Spaying and neutering cats can protect community

Kudos to the Freehold Board of Health for looking for ways to reduce the number of feral cats in the city ("Freehold Board of Health Turns Attention to Strays," News Transcript, Jan. 24, 2007).

Allowing cats to live on the streets not only poses a rabies risk to humans, it puts the cats themselves in tremendous danger. Left to roam, cats risk contracting diseases and being stolen, hit by cars, or attacked by other animals.

Every day, heinous crimes are committed against animals who are allowed outside unsupervised, even for just a few minutes.

Unattended animals have been beaten, shot, poisoned, even set on fire.

Keeping cats off the streets would also help keep them from reproducing, which means that fewer cats would end up being euthanized in shelters. Just one female cat and her kittens can result in 420,000 kittens being born in seven years.

We can all help keep cats and the community as a whole safe by having our feline friends spayed or neutered, and helping others to do the same. For more ways to make a difference, and for tips on keeping cats content in the "great indoors," visit www.helpinganimals.com.

Lindsay Pollard-Post

staff writer

People for the

Ethical Treatment of Animals

Norfolk, Va.