This feature comes from our Spring 2015 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.
After 25 years of Alley Cat Allies’ work, the world is a different place for cats. Our incredible success making Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) a mainstream practice has saved countless cats, but you know there’s more to be donethat’s why you look to Alley Cat Allies. We’ve had a successful generation of advocacy, but in many ways, this is just the beginning. As we prepare for what’s next, we have to take a moment to appreciate the story of our movement so far. We’re on the front lines of the revolution to save cats’ lives, and there’s a big change coming. That’s why the theme of National Feral Cat Day® 2015 is “The Evolution of the Cat Revolution.”
October 16, 2015, will mark the 15th annual National Feral Cat Day®, and with Alley Cat Allies’ 25th anniversary year in full swing, this promises to be our biggest celebration ever. Each year we ask cat advocates across America (and the world!) to hold a National Feral Cat Day® event, but this year we’re inviting you to do so much more. It’s not just about the catsit’s about the people who work on the cats’ behalf. From feeding a stray cat, to speaking at a community meeting, to spearheading the campaign for a local TNR ordinance, being an advocate can mean many things, and there’s always room to grow. Our movement to save cats has evolved from the simple idea that community cats deserve to live, and blossomed into a worldwide call to save cats, change communities, and help shelters be feline friendly instead of the number one documented cause of death for cats.
So, what comes next? Alley Cat Allies is working on big plans to create more systemic change in shelters and communities nationwide, but your next step depends on where you are now. National Feral Cat Day® 2015 will help you decide the course of your personal cat revolution evolution. Every cat advocate is a critical part of our movement, and you are going to love everything about The Evolution of the Cat Revolution.
Cats and Us
To tell the story of the cat revolution, we’ll go back in time. Not the founding of Alley Cat Allies in 1990a little further back. Actually, a lot further back. Even before the Great Pyramid was built in Egypt. Ancient Egyptians’ love of cats is well known, but in the past several years, archaeological evidence has revealed that cats and people were living together thousands of years before thatabout 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region. It’s hard to identify with people who lived so long ago, but we had at least one thing in commonlove of cats.
It’s that love of cats that still motivates us today, but to hear more about how we got from the Fertile Crescent in 7500 B.C. to National Feral Cat Day® in 2015, and how we’ll get to a world that protects all cats, you’ll have keep up with Alley Cat Allies!
The Challenge
The threats facing cats are clearoutdated animal control and shelter policies, punitive ordinances, misinformation, and lack of education. We work to address each of those challenges, every single day. But National Feral Cat Day® is a special day for you to share your stories of cat advocacy, and to bring more of your community along with you as you protect cats. That’s your challenge this year: advance yourself, and advance the movement to save cats’ lives.
This year, National Feral Cat Day® is about more than a celebration on October 16. National Feral Cat Day® is about how the changes you make, big or small, have an impact on cats. The Evolution of the Cat Revolution is about your personal evolution in the movement. Make sure to join us on social media, and keep visiting our National Feral Cat Day® website as we reveal more about this year’s celebration and how you can evolve. Don’t waitvisit www.NationalFeralCatDay.org.