Animal Welfare Professionals

This month our resource drive is focused on all things Trap-Neuter-Return also known as TNR. This topic was suggested by a couple of Maddie's Pet Forum members, Julie Falconer and Erin Dams.

😺 For this resource drive, members are looking for information on (but not limited to):

• How different organizations manage TNR data -- the software they use for storing colony details and status updates, caretaker info, individual cats, volunteer contacts, and what they see as the pros and cons of their systems

• How to organize big TNR events (ex: some organizations are spaying/neutering 20-40 cats from 5+ locations in a day)

• Any flyers or information used to help educate community members about TNR

• Best practices for Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and colony management

• Data or studies on the effectiveness of TNR

• Tools, tips and tricks for starting a TNR program in your community

😸 How to Participate in this Resource Drive?

1. Upload, Share or Link to trap-neuter-return resources

2. Reply with a request for a specific resource you NEED or a question related to TNR

😻 Where Will the Resources be Stored? How do I view them? 

All Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)-related resources shared on this thread will be accessible in the "Community Cat Management/TNR" folder in the Maddie's Pet Forum Library: https://maddies.fund/TNRresources 

😼 Share & You'll Be Entered To Win $50

Everyone who uploads a file, shares a resource on this thread or replies with information or questions about Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) during the month of October 2023 will be entered to win a $50 gift card to Amazon, Petco or PetSmart (winner's choice). Your contributions will also make you eligible for the $3k monthly grant giveaway on Maddie's Pet Forum. You can learn more about this giveaway here. 

😽 Pro-Tips for sharing resources: 

• Use the "Upload File" button when replying to this thread to attach a file. We encourage you to attach the file versus hyperlinking to the file whenever possible. Files that are attached get automatically added to the Maddie's Pet Forum Resource Library so attaching helps make the resource searchable and improves accessibility within the forum.

• Yes, you can share resources that your organization did not create. Sharing is caring and this applies to resources too! Make sure the creator allows the resource to be shared publicly and be sure to give credit to the creator or source organization.

To serve the needs of people and animals in Polk County, laws need to be changed. How to get that done is an issue of debate, fear and anxiety. Polk is now

fining a TNVR group that chipped their cats. If this continues it could result in criminal charges or the dissolution of another TNVR 501c3.  

With the computerized changes taking place these failures could generate more violence against animals. Imagine C3PO using the same statements again

and again, until laughed at and destroyed by stormtroopers. It amounts to the trivialization of the work of individual colony caretakers and TNVR groups.

If they could get some statistics on what areas have Code Enforcement in control of the Animal Shelter, instead of a Law Enforcement Agency for instance,

I was told they would appreciate the research being published.  

-------

------------------------------
Pamela Jean Curry &
#GingerCatFamily
Auteur
Florida
------------------------------

Hi Pamela,  I am somewhat familiar with this situation, you might look toward some of the work happening in Pasco County as a guide- also... focus on the owned s/n in the county as they are supportive of that effort and that will help reduce the overpopulation situation some.  I believe you are in a s/n desert and that issue needs resolution before productive TNR can happen in Polk County.  I know it is supper tough.  But hopefully change can happening with more focus on S/N vs TNR.

I hope that makes a bit of sense?  Thank you for all that you are doing to help advocate for cats. 

Neil Meade TNR Program - Michigan Humane

https://www.michiganhumane.org/tnr-program/

------------------------------
Heather Pauli
Donor Relations Coordinator
Michigan Humane
MI
------------------------------

GLOBAL CAT DAY is Mon, Oct 16th! This was created by Alley Cat Allies some years ago. Dedicated website with lots of resources. Great for TNR conversation starters, events, and social media messaging. Cute t-shirts for $10, too! 

https://globalcatday.org/

Not really a helpful comment or resource but your post made me think about it.   On my Facebook memories from global cat day about 12 years ago I was so excited we ( a group I use to be with) spayed and neutered 15 cats.  That group just celebrated hitting 40k surgeries and I ended up opening a clinic in May of 2021 and we hit 10k surgeries in August.  It made me laugh to see how excited I was over 15 cats and I still have the shirt from Alley Cat Allies from that year!

