Don't Evict or Starve our Lions Park cats!

LIONS CLUB HAS NOT LISTENED TO OUR VOICES, SO WE'RE GOING FOR 2,000 SIGNATURES! Lions Club has now posted NO TRESPASSING signs, banning our volunteers from feeding the 9 Lions Park Cats. This is outrageous! Please share, forward, RT & help spread the pleas with word of mouth. Thank you. Volunteers of Heart of Texas Feral Friends

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In the summer of 2007, Lions Club granted Heart of Texas Feral Friends access to Lions Park so our volunteers could spay/neuter and vaccinate the park’s cats through a process called Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).


Our volunteers helped TNR more than 40 cats, at NO COST to Lions Club. Today, there are only 9 TNR cats living at the park, all are spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, and cared for daily by volunteers.


Now, five years later, Waco Lions Club board members voted to evict these 9 cats from Lions Park without considering our "investment" in these cats, both financially and emotionally, nor did they take into account public opinion. Our requests to meet with their Board President or Board were denied. We believe some of their members let their own personal opinions about cats interfere with the community's best interest.


The Lions Club says they want the feeding station removed by this Saturday (Jan. 14) or they will tear it down. They have told us that our volunteers will be cited for TRESPASSING if we continue to feed the cats; they'd rather the cats starve!

It is UNACCEPTABLE that Lions Club members would rather revert back to the old "Trap & Kill" method to control any future cats that show up on their property. It is UNACCEPTABLE that Lions Club members would rather burden our already crowded animal shelter - at TAXPAYERS EXPENSE - with these new cats and kittens, ignoring the humane alternative that is available.

The Lions Club International lists their group's Code of Ethics. Those doctrines guide Lions Club members “To remember that in building up my business it is not necessary to tear down another’s” and “To aid others by giving my sympathy to those in distress, my aid to the weak” and “To be careful with my criticism and liberal with my praise; to build up and not destroy.”


Waco Lions Club is going against their own Code of Ethics! They are tearing down and destroying achievements from five years of hard work made by their fellow Wacoans; neighbors who volunteer their time for a cause that – although different – does not make it any less worthy!

Please tell LIONS CLUB BOARD MEMBERS:

1. The Lions Park Cats should be allowed to stay, and that our volunteers should be allowed to feed them at their current location by the abandoned pool where there is no public traffic, using our discreet feeding station, so the cats don't starve!

2. Let them know you support non-lethal options for stray cat control, as proven already at Lions Park for the last five years!

3. Remind them not to let their own personal opinions about cats override what in the best interest of our community!

4. Tell them it is NEGLIGENT to evict 9 fixed cats that have proof of rabies vaccinations!


JOIN US for a protest at 2 p.m. on Sat., Jan. 14 in the parking lot at Lions Park (near the intersection of Bosque Blvd. & New Road.)


We sincerely appreciate your support of this petition.

Volunteers, Heart of Texas Feral Friends
http://www.HOTFeralFriends.com

Heart of Texas Feral Friends is the volunteer group of the TNR Program at the Humane Society of Central Texas, a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal shelter.

As a supporter of the non-lethal Trap-Neuter-Return for stray cat control in this community, I demand that you immediately rescind your decision to evict the 9 Lions Park cats. I also insist that you give Heart of Texas Feral Freinds permission to feed and care for the Lions Park cats using the discreet feeding station already hidden on the property near the abandoned swimming pool, where there is no public traffic. 

Heart of Texas Feral Friends has provided Trap-Neuter-Return to more than 40 park cats as a service to the Lions Park, at no cost to your service club or to the community. 

Now, nearly five years later, when there are only 9 TNR cats left - all of whom are spayed/neutered and vaccinated against rabies - your Board voted to EVICT THESE 9 CATS without any consideration to Heart of Texas Feral Friends or respect for public opinion.

It is UNACCEPTABLE that your Board would rather revert back to "Trap & Kill" to control the stray cat population at TAXPAYERS EXPENSE, when TNR has been proven to work in decreasing the number of cats at the park. You would rather burden our already stressed animal shelter with these cats and kittens, ignoring the humane alternative that is available at no cost to your organization

It is UNACCEPTABLE that your Board would deny these 9 cats basic food, water and shelter by issuing citations for trespassing to volunteers who try to feed them! Lions Park sits on city-owned property and is to be used for the "public good." Your claims that the cats are a liability issue are pale in comparison to the NEGLIGENCE your park faces by removing fixed, vaccinated cats, only to be replaced by unknown, unvaccinated cats, lured to your park by its concession stand. These new cats would not be fixed, and Lions Park will once again be an unwelcome source of litter after litter of homeless kittens spilling into surrounding neighborhoods.

Please take a moment to review the Lions Club International Code of Ethics, which include doctrines guiding Lions Club members “To remember that in building up my business it is not necessary to tear down another’s” and “To aid others by giving my sympathy to those in distress, my aid to the weak” and “To be careful with my criticism and liberal with my praise; to build up and not destroy.”



You are tearing down and destroying achievements from five years of hard work made by your fellow Wacoans called Heart of Texas Feral Freinds; neighbors who volunteer their time for a cause that – although different – does not make it any less worthy!

I hereby pledge my support for Heart of Texas Feral Friends and the Humane Society of Central Texas until you DO THE RIGHT THING and let the 9 Lions Park cats remain, and allow the volunteers feed the TNR cats.

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