Feral cats, once a significant public health issue in the Albuquerque area, is starting to become a thing of the past. Best Friends, the city’s community cat program, has managed to turn things around and institute a successful shelter-integrated trap/neuter/return (TNR) program.
Just one year after initiating the program, it has already made an unexpectedly positive impact. Since its inception, 59% fewer cats were killed in their shelter compared to the previous year. In addition, 80% of all the cats that the shelter take in, leave the shelter alive. The organization’s goal is the help Albuquerque become one of the nation’s many “no-kill communities.”
According to the shelter’s blog, this initiative is no small task:
"First, any stray cat brought to the shelter deemed to be unadoptable is immediately turned over to the community cat program. These cats are not your friendly lap kitties; heavy gloves and humane traps are required to manage them. This category of cat constitutes the large majority of those killed in most shelters because they are not appropriate for adoption to the public. In fact, they truly should not have been placed in the shelter to begin with, but rather managed in the community on their home turf. Now, in Albuquerque and in other progressive cities, those cats are fixed, ear-tipped and promptly returned to where they came from."
Follow the Best Friends Animal Society on Facebook, or visit them on the Web at bestfriends.org to learn more about how you can donate or contribute towards their cause.
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