Original Message:
Sent: 10-05-2023 05:24 PM
From: Shari Cahill
Subject: October 2023 Resource Drive: Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) 🐈‍⬛

GLOBAL CAT DAY is Mon, Oct 16th! This was created by Alley Cat Allies some years ago. Dedicated website with lots of resources. Great for TNR conversation starters, events, and social media messaging. Cute t-shirts for $10, too! 

https://globalcatday.org/

------------------------------
Shari Cahill
silvercometawa.org
------------------------------

I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to your dedicated group for the incredible work you've been doing to help cats and promote TNR. Your commitment to pursuing this dream is truly inspiring.

I'm genuinely interested in learning more about your journey and the steps you took to make a positive impact on the cat population. Could you please share your experiences and any advice for someone looking to replicate your success? Additionally, I'd love to know if there are any resources or individuals who can help with similar efforts here in Charleston.

Thank you for your dedication to this important cause, and I look forward to the opportunity to connect and work together to make a difference in our community.

Original Message:
Sent: 10-10-2023 02:33 PM
From: Dara Edmonds
Subject: October 2023 Resource Drive: Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) 🐈‍⬛

Not really a helpful comment or resource but your post made me think about it.   On my Facebook memories from global cat day about 12 years ago I was so excited we ( a group I use to be with) spayed and neutered 15 cats.  That group just celebrated hitting 40k surgeries and I ended up opening a clinic in May of 2021 and we hit 10k surgeries in August.  It made me laugh to see how excited I was over 15 cats and I still have the shirt from Alley Cat Allies from that year!

------------------------------
Dara Edmonds
Executive Director
Central Florida Community Pet Clinic
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 10-05-2023 05:24 PM
From: Shari Cahill
Subject: October 2023 Resource Drive: Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) 🐈‍⬛

GLOBAL CAT DAY is Mon, Oct 16th! This was created by Alley Cat Allies some years ago. Dedicated website with lots of resources. Great for TNR conversation starters, events, and social media messaging. Cute t-shirts for $10, too! 

https://globalcatday.org/

------------------------------
Shari Cahill
silvercometawa.org

In Columbus, OH there is a Facebook page for community members to discuss TNR and support each other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ohiotnr.  This promotes learning and allows trapper to offer appointments out to others if they cannot fill them.  I hope other local communities support something similar for their areas as well!

------------------------------
Amy Siefer
Colony Cats (& dogs)
------------------------------

Great idea! I'll share with some local rescuers in Richmond CA. 

Hi there! 

At Texas Coalition for Animal Protection, we have a variety of resources around TNR. We try to explain everything in simple terms to ensure the content is easily understood by all. 

Website links: 

• Our Feral Fix Page (Community Education): https://texasforthem.org/feral-fix-program/ 
• How to TNR Blog Article: https://texasforthem.org/how-to-tnr-trap-neuter-return/
• Feral Cats and TNR Blog Article (Community Education): https://texasforthem.org/feral-cats-and-tnr-2/

We also have a feral cat caretaker colony registration and census on our website. We use our website's form builder to keep track of these and are easily able to store the data in an Excel file the form builder can generate. 

• Caretaker Registration: https://texasforthem.org/caretaker-registration/
• Colony Census form: https://texasforthem.org/feral-fix-program/feral-colony-census-form

We also utilize the attached feral cat flyer and infographic/image to help inform the public about TNR at TCAP. 

Attachment(s)

Feral Cat Flyer (1).pdf   965 KB 1 version

Main website : https://acctphilly.org/community-cats/  

Includes caretaker resources, our TNR clinic schedules, low-cost spay/neuter options, as well as useful humane deterrents. 

We often have a lot of pushback from the public against caretakers with regard to cat waste on their properties. But stray cats are considered wildlife in the city of Philadelphia, so our animal protection officers do not have to pick up any stray cat, which keeps the ferals out of the shelter where euthanasia would be more likely. 

