This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Read about the victory here.

The city council of Knoxville, Tennessee is considering an ordinance that will drastically reduce the killing of cats in the municipal shelter there by allowing for trap-neuter-return (TNR) of community cats. The ordinance passed the first reading by council, but still has to pass a second reading at the next city council meeting on Jan. 15, 2019. We need your help to convince council members to approve the ordinance!

Animal shelters are no place for community cats, who are most often feral and unsocialized toward most people. These cats are terrified and highly stressed in the confined spaces of animal shelters, making them dangerous for staff to handle and too often they’re killed because they are unadoptable. TNR programs stop these cats from ever coming into shelters by sterilizing and vaccinating them and returning them to their outdoor homes. This is safer for shelter staff, and more humane for the cats.

The number of TNR programs is rapidly increasing all around the United States. Cities like Houston, Denver, and Washington, DC have seen dramatic decreases in the number of cats killed in their municipal animal shelters through TNR programs that are endorsed by local government and animal control agencies. Most importantly, this ordinance is supported by the local animal shelter, the Young-Williams Animal Center, which contracts with the City of Knoxville and Knox County to intake stray animals, which will be positively impacted by this change.

Please join us is asking the Knoxville city council to pass the proposed TNR ordinance to protect community cats.

What You Can Do

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Read about the victory here.