Humane society supports trap-neuter-return program

The Board of Health should rethink several of its strategies to reduce feral cat populations and protect the community ("Freehold Board of Health Turns Attention to Strays," News Transcript, Jan. 24).

Here are a few of the reasons why The Humane Society of the United States supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs:

The enforcement of feeding bans is very difficult and results in continued reproduction and hungrier and unhealthier cats.

The removal of feral cats on a wide scale is beyond the financial and staff capabilities of most municipalities and allows other homeless cats to move in to take advantage of the available food and shelter.

The removal of dogs to control rabies has not been recommended by the World Health Organization since 1983 because vaccination programs have resulted in better rabies control. There is no reason to believe that vaccinating feral cats against rabies won't also work.

The incidence of FeLV/FIV in feral cats is very low and only slightly higher than the pet cat population. Reproduction and fighting, the major transmission modes of these diseases, are greatly reduced or eliminated through TNR.

The willingness of volunteers to cooperate with TNR efforts, as opposed to trap and remove, already exists. However, these volunteers should not and cannot bear this responsibility alone.

Nancy Peterson

Feral Cat Program manager

The Humane Society

of the United States

Washington, D.C.