Feb 18, 2009 Community Cat Advocates Meeting

Introduction

This is the second meeting of this group, intended to bring together all cat-caring people in the area to review overall status of cats, hear about new programs, discuss proposed actions and form groups as needed, and to increase communication between cat rescuers, groups, and shelters. This should be a forum for all ideas. People can email Diana and Denise an idea, present it at a meeting, and form teams.

6:30 p.m.Lobbying / Influence Group UpdateDiana

The lobbying/influence group has been divided into two smaller groups to focus on specific topics. Both groups held meetings in the past quarter.

  • The lobbying group is led by Marie Sequeria and Diana Grubbs. This group will :

-research other communities for best practices and approaches to changing local ordinances.

-develop a strategy to influence local city and county lawmakers, including talking points.

-draft revised ordinances based on research results.

-Process will take about 1 year or more.

Diana has applied to be on Animal Advisory Committee for the city. Karen Johnson is current chair of committee.

  • The Mitigation group, currently led by Diana Grubbs. Purpose is to support feral cat advocates

-looking for a co-lead

-develop a package that anyone can use to talk to residents and businesses about community cats

-conduct role playing to improve communication and build confidence

-Little Blue Society currently does mitigation work between people and animal issues. May be a resource for this effort.

6:45 p.m. Cat Resource Center (CRC) Presentation Scott

CRC, the concept for which was born out of South Bay Homeless Cat Coalition, was created to bring the cat community together. Public requests to the site are growing, and CRC is trying to get new volunteers on board. In addition to revising the look and user interface of the site, they are getting rid of the zip codes assignments and creating zones. Volunteers can change their activities at any time. Dana Linder is now acting as Screener for CRC requests. The goal is to respond to every request in 24 hours, and to follow up within 72 hours. Another goal is to get people to help themselves, provide knowledge and education. To have more back-end management so nothing falls through the cracks. They try to provide a list of resources if CRC can’t help. They want to show that somebody cares and is trying to help, and use the chance to educate. Also intend to centralize and streamline efforts of those already active, and to bring in the public.

7:10 p.m.San Jose Shelter Feral Freedom Pilot ProgramStaycee

Staycee, the shelter manager for SJACS introduces the Feral Freedom pilot program after thanking everyone in the room for their efforts. Handouts provided on SJACS euthanasia rates, currently only 35% of incoming cats make it out of the shelter alive. Most go to rescue and are not adopted from SJACS. 85% of cats euthanized at SJACS are either feral or too young (shown in handout graph). Staycee wants to s/n and return the (otherwise healthy) ferals instead of euthanizing them. The pilot program was initially set to start March 1 but has been moved to middle of March, and will run for seven months.

During that time, SJACS will s/n, microchip, vaccinate, and ear-tip qualifying feral cats from public for free, and keep at SJACS for the aftercare. SJACS will then make the ferals available to a group of volunteers to pick up and return to their trapped location. SJACS wants to work together with the community of cat activists, and is willing to take on part of the solution. For the program to work, a few key things need to happen: 1) Volunteers need to work in coordinated effort with SJACS 2) We need to have no altercations with complainers about feral cats. 3) Volunteers need to ensure timely pick up of the ready ferals. Lack of these items will derail the program.

Staycee has gone to environmental services department about the TNCR solution for controlling the feral population. She stresses that if this is going to work, we need lots of communication. SJACS has a dedicated vet on board for this program. The cat will arrive at SJACS in a trap, is evaluated the next day for friendly/not, s/n done the 3rd day and kept overnight to recover. Volunteers will pick up the cat on the 4th or 5th day (the longer time allowed for some spays when necessary). Volunteers will come in, take the ready cats out in blue boxes, and return to their home location. By law, all cats must be held for a minimum of 72 hours. The shelter can only act as the clinic, not the owners, so cats taken out must be registered to an organization.

This is modeled after the Feral Freedom program in Jacksonville, FL. Staycee responds to concern that owners won’t want the cats returned by saying most people who bring in cats are concerned about the cats having kittens, and only a handful have problems with the cat returning. Want to get people to understand that this is the right thing to do – the city “is no longer condoning the wholesale slaughter of feral cats”. SJACS intake desk will explain that this is a TNR shelter, and every cat in program will go out with door hangers for volunteers to hang in the area informing neighbors about TNR.

This program is for cats brought in by the public. Staycee notes that the year SJ opened the s/n clinic is the first time the cat level dropped. Very few cats are euthanized if found to be both healthy and friendly. Currently, adoptable cats at SJACS get one round of URI treatment then put on “needs rescue list” or euthanized if get sick again. Reducing intake of feral cats can save more friendly cats. It is incumbent on the shelter to say ferals don’t belong there, so that the adoptable cats have a real chance by allowing the shelter more resources currently spent on ferals. Pilot program has been approved for 7 months, and we need to make it work during that time to continue the funding.

7:45 p.m.Free Microchips for $25 SJ Feral Fix PackageDenise

Peninsula Fix Our Ferals is donating $2,000 to purchase microchips for ferals at the SJACS clinc, to be included at no extra charge in the feral fix package. If program successful, try to continue funding.

Microchip Options for County Feral Fix Program Diana

Getting chips into other s/n clinics: Plan to supply chips to area low-cost s/n clinics. 6 places currently on list, have had mixed reactions to initial proposal. Diana will be setting up in-person meetings. Diana has leads on chip suppliers. Want to make sure all shelters are scanning cats on intake. Pole scanners (mentioned last mtg) are waiting for Avid to get approval from FTC before they can sell the new items. Bayers (sp?) ResQ chip was previously not being read by all scanners, but is now becoming ISO compliant.

HSSV will currently chip a feral for $20 (if chip is sole service and not done during s/n). In other words, you pay $5 for the chip and $15 for the anesthesia.

Suggestion made to offer gallery of ear-notch styles on CRC so public (and activists) can better recognize the different notches used by various facilities.

8:00 p.m.Feral Freedom “LIVE Release” Teams (sign-ups)Denise

Team sign-up sheets presented and explained. Volunteers are asked to donate 6 hours per month, work one night every other week in teams to return the feral freedom cats. Interested parties are asked to sign up on the team sheets if they want to get more information and aren’t yet sure they can commit to the program. Those signed up will be invited to a specific planning meeting for the program. Staycee mentions there will be training for the program volunteers on releasing the cats, etc.

There will also be training for animal control officers on TNR and on feral freedom. A future action items is to make presentations to the local police departments on TNR so that if feral feeders and program volunteers are stopped, the police will be familiar with TNR programs in our area.

Additional Items Diana

It was mentioned by someone in the room that the tax code has been revised to allow write-offs for vet care (please check with your tax professional, this is not verified information).

Ideas sent to Diana for noting at meeting:

  • Presentations on TNR program for mobile home parks, peace officers, etc. Janice offer to give her standard presentation at the next meeting.
  • Tax deductable donations for independent cat advocates. May be a seminar or future meeting topic.
  • Feral-Friendly certifications for businesses (suggestion of a sticker to identify those businesses willing to work with ferals).
  • Proactively finding possible homes for feral cats (barn cats) – before the need arises. Someone mentions they are working on an application for a land grant near UC Davis for a feral sanctuary (possible tie-in with school).

After the meeting adjourns, Staycee offers behind-the-scenes tour of SJACS.

NOTE: Staycee Dains joined the CRC and is starting to post TNR and other cat issues that come to the attention of SJACS on the CRC so if you have any inkling to join, now is the time, you will contribute to saving many cats!

Cat Advocates Meeting No 2, Minutes. February 18, 2010 Page 1 of 4