Santa Ana, CA officials are trapping and killing stray cats in a misguided effort to eradicate typhus. These efforts will do nothing to protect the public, because typhus is spread by fleas, not cats. According to epidermiologist Deborah L. Ackerman, M.S., Ph.D., fleas will simply find other hosts, such as raccoons, mice or any other mammal.
Feral cats are not responsible for the spread of typhus. Officials should focus their efforts on educating the public and treating the fleas themselves. Please sign the petition to tell Santa Ana officials to stop trapping and killing cats.
We, the undersigned, are concerned with your attempts to control typhus by trapping and killing stray cats. We believe these efforts will do nothing to protect the public, because typhus is spread by fleas, not cats -- according to epidermiologist Deborah L. Ackerman, M.S., Ph.D., fleas will simply find other hosts, such as raccoons, mice or any other mammal.
Feral cats are not responsible for the spread of typhus. We urge you to focus your efforts on educating the public and treating the fleas themselves. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our petition.
