vote favorably on Ash’s Law! If not, share our action alert with anyone and everyone you know in the state. This is our last chance to pass this historic measure in 2026.
The Maryland Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee is considering Ash’s Law, or HB 912, right now. Ash’s Law has already passed unanimously in the Maryland House of Delegates!
About Ash’s Law
Alley Cat Allies drafted and named Ash’s Law, which would officially establish and protect TNR as the law of the land in Maryland. Ash’s Law is unique in that it goes a step further than any other law, preventing local jurisdictions from prohibiting or restricting the TNR efforts of organizations and residents.
Ash’s Law is named in honor of Ash, a beloved community cat from Riverdale, Maryland, who was removed from her outdoor home in 2016 and impounded in an animal shelter. She spent her final day confined in a cage with her six young kittens. All were killed less than 24 hours later.
Piluco, her colony member, avoided the same fate out of sheer luck. Instead, he was neutered, vaccinated, eartipped, and returned to his outdoor home through TNR. But Piluco’s TNR was carried out in a vacuum of official humane programs in his county. He is still here today (and a golden 16 years old) DESPITE a lethal policy that took the lives of so many cats like him—like Ash.
While Ash’s story exposes the consequences of cruel policies that treat cats’ lives as disposable, Piluco’s illustrates what is possible when TNR is embraced. That is the mission of Ash’s Law in establishing an official statewide TNR program.
This is the Home Stretch
Please join Alley Cat Allies to fight for the community cats of Maryland and set a historic humane standard for the rest of the country. Let’s do this in memory of Ash and to protect community cats and their caregivers across Maryland and beyond. Ask your representatives to support Ash’s Law!