URGENT ACTION NEEDED: The community cats of Smith Park are being ripped from their outdoor home by the City of Middletown, Ohio. Take action with Alley Cat Allies to protect the cats and call for the city to support Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR); the only humane and effective approach to community cats.
Right now, the City of Middletown is moving forward on a scheme to round up the community cats of Smith Park to remove them. Alley Cat Allies is calling on the city to reverse course on its removal plan and allow the cats to remain in their outdoor home. And, we are calling for the city to instead focus on replacing the current inhumane animal ordinance with one that supports TNR.
If you live in Ohio, with a few clicks, you can make your voice heard. Tell the Middletown City Council to stop the removal of the Smith Park community cats and adopt a TNR ordinance.
Read the letter to the Middletown City Council:
Dear Middletown City Councilmember,
I am reaching out to urge the City of Middletown to reverse course on its plan to “re-home,” i.e., remove and relocate the community cats living in Smith Park. The city should allow the cats to remain in their outdoor home while it instead focuses on replacing the current, inhumane animal ordinance with one that supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR); the only humane and effective approach to community cats.
The cats of Smith Park have long lived there in peace with caregivers who provide food, shelter, and spay and neuter through TNR at no cost to the city. Rather than support these efforts, however, the City of Middletown has chosen to move forward with a plan to remove the cats entirely. This removal scheme is not humane, effective, or feasible.
Community cats are generally not socialized to people and cannot adapt to living indoors. They are very attached to their outdoor homes and to the other cats in their feline families, also known as colonies. Even for cats who show signs of socialization to people, it is unlikely they can all be found suitable homes in a short period of time, or that they will adjust to indoor life.
Authorities removing the Smith Park cats’ outdoor shelters, and the feeding ban against community cats, are measures that also highly concern me and many other advocates.
TNR, Not Removal, is the Only Humane and Effective Approach
Rounding up community cats will not benefit the cats, Smith Park, or the City of Middletown. Relocation, including to “barn homes,” only rips the cats from the homes they know and strands them somewhere unfamiliar. The process is extremely stressful and disorienting for any cat. In fact, the cats are highly likely to wander off and become lost in a desperate attempt to return to their original outdoor homes. This renders relocation pointless and puts the cats’ lives in danger.
If the city is interested in humanely and effectively addressing the community cat population in Smith Park, or anywhere in the city, TNR is the only answer. Through TNR programs, community cats are humanely trapped; brought to a veterinary clinic to be spayed or neutered,?eartipped?(the universal sign that a cat has been spayed or neutered through a TNR program), and?vaccinated; and then returned to their original outdoor homes.
TNR is proven to stabilize community cat populations by stopping the cycle of reproduction; improve the cats’ health and public health through vaccinations; and benefit animal control agencies and shelters by reducing cat intake and calls of concern.
Again, I ask that the City of Middletown halt its removal plan against the cats of Smith Park and instead pivot to implement a humane ordinance that supports TNR. Along with many other outspoken advocates, I stand strongly against the removal of Smith Park’s cats and in favor of humane, effective, proven action.