Another issue we face is funding for our TNR program--which is not included in our contract with the city, so funds need to come from somewhere else. I am not super well-versed in grant lingo and am still learning how to navigate that sphere. 

Ahh this is my FAVORITE TOPIC!!  We created a brochure that's been extremely helpful in keep cats where they live.

Shani Campbell recently created this extremely well done video on TNR with lots of great stats - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoHWXpZQPuY

I love this thread!  I revived our TNVR program three years ago, but it has been hit or miss for getting larger colonies scheduled.  We do all of the vet work and s/n surgeries for the shelter and as everyone knows....those numbers have increased dramatically over the last year.  We have a Facebook group for colony caretakers as a way to inform them when appointments become available, recruit volunteers to help trap and transport, and offer education.  

Jean 

Hello,

       My name is Rafa Garcia and I am the Community cat coordinator at the Humane Society of Yuma, we are a non-profit shelter based in Yuma, Az. We are the only shelter within a 200-mile radius. With that being said we rely heavily on our community for our TNR program to thrive and I am very lucky to have such a passionate community when it comes to the community cats. However not everyone in the community shares the same passion, and our biggest challenge is and I feel like will always be is changing the community's perspective towards the community cat and how effective the TNR program can really be. 

      As of last year, I have started partnering with our local county library branch and hosting quarterly community cats town halls. This has been a great way to have the interaction with the community while spreading the education about the TNR program and also have the community be heard. As a non-profit shelter I am the only one that manages the TNR program and anything to do with community cats, and as mention above I heavily rely on the community. One of the biggest tasks the community does for us is trap, transport, and releases the cats. Even when we have big surgery days for TNR we have multiple people schedule to trap upwards of 50 cats on said day. Something we are starting is to track where we in took the most neonates from last kitten season and try to micro target the location by TNR and educating the area. When it comes to collecting data we use www.Catstats.org for the colonies, it is great tool to keep track of who is caring for said colony and also a general number of cats in said area. As we are a shelter as well we also use ShelterLuv which provides me with great amount of data to see where we are intaking cats from. I will attach some of the educational flyers we had out and the instructions we have for people to register their colonies. Also the presentation I use when doing an education meeting that touches a little bit of everything about the TNR program/ community cats. The link attached is also a simple website to use to create heat maps very straight forward-

https://lookerstudio.google.com

Attachment(s)

Instructions Combined.pdf   453 KB 1 version

HSOY_Community_Cats_Brochure.pdf   3.26 MB 1 version

Community Cats with Rafa.pptx   6.02 MB 1 version

HSOY_Community_Cats_Brochure_Spanish.pdf   1.47 MB 1 version

I track the colonies where we may be getting kittens coming into the rescue using the incoming section on Pawlytics (as that's free). That also serves as a reminder of colonies still with females needing TNR. Then we have a set of colony worksheets on a Google document with notes and actions. The first colony visit has a log to fill in, then it is updated with any new cats and the TNRs.  Plus the sheet has map link, contact info etc. 

CatStats is not affordable for a small org like mine, and I know $50 a year seems like nothing, but we can't afford extras like that. I am pretty sure I registered but don't seem to have ever heard back.

Our rescue/sanctuary primarily focuses on dogs; local human society has scaled back on cats. We have a one-woman show that feeds approximately 50 cats a day around town, but this isn't helping the cat situation.  And she was arrested for an altercation with someone who wanted the cats gone, not fed.  
Recently, our Main Street organization has started tearing down buildings, causing cats to be trapped in attics and rubble.  We are helping as we can.  No animal is ever left in distress or a life/death situation. But we need to start a TNR.  We don't have statistics to use to prepare a grant, and we are not sure where to start looking - so any and all suggestions are appreciated. 

I love this resource drive! I have a collection of things I've downloaded from various places or gotten from webinars, etc. I looked through what was already uploaded so I could try not to duplicate what has already been shared, but there is a lot of it (yay!) so please forgive any overlap. I hope some of this will be useful!

