ACA Condemns Trapping & Killing JFK Cats

from Patricia Jones for Alley Cat Allies

Alley Cat Allies Condemns Trapping and Killing of
Feral Cats by Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey at J.F.K. Airport
Organization Cites Recent Harris Survey: Americans
Don’t Want Feral Cats Killed at Animal Shelters

Bethesda, MD November 1, 2007—Alley Cat Allies, the
national advocate for stray and feral cats, today
condemned the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey’s decision to trap and remove feral cats
located around J.F.K. airport.

“Trapping feral cats and bringing them to animal
control—where they will be killed—is not a humane
solution and we know that Americans are not in support
of this cruel practice,” said Becky Robinson,
President and co-founder of Alley Cat Allies. A recent
national survey conducted by Harris Group for Alley
Cat Allies reveals that an overwhelming majority of
Americans — 81% — believes that leaving a stray cat
outside to live out his life is more humane than
having the cat caught and killed. These results reveal
a significant disparity between the public’s humane
ethic and the operating policy of most U.S. animal
pounds and shelters.

“Americans need to understand that the killing of
feral cats, like those at J.F.K. airport, happens
every day around this nation. Contacting animal
control agencies to remove outdoor cats is handing
these animals an immediate death sentence,” said
Robinson. “Feral cats are not a threat to humans. They
are not socialized to humans and cannot be adopted, so
most shelters capture and kill them. Not only is this
practice cruel, it is also a waste of money and
resources and is not effective in reducing the total
number of cats who live outdoors.”

Alley Cat Allies has reached out to the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey offering to assist with
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), the non-lethal method of
managing outdoor cat populations. With TNR, stray and
feral cats already living outdoors are humanely
trapped, vaccinated, and sterilized by veterinarians.
Kittens and social cats are adopted into good homes.
Healthy feral cats are returned to their outdoor
habitats where they are provided food, water and
shelter and monitored by volunteer caregivers.

Respondents to the Harris survey were also asked to
consider the most humane outcome if they were to
assume the stray cats would be hit and killed by a car
in two years; 72 percent said it was still more humane
to let the cat live out his natural life.

The Alley Cat Allies survey also found that more than
two in five Americans have put out food or water for a
stray cat, with more than one in five respondents
reporting to have done so in the past year.

For a full copy of results from the Harris survey,
“U.S. Public Opinion on Humane Treatment of Stray
Cats” visit alleycat.org/PublicOpinionPoll.

About Alley Cat Allies
The mission of Alley Cat Allies is to protect the
lives and promote the wellbeing of our nation’s
population of stray and feral cats, and to end the
killing of cats in animal control pounds and shelters
– the number one documented cause of cat death in the
United States. Since 1990, Alley Cat Allies and its
150,000 supporters and volunteers have pursued this
mission nationwide through educational and outreach
programs. Alley Cat Allies also advocates for the use
of Trap-Neuter-Return programs to control reproduction
of cats. Visit Alley Cat Allies on the Internet at
www.alleycat.org.