Please help persuade the Kauai Council to Pass a Resolution Endorsing Trap-Neuter-Return as a Humane
The County of Kauai (in the state of Hawaii) is fairly rural in character, and like many rural communities, it has a huge homeless and feral cat population, largely because so few of our residents spay or neuter their pets. Kauai Ferals is a nonprofit organization which assists individuals charing for cat colonies. We provide support with trapping, food, and medicine. We also advocate TNR to local businesses and property owners as a humane solution to our over population problem. Historically, the only solution to unwanted Kauai cats was seen as catch and kill. We have been working to change that: reaching the public one by one, as we encountered them while working with the cats, and we have begun giving presentations to junior high school students.
Recently, a member of our community began advocating for the removal of all cats in one of our beach parks. To counter this, we approached one of our County Council Members, and explained the value of Trap-Neuter-Return as a humane method of population control. Council Member Mel Rapozo has introduced a Resolution supporting the trap, neuter and return method as one method of controlling Kauai's homeless and feral cat population on Kauai. Unfortunately, the resolution has encountered resistance from some members of the County Council and the public, who still feel that catching and killing cats is the most effective way to control the population, and who believe cats spread disease to native mammals, or harm native birds.
We would like to show our Council Members that TNR is recognized as a successful and humane tool for the control of homeless cats.
We the undersigned urge the Kauai County Council to pass a Resolution acknowledging the value of a trap-neuter-and return method of controlling Kauai's homeless and feral cat population. We believe that homeless cats are not the cause of the spread of disease into local wildlife, nor that they are the cause of the dramatic drop in the numbers of native bird species. Pollution (including light pollution), pesticide and herbicide use, habitat loss and other human activities are more properly to blame. Most importantly, we believe that TNR works. We urge you, by passing this Resolution, to take the first step in committing the County of Kauai to finding humane and scientifically sound methods for resolving Kauai's homeless and feral cat situation. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my letter.