Attachment(s)

AnimalControl_Doorhanger_072117_EN-SP.pdf   1.01 MB 1 version

VacuumEffect_TruthCard.pdf   323 KB 1 version

implementing-trap-neuter-return-program.pdf   787 KB 1 version

CommunityCat_Infographic_2019web.pdf   429 KB 1 version

Community TNR_Tactics and Tools_5.6mb.pdf   5.70 MB 1 version

neighborhoodcats_profile_by_aspcapro_org_07_07_0.pdf   110 KB 1 version

KittenOutdoors_poster-2019-web.pdf   332 KB 1 version

TNRBasics_TruthCard.pdf   567 KB 1 version

CA_Community_Cats_Guide_SinglePgs_LRez.pdf   1.32 MB 1 version

HelpingOutdoorCats_Doorhanger.pdf   877 KB 1 version

the-outdoor-cat.pdf   625 KB 1 version

NYCFCI-BuildingSheltersWebinarHandout-2020-11.pdf   1.24 MB 1 version

acc-d-counting-cats.pdf   100 KB 1 version

TruthAboutCommunityCats_TruthCard.pdf   700 KB 1 version

Guidelines on Population Management and Welfare of Unowne...pdf   290 KB 1 version

Persuading Municipal Officials_Rethinking the Cat_06-15.pdf   1.33 MB 1 version

FCI-CommunityRelationsWebinarHandout-2021-09.pdf   24.12 MB 1 version

return-to-field-handbook.pdf   6.49 MB 1 version

Slides_Mobilizing the Community to Make TNR Happen_v2.pdf   5.09 MB 1 version

community-cats-scientific-studies-data.pdf   270 KB 1 version

The-Case-for-TNR_317P.pdf   870 KB 1 version

Managing Free Roaming Cats.pdf   827 KB 1 version

CC Positive Imaging.pdf   31.76 MB 1 version

PetsMart_Charities_TNR_Overview.pdf   91 KB 1 version

Cats-and-The-Law-Finding-and-Understanding-Your-Local-Law...pdf   1.40 MB 1 version

BarnCatFlyer_example.pdf   2.04 MB 1 version

Vaccination_InfoCard_web.pdf   1.07 MB 1 version

We're deeply concerned about the cat overpopulation issue in Charleston, SC, which affects both our environment and the welfare of these animals. To address this problem, we believe that implementing a TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) program is crucial. This method not only helps control the cat population but also improves their well-being.

I love seeing all of these great resources! 

Our website has similar resources to those already shared: https://hawaiianhumane.org/free-roaming-cats/

I also wanted to share some language we inserted into Hawaiʻi state law a couple of years ago to protect caregivers. The context was mandatory microchipping for pet cats and dogs. While it is common practice in our state to microchip TRN cats to their caregivers, we wanted this language for two reasons:

• It prevents anyone from being punished for caring for cats who have not yet been trapped and chipped, or who were S/N before microchipping was common.
• Maybe more importantly, is recognizes TRN as a population management tool with legal protection. 

The exemption can be found in subsection (g) of the statute: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol03_Ch0121-0200D/HRS0143/HRS_0143-0002_0002.htm

I also wanted to share a draft MOU that we use as a template to facilitate agreements between caregivers and property managers. We don't manage cats ourselves, but as the largest and oldest animal welfare org. in our state, we are happy to help get folks to the table to talk about a humane response to Free-Roaming cats. I'd love to say we've seen tons of these agreements through, but where we have, they have led to really well-run programs and natural population decline. The template is endlessly customizable based on the concerns of the property owner and the capacity of the caregiver(s).

Attachment(s)

MOUTemplate.docx   19 KB 1 version

Give Them Ten has a great, funny explanatory video of what TNR is from Scooter the Neutered Cat.

Feel free to use, share, etc! 

Halloween TNR treat! TrapKing is giving away 100 Tomahawk traps! Will be a maximum of 2 per group. Quick application here...

https://form.jotform.com/232613021096042