Update as of 2/13/10
See the ACC Mayor and Commission Agenda below. Item #14 is an amendment to ACC animal control ordinance to provide for registration of feral cat colonies. Click on the item number or on the second link below to view the proposed ordinance.
http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/documents/pdf/clerkofcommission/agenda/agenda.pdf
http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/documents/pdf/clerkofcommission/agenda/14.pdf
The meeting will take place on Thursday, February 18th and is an opportunity for public comment.
Make your voices heard. Click here for more information.
Contact the commissioners: http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/commission/
Take Action Now!
ACTION ALERT FOR ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY, GEORGIA
Do you live in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia? Do you want to see TNR legalized there? If not, please write to the Athens-Clarke County (ACC) Commissioners and ask them NOT to change the current ordinance.
Scroll to the end for email addresses and other contact info.
If you do not live in ACC, GA still make your voice heard! Why? A campaign by TNR advocates has been launched that could result in the Commissioners being inundated by emotionally-charged letters laden with misinformation about the effectiveness of TNR.
Your municipality or county could be next. Despite the fact that there is no scientific support for TNR, the promise of perceived cost savings has enabled this misguided method to become legal in some areas. Further, some politicians have succumbed to the pressure of TNR activists, even though emotional aspects of issues should not direct the legislative process.
Accountable animal control laws are designed to protect public health and welfare and to encourage responsible pet ownership. TNR cannot claim to do any of this.
Currently ACC defines owner the following way:
Owner means any person who owns, keeps, harbors, possesses or otherwise keeps any domestic, nontraditional livestock or livestock animal for a period of 14 days, or any person who knowingly permits any domestic, nontraditional livestock or livestock animal to be kept, harbored, possessed, or otherwise kept upon his premises for a period of 14 days, or who has any animal under his or her care or responsibility, either temporarily or permanently, at any time, within Athens-Clarke County.
The code also calls for domestic animals to be kept under control at all times, identified, and inoculated for rabies. They are not permitted to run at large and animal waste must be removed.
Section 4-1-12 designates ACC as a bird sanctuary and this would be undermined if TNR were made legal.
To view the full code as applied to domestic animals, click on ACC Ordinances and enter cats into the search:
http://www.athensclarkecounty.com/
Key points to make can be found here:
http://tnrrealitycheck.com/leg.asp
Additionally, the Commissioners may hear some or all of the following and you folks need to set the record straight!
Claim: It is more cost-effective and successful to provide responsible TNR services than to euthanize cats - in some communities, TNR has lowered the cost of feral cat control by as much as 45 percent.
Reality: Groups claiming this must back their statements by financial records. What about the costs of rabies vaccines for post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for folks who are bitten or scratched by a free-roaming cat? Not all cats are vaccinated in managed colonies. What if the Animal Control Officer has to return to a site multiple times due to nuisances that are not resolved? Cats still defecate in sand boxes and gardens and kill birds at feeders. What about colonies that are mismanaged and out of control? See here for how to properly evaluate the success of a TNR program:
http://tnrrealitycheck.com/media/TNR_evaluative_questions.pdf
Claim: Killing cats simply allows for a vacuum effect where new ferals enter open territories and continue to breed.
Reality: Cat Removal works when the artificial food source is also removed. Wild animals do move into an area to fill an ecological niche, but the only reason domestic cats congregate is due to an artificial food source (i.e., catfeeders providing handouts or unsecured garbage). Further, this argument should not be framed in terms of whether or not to kill cats. Cat removal does not necessarily result in euthanasia of cats. Many feral cats, including adults, can be socialized for adoption. Sanctuaries can be set up. Colonies can be fenced-in or enclosed on private property. Given the fact that there are an estimated 60 to 100 million feral cats roaming throughout the U.S., and that TNR does not result in a statistically significant reduction according to the AVMA, other solutions that do not result in the euthanasia of cats are equally workable.
Claim: The number of kittens born in TNR feral cat colonies substantially decreases after the first year of the program, thus lowering total feral cat populations.
Reality: For many years, TNR advocates claimed that colonies would eventually become eliminated through natural attrition. We know that is not the case and colonies are perpetually maintained. In actuality, even having no kittens born into a colony or 'stabilizing' the colony is difficult to achieve. Neighborhood cats find the food source. Pet owners dump their cats at colonies. Those cats that evade capture are fed and thus better able to breed.
Claim: Animal nuisance complaints are reduced and public health concerns, such as the spread of rabies, are addressed.
Reality: Nuisances are often not abated or they are redirected to the individuals and groups conducting TNR. A reduction in nuisance complaints does not mean there are fewer feral cats on the streets. The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians has stated that there is no evidence that colony management programs will reduce diseases. For more information about public health concerns see here:
http://tnrrealitycheck.com/pubhealth.asp
Claim: The number of cats entering already over-extended community shelters is reduced.
Reality: Documentation should be provided showing this. Regardless, fewer cats in the shelters do not mean that there are fewer cats on the streets.
Claim: TNR public relations campaigns help educate the community to the fact that cats need and deserve good care, which includes spay/neuter, vaccination for disease, and the very basics of life - food, water, and shelter.
