Support TNR in Los Angeles

The Community Cat Coalition of Los Angeles is comprised of representatives from respected animal welfare organizations such as Actors & Others for Animals, Best Friends Animal Society, Feral Cat Caretakers' Coalition, FixNation, Found Animals Foundation, Kitten Rescue and Stray Cat Alliance.

If you care about the lives of homeless cats in Los Angeles, please read and sign this important declaration:

Declaration of Support For The Humane Management of Feral Cats in Los Angeles

When Superior Court Judge Thomas McKnew ruled last December that the City of Los Angeles Animal Services can no longer provide information about Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) or funding for spay/neuter of feral cats without first satisfying a California Environmental Quality (CEQA) review, he turned the clock back two decades.

Before the ruling, Los Angeles was a model of humane feral cat care for cities nationwide. The city recognized Trap-Neuter-Return as an effective tool in its commitment to becoming "no-kill," and the community embraced it: last year more than 16,000 feral cats were neutered with the help of volunteers and nonprofit groups.

There is no humane alternative to TNR and the consequence of the Judge McKnew's ruling is that more cats are entering and dying in our city shelters everyday.

This is not a question of "cats versus birds."  The organizations and individuals who advocate for TNR are concerned about all animals. It is our belief that we need to control the community cat population for the sake of the cats, the birds and the environment as a whole. Catching and killing stray and free roaming cats is not only inhumane, it simply doesn't work.

What works - and has been working for 20 years - is the city joining with caregivers and local nonprofits to help protect and improve cats' lives, minimize their impact on the environment and to help stabilize the feral cat population - an animal population that has thrived outdoors for thousands of years - through a robust TNR program that complies with CEQA.

The cats of Los Angeles are in dire need of our voice and our advocacy.

We, the undersigned, declare our support for the establishment of TNR as official policy for the City of Los Angeles. We applaud the city for their prior efforts in this regard and we hope the city will move forward as expeditiously as possible to create a comprehensive TNR program in collaboration with private partners that satisfies CEQA requirements while supporting the humane, non-lethal, management of stray and feral cat populations in Los Angeles.