Reality: TNR is not respectful of property rights or the rights of citizens who may not wish to have a managed colony next to their home or place of business. TNR sends the wrong message to communities - that re-abandonment of a domestic companion animal is acceptable. Good care is not the cornerstone of TNR - avoiding the euthanasia of cats is the main purpose. TNR sets up two standards of veterinary care for the same species of animal. What would you think if your veterinarian told you that your pet cat…
Could come in for an exam just once her whole life?
Only needed one rabies vaccine her whole life?
Could and should roam freely outdoors?
Could use a doghouse filled with straw as acceptable shelter?
Yet, this is the reality for most of these cats. We will not change the behavior of pet owners if we condone TNR. These cats often live mediocre to miserable lives in colonies and usually die from some trauma or disease.
Claim: Bird and wildlife populations have declined, not because of feral cats, but because of destruction of natural habitat, combined with pesticide use and general pollution.
Reality: Loss of habitat is the primary challenge wildlife faces. However, there are many serious secondary causes of wild animal mortality as a result of human activities. They include, but are not limited to: building strikes, by-catch (fishing practices), domestic cat predation, communication towers, horseshoe crab harvesting (source of food for shorebirds), methane gas burners (affects perching raptors), oil spills, power lines, trash (balloons, plastic bags, six-pack rings, discarded fishing line, etc.), wind turbines. The fact of the matter is that the effect is cumulative and we should not further compromise wild animals, already struggling to survive, through the presence of free-roaming cats. The popularity of the domestic cat as a household pet has precluded some officials from even discussing the feral cat issue let alone making appropriate decisions that do not come at the expense of our natural resources.
Claim: Feral kittens, friendly strays, and lost pets are generally able to be adopted or returned to the owner.
Reality: Colonies often consist of true feral cats, semi-feral cats, lost pets, pets permitted to roam, as well as rabies vector species such as raccoons and skunks that usually dine alongside the cats. Adoption of friendly animals can occur whether or not true feral cats are returned to where they were found.
Claim: A positive option for healthy feral cats needing to be relocated is placement on a farm or acreage as a barn cat.
Reality: Using cats for pest control is not environmentally responsible. The end does not justify the means. Not unlike pesticides, cats kill much more than just rats - many non-target animals are affected. See here for more information about barn cats:
http://tnrrealitycheck.com/barn_cats.asp
Claim: Humans created the problem; it is our responsibility to create a humane solution.
Reality: Agreed. But, TNR does not result in humane outcomes for domestic cats. Releasing them back to the wild is not an act of compassion. TNR is a self-serving 'solution' that disregards the environment, native wildlife, property owners, public health and the law.
See here for responsible ways to manage cats:
http://tnrrealitycheck.com/responsible.asp
Here is the contact information for the ACC Commissioners, Animal Control, the County Attorney and the County Manager: Snail mail and phone calls are best!
Heidi Davison, Mayor
235 Wells Dr
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Numbers: (706) 546-9643 (h) / (706) 613-3010 (w)
E-mail: davison@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Doug Lowry, District 1 Commissioner
190 Hancock Ln
Athens, GA 30605
Phone Number: (706) 613-8443
E-mail: lowry@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Harry Sims, District 2 Commissioner
170 Cone Dr
Athens, GA 30601
Phone Number: (706) 546-1683
E-mail: sims@athensclarkecountyga.gov
George C. Maxwell, District 3 Commissioner
PO Box 7073
Athens, GA 30604
Phone Number: (706) 208-0686
E-mail: maxwell@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Alice Kinman, District 4 Commissioner
323 Milledge Terrace
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Number: (706) 613-6668
E-mail: kinman@athensclarkecountyga.gov
David Lynn, District 5 Commissioner
226 Hill St
Athens, GA 30601
Phone Numbers: (706) 369-0458 (h) / (706) 542-6581 (w)
E-mail: lynn@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Ed Robinson, District 6 Commissioner
255 Deerfield Rd
Bogart, GA 30622
Phone Number: (706) 254-8883
E-mail: robinson@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Kathy Hoard, District 7 Commissioner
248 Springdale St
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Number: (706) 353-1918
E-mail: hoard@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Andy Herod, District 8 Commissioner
315 Brookwood Dr
Athens, GA 30605
Phone Number: (706) 543-0281
E-mail: herod@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Kelly Girtz, District 9 Commissioner
562 Pulaski St
Athens, GA 30601
Phone Number: (706) 369-9457
E-mail: girtz@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Mike Hamby, District 10 Commissioner
125 Jennings Mill Parkway, #3312
Athens, GA 30606
Phone Number: (706) 338-3970
E-mail: hamby@athensclarkecountyga.gov
Patrick Rives, Superintendent
ACC Animal Control
45 Beaverdam Rd.
Athens, GA 30605
Phone Number: (706) 613-3540
Fax: (706) 613-3545
Bill Berryman
Athens-Clarke County Attorney
P.O. Box 1868
Athens, GA 30603
Phone Number: (706) 613-3035
Fax: (706) 613-3037
W. Alan Reddish
Athens-Clarke County Manager
P.O. Box 1868
Athens, GA 30603
Phone Number: (706) 613-3020
Fax: (706) 613